Jack and Jack Stands

[Brian McVickers]

My brother-in-law gave me a nice garage set this past holiday season. It has a roller to lay on and roll around under the vehicle, a hydraulic jack and two jack stands.

It is rated at 2 tons
My vehicle has a GVW of 6400lb which is about 3 tons.
Do I need to be concerned or can I use this jack and the stands with my vehicle?

 

[datrupr]

Remember, the jack and stands are not supporting all of the weight of the vehicle, just the lifted portion. Now, that is a bit more than what the tires carry, but I would not be to concerned about it. The jack stands are a safer way to support the truck while it is lifted.


Now, I could also be completely wrong here, and if I am I am sure somebody will chime in

 

[cruiseroutfit]

You'll be fine... unless your vehicle has a horribly insane weight bias (front/rear) you won't have an issue. Some vehicle door tags state the weight at each axle, assuming you lift from the axle, and they are not over 2 tons, your fine.

That being said, I am sure that jack rating is fairly conservative, there is probably a decent safety factor in a jack.

 

[Jonathan Hanson]

Definitely you'll be fine, Brian. You won't be close to GVW (which is the maximum allowable weight, not the empty weight) when you're working on it at home, even with all the mods you've added. Neither end of the vehicle is going to approach two tons.

It's nice to have good tools, especially when they come by way of a gift! And once you use a creeper you'll wonder how you got along without it.

 

[flyingwil]

Like mentioned above, you'll be fine! It boils down to weight distribution, since you are not lifting the entire rover by one point, you are fine. But if you figure out how to lift it all at one point, watch out! LOL... You'll never do that!

 

[Scenic WonderRunner]

It ALL depends on how many BEERS you have had!
.
.
.

 

[goodtimes]

Yea, what they said. I cannot think of a single time that I have "run out of jack", with regards to weight. I usually run out of height on the jack and jack stands long before I run out of weight capacity. For my vehicles, a 2 ton jack is a touch on the short side...but it will lift one front corner of my dodge (2nd generation ram w/cummins)...that's 6400 pounds dry, with a huge weight bias to the front.

 

[+ d]

i find the best feature a jack stand can have is a nice wide base. for me concerns of stability seems to be more of a stresser then capacity.

 

[Desertdude]

also - never trust a jack stand alone - always add a jack under there for saftey - Jack stands have been known to fail - if you don't have enough jacks to add for saftey slide something like a tire/rim under - nothing scares me more than being under a truck and then thinking if I could hold the weight of it up with my chest

 

[offroad_nomad]

Several notable alternatives to jacks and jack stands:

Some personal favorites. What's more dangerous, the 4x4s "jacks" or welding on or near the gas tank?

Hope this isn't one of our Toyota owners :Wow1:

 

[david despain]

Yea, what they said. I cannot think of a single time that I have "run out of jack", with regards to weight. I usually run out of height on the jack and jack stands long before I run out of weight capacity. For my vehicles, a 2 ton jack is a touch on the short side...

yeah what he said. i have a 2000 disco and i have found that there is plenty of travel in the springs and airbags so if u do need to lift from the frame at all you may need a more substantial jack that will have more travel. in my experiance anything less than a 3 ton jack is best suited for cars. the weight rating is not the problem so much as the smaller jacks are just too dinky to feel safe. also to get all the way under the disco the bigger jacks are longer and have longer handles so its easier to manuver (sp?) under the truck.
http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item...&group_ID=1725&store=snapon-store&dir=catalog i use these stands, well actually a slightly earlier version, and they work well under the disco. but they are on the second from the top hole so if i needed to do anything major and wanted it way up high for a huge project i would have to get something different. luckily i dont forsee that need.

 

[Brian McVickers]

Thanks everyone!