Safe Use Of Jack Stands

Do not use wood blocks to gain more height as a wood block may slip or split buy taller jack stands.

Safe use of jack stands.

Jack stands may be the most overlooked safety equipment items in a diy garage. Frankly you should never work beneath your car without this key piece of safety equipment. Don t use homemade or diy ones. Use a pair of jack stands every time you lift a vehicle and you will vastly decrease the likelihood of becoming a victim of a falling vehicle.

While ratchet type jack stands are safe enough pin type stands are almost indestructible since the locking pin makes it impossible for the supporting bar to slip through the base. Instead they provide a safe fixed support for a raised vehicle. Never use jack stands which are rusty in poor repair or for which the weight rating is unknown. It s a small price to pay for safety.

If supporting the whole front or rear of the vehicle use jack stands in pairs preferably set and locked to equal height. This type of jack stand is the preferred stand for heavy vehicles because it is the strongest and most reliable stand to use in this application. While you can replace a tire just using a car jack you should use jack stands when doing any work underneath your vehicle. A solid pair that s professionally made and rated for an average passenger car costs about the same as an oil change.

When using jack stands make sure to place them at your vehicle s pinch points or on its frame to keep them from slipping. Which is why we re here. In that position you need to take all the precautions you can and using jack stands are one of the simplest but also highly effective measures you can take to keep safe.