Is It Safe To Use 4 Car Stands At Once

[made_guy]

Hey - another noobie question from me

I'm just checking that it is indeed safe to jack the car up and having sitting on 4 car stands at once while i'm under it (and changing the gearbox oil)

[GTR32GUS]

My mate does it with his Evo all the time , but i would NOT do it cos I dont feel safe doing it

[Duke_R32]

That what the car stands are for, so u can safely work under them as they wont collapse like a jack can.

theres no real difference in safety with working under a hoist or car stands, they both go under the jacking points of the vehicle

just make sure you jack the car up on level ground and have all the stands equal hights.

[GTR32GUS]

If u are changing the gearbox oil just jack up the front , by time time u jack the back of the car up u could have the oil out

[MANWHORE]

I am very concerned with the safety of myself. Dropping my car is my biggest fear. From reading my replies to the trolley jack thread, you can see i don't skimp on safety.

I have 3 big trolley jacks, and 2 small ones.

Normally when I jack the front of the car up, it gets one big trolley jack in the middle of the member, 2 stands on either side of the big jack on the member, and 2 small trolley jacks under various points. I would put the others under there too, but then there's not enough room to work on the car.

If I have the car up on 4, I use 4 stands. I still have one big jack in the middle of the cross member too. I also chuck a big jack under the diff, and I chuck the 2 small jacks to the side. I'll just use the last big jack under something random just for safety, incase if my other 4 stands and 4 jacks fail. hahaha.

[made_guy]

aye carumba manwhore!! that made me dizzey!

well i bought my 4 stands and a 2.5t trolley jack so i could do my g/b oil and fit my exhaust myself when i get it too. so i might put it up on all four to see how it looks when i do the g/b oil - if i feel unsafe, i'll bring it down onto two stands. my drive-way is pretty much level....

[RANDY]

I certainly wouldn't use only two... four is the magic number!

You really don't EVER want to be under your car while it's being fully or partially supported by a jack.

I know how you feel though... tiny little surface of the stands holding your car up, and it looks dodgy the first few times you do it... but a mate of mine helped me get over it.

Under his car, bracing against the wall, with a breaker bar trying to undo something... whole car shakes around on the stands.. but it doesn't budge. Same thing getting the gearbox out of my car.

So now I do the same.. jack it up, 4 stands, then release the jack a little so it's about 1cm from the diff or whatever you're jacking from, and then give the car a bit of a shove. It won't budge. ;o)

[Mikyel]

just make sure ure not by yourself when doing it incase anything happen..

[sam5709]

If u are changing the gearbox oil just jack up the front , by time time u jack the back of the car up u could have the oil out

wouldnt jacking the car up on two stands make draining and filling the gearbox oil uneven because the car is tilted

[Duke_R32]

having 4 jacks and 4 stands under your car will restrict the amount of room you have to move around, sounds kinda stupid if u ask me. if your that scared to get under a car which is on 4 car stands then make friends with a mechanic and ask to use their hoist on a sat or weeknight.

if the car is on level ground and the stands are in the right positions then you should not have a problem.

[noone]

If you are really worried about it get a real spare or even another cars spare and sit that next to you under the car if it manages to fall off the stands spare will give you a chance as the car wont fall so far when changing tyres on the side of a road this is also a good idea as disks can get easily damaged if the car falls of the jack.

4wheel drive wheel or nice wide rims are of course better

[made_guy]

sweet - great tips all round. thanks people

[MANWHORE]

having 4 jacks and 4 stands under your car will restrict the amount of room you have to move around, sounds kinda stupid if u ask me. if your that scared to get under a car which is on 4 car stands then make friends with a mechanic and ask to use their hoist on a sat or weeknight.

if the car is on level ground and the stands are in the right positions then you should not have a problem.

I have the equipment, so why not use it?

Let me tell you, if i have the whole car up, 4 jacks and 4 stands hardly takes up much room at all. You're literally talking 1 jack and 1 stand per corner. Plenty of room where it counts.

I have not found room to be of an issue.

I would say yes, it is overkill, stupid no. If I hvae the equipment, why not use it to make it safer (provided it doesn't get in the way - which it doesn't).

[predator]

Probably the front wheels up on wheel stands, and then jacking up the rear and using 2 stands on the back would be safer. Just gives the front some further stability. That is what I've used before.

[MANWHORE]

I generally try to keep the car as low as possible (depending on what i'm doing) and it seems to be safer.

The extra jacks make it more sturdy too. With my full setup, you can give it a push from the side or whatever and it won't move.

[stingray]

I still haven't figured out where to place the stands for the rear of the car. This is on an R32 by the way. I've used a trolley jack on the diff before to change the wheels, but I've never had to work under the rear of the car so I've never lowered it onto stands. Where do you place your stands for the rear of the car?

[godzl1975]

dont think really good idea to use the diff as the point to jack up the car...there is a centre point just in front of the diff to jack rear up..if car is too low then...drive on couple pavers to bring the car up abit....I did my G/B oil with ramps to the front only, thought about jacking the back up and using stands to level but didnt need too. 4 stands is the go and have a jack or 2 in some key points, pre load it abit, just in case something does happen to the stands the jack/s will take up the weight

[Jdfnq]

yeah 4 stands is pretty dangerous......

seen it fail before....

one good tweak of the wrench and it could be goodnight irene!!!!

best find a mate with a proper hoist, or use just two stands where at least there are two wheels on the gorund to give the car some balance......

you could always just test it by putting it on for stands and just leaning agianst the car

[ahh 33 s2]

i changed a gear box in my old car on my front drive with nothing but normal jacks and a few bricks... im still hear typing

[stingray]

dont think really good idea to use the diff as the point to jack up the car...there is a centre point just in front of the diff to jack rear up..if car is too low then...drive on couple pavers to bring the car up abit....I did my G/B oil with ramps to the front only, thought about jacking the back up and using stands to level but didnt need too. 4 stands is the go and have a jack or 2 in some key points, pre load it abit, just in case something does happen to the stands the jack/s will take up the weight

Why isn't it a good idea to use the rear diff? It's been recommended by many people on this forum to use as the rear jacking point. I've had a look at the manual and I just realised the picture shows jacking point is indeed slighty pass the the diff. I've always assumed using the diff was fine. Well it's been ok for me so far.