On Sat, 21 Mar 2015 20:50:52 -0700, pyotr filipivich
wrote:

"Jim Wilkins" on Sat, 21 Mar 2015 07:39:51
-0400 typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:
"pyotr filipivich" wrote:
Gunner Asch on Fri, 20 Mar 2015 16:25:57 -0700
On Fri, 20 Mar 2015 18:34:17 -0400, "Jim Wilkins" wrote:
"Bob Engelhardt" wrote:
On 3/20/2015 7:27 AM, Jim Wilkins wrote:
Has anyone seen short jackstands with a screw adjustment for height
that are rated for cars versus campers? When I put it on four
jackstands to pull the tires and repeatedly bleed the brakes only
three made contact.
...
"Point of order": this is RCM, your question should be about making
such, or modifying an existing one G. Seriously - you only need
one finely adjustable stand. And it just needs to keep the car
steady - the other 3 can carry the load. So, put an upright bolt
into the top of one of your stands & you're done. Bob

I could, and did think about it, or I could support the lighter rear
with a single centered floor jack. But I'm not going to remove the
tires and crawl underneath with such support.

I Never...ever...work under a vehicle supported by only a floor jack.
Not in this lifetime, nor in the next.

Is this because of something you did in a past lifetime? B-)

I had two buses (interurban types, not VW) fall off the jacks
while I was under them. On the second one, I heard the "creak" and
rolled out from under it, as the stand on the far side compressed
the
cobble stone enough to get past CG. "Fall down, bounce on shocks."
Missed me, I was 21 and nie invulnerable.

You were nigh dead/maimed, too.


I can become too distracted by diagnosing the problem or having to
communicate intelligibly with a helper to remember to double-check
that the emergency brakes are on and the opposite corner wheel chocked
on both sides. It's easy to forget that Park doesn't restrain the
vehicle when one drive wheel lifts off the ground.

I must not be that "good" - I seem to start with "handbrakes,
chocks, jack stands ... now what is the problem?"

Exactly. ? With the exception of putting vehicles on the rack
(hoist), which have to be rolled to fit, every single vehicle I exit
has the emergency brake set every single time. Dad taught that to me
at a very, very early age. Get in the car, put the seat belt on and
remove the emergency brake. Get out of the car, set the brake and
remove the belt. It's automatic. USAA doubles my medical coverage
amounts in my insurance if I ensure that everyone is buckled up, too.

I always work on the flat; won't go under a car on a hill. But I
don't always have chocks. I do demand a jack stand, plus the jack as
a backup, whenever I'm under a vehicle. I've seen local people lose
legs to cars falling off jacks and I swore I'd never become one of the
casualties to that simple mistake. If jack stands aren't available, I
stack concrete blocks and tubafores up until it's safe to crawl under.


I've never needed to remove all four tires at once until I had to
bleed the entire brake system.

Hmm, I don't recall ... oh wait (it has been a few years) - the
reason I don't recall any difficulty with that, was I only did that at
The Shop, and we had a hoist. Which had its own set of hazard
issues.

I never removed the wheels while adjusting or bleeding brakes, either.
Early on, with drum brakes in the rear, if you removed the wheels, the
drum could work its way off while bleeding the other wheel cylinders,
and that created an even worse mess when you popped a wheel cylinder
and got brake fluid all over the new shoes, backing plate, hardware...

--
Always bear in mind that your own resolution to
succeed is more important than any one thing.
-- Abraham Lincoln