In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 11 Aug 2017 08:43:16 -0400, Ed Pawlowski
wrote:

On 8/10/2017 10:00 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:


The angled and curved pieces are types of arches. The load is easily
transferred through those structures to the abutments resting on the
ground. As long as the welds are created properly (can be said about
everything which is welded), the structure of the jack stands appears
quite sound.

I understand how arches work/transfer the load. It's not the arch shape that
bothers me, it's the welds. Since I didn't do the welds, I'm not sure I
want to trust my life to them when a "straight down to the ground" option
exists.

I'm sure they're fine, I just don't want to be worrying about them while I'm
under the vehicle.


You trust your life to welds most every day crossing bridges, using
elevators. I don't crawl under a car unless it has two supports though.

I had a set of jackstands, maybe from Western Auto, and a friend who
didn't weigh more than 160 was sitting in the drivers seat with his legs
out of the car, a Chrysler K-car that didn't weigh more than 3000
pounds, and had 3 wheels on the ground so the stand was supporting only
a little more than a quarter of the car, and the jackstand collapsed on
him.

Not this brand but something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Torin-T42002-...ds=jack+stands

I took it back but didn't want to spend extra for bigger, so like an
idiot, I accepted another box of the same thing that failed once.

A few years later when I was changing the right half axle on my car and
the ball joint, I was so afraid another would collapse that I used both
stands, another one, and 2 floor jacks and a scissors jack all at the
same time so I wouldn't get crushed. It was hard to get it to rest on
all of these at the same time.