Jack stands or vehicle ramps?

Great idea, Mendel! I'm going to modify my ramps this spring with this safety feature.

 

I use both stands and ramps - no problem.

DBCassidy

 

Yup. You need jack stands for removing tires and brakes, but you'd better not get under the car when you're using stands. I once had car up on stands for 2 months and a small earthquake (2.9) and the car went forward and back onto the ground, all 4 stands now sideways. If I'd been under the car, I would have been dead.

 

My idea with the tree stump is simpler, just: whenever I'm under the car, there's a chunk of non-compressible, thicker-than-me wood under there too. If the unmentionable happens, the car comes to rest on the wood before me.

 

I intend to insert wood or stone blocks underneath the ramps so that if the cross braces should happen to fail, the blocks underneath will prevent the ramps from collapsing. My ramps must be at least 20 years old. The time to have added this safety feature is way past due.

In the unlikely event one of the ramps fail during use, that will be the moment I'll have to buy new ones. And...I will still be able to drive off the failed ramp afterward (I hope).

 

Me...at the house...raise it with a floor jack and put it on stands.

 

You've got to raise it through a lot of suspension travel though, still doable? You can also get wheel cradles for that, kinda rampless ramps. Or cobble some outa 2x8', tailor the height to your jack's limits.

I gave up on ramps a few decades back, just jackstands for me. But, I hate the Toyota Prius scissor jack bearing points, they're hopeless: have found alternative points on the underbody.

 

if I have the tires off, I slide em under the side of the car. if it falls the wheels will keep me from being completely flattened

 

I tried ramps a few times long ago in my youth, but stopped because I could not get comfortable with gunning the car to get it up on top of the ramps without overshooting or risking calamity.

I used jack stands for many years. The important thing about jack stands is that they be high quality, heavy duty units. Also, if the jack stands are the cam and notches type, make sure you inspect and replace if necessary the roll pin or bolt that fixes the cam to the handle. If this pin breaks or slips out the cam may turn and the center jack post can fall. The best jack stands have a safety pin that you insert through the center post to prevent it from falling.

About fifteen years ago I bought the below 6000 lb. Scissor Lift. It makes all of my car maintenance and repair jobs much easier. It is safer than both ramps and jack stands and allows me to continue doing my own car maintenance and repair as I grow older. It was about half its current price when I bought it, but is still a good deal today. You need about 9.5 to 10 feet of ceiling height in your garage to fully raise the lift. If you have fourteen feet of ceiling height you can go for a professional two post lift.

Hydraulic Scissor Lift - 6000 Lb. Capacity

 

My Prius drives up my Rhino Ramps with nothing but the MG2. The ICE never comes on...provided the the system is already warmed.

 

Less well known are Scepter Ramps.

They are much better than the Rhinos.

Scepter makes the widely sold gas cans and the US Military fuel can.

 

Floor jack and jack stands can be used for everything. Ramps can be used for oil changes, pretty much. And as mentioned, too much excitement, gunning car up ramp. Not really doable in the close quarters of a typical garage, either.

 

After years of running over and sliding the Rhino ramps, I found a good use for the heavy red clay soil e/we have here in Georgia and South Carolina, other than staining everything red.

The ramps don't slide on the heavy clay solid and they don't sink in. Using a plastic tarp to lay on, it is easier on the body than concrete.

The mild weather, here, doesn't hurt, either.

 

Well, this may be true if you live in seismically active places like southern CA. If you had been using a hydraulic lift found in a professional's shop, the car might have fallen off that lift as well under those circumstances.

You didn't give the stands credit for holding the car up successfully, without complaint for two months...it is not expected that you would be living under the car during that entire period.

If it is necessary to raise up the entire car to be level for an extended period, I would use ramps on one end of the car (as feasible) and jackstands to hold up the other end. If this is necessary only for a very brief period, and I am not going to be under the rear of the car, I use the hydraulic jack on the center jacking point at the rear, to raise up that end.

As other posters stated, you can insert supplemental items to hold up the car if you are a belt & suspenders kind of person. When just raising up one end of the car, I use jackstands and my supplement is to leave the hydraulic jack raised, on the side of the car that I happen to be on.

 

I have a set of four of these and have found these to be among the best.

I made custom "bolted on" "pinch weld" adapters for them, and the wide flat full base makes these very stable.

 

Trouble is central lift points on the chassis have become endangered and are extinct on some autos. My 2014 Altima has no central lift points for a hydraulic jack front or rear. The two 1992 Honda Civics I owned had central lift point front and rear. Consequently these two Civics were never driven onto ramps - I didn't need to or want to. The hydraulic jack and stands were easier and quicker.

So, much of the flexibility I once had has been taken away from me. Ramps have become a necessary evil for many of us.

 

Well, even if this is the case you could at least lift the car near the same point as the scissors jack provided with the car, and place the jack stands at the points where the scissors jack would lift the car. I use a 2 ft. length of 2x4 wood on the hydraulic floor jack saddle to spread the load applied to the car body, to prevent damage.

In fact since the Prius is not very heavy, I can lift up the entire side of the car with one hydraulic floor jack and the 2x4 in the jack saddle, then place jack stands fore and aft to keep the car up. Or if I am rotating tires front to rear I just lift up one side of the car, then move the tires on that side around.

 

I can see you've never been a sailor, Patrick. Jackstands are placed port and starboard on land yachts, not fore and aft.
Arizona is not famous for sailing; it hasn't been for millions of years.

Without central lift points, it's a PITA to use jacks and stands for oil changes IMHO. To each his own, though.
Whatever works for you.

 

I actually sailed extensively when living in the SF Bay Area during the 1980's, but never had to rotate tires on a boat.

If you are rotating tires on one side of the car, swapping the front and rear, then it is only necessary to lift up that one side of the car. Then after that side is done, you can move to the other side of the car and repeat.

I agree that it is nice for a car to have central lift points. The idea that I am trying to get across is that it is not impossible to use a hydraulic floor jack and jack stands if a car fails to have those points.

 

Depending on how high the car needs to be raised for an oil change, it may be possible to use several pieces of lumber a low level ramp. I have a couple pieces of scrap 2x8 (2x10?) from when the garage was built, and driving the Mustang up onto a couple pieces of those provides a 3" lift which is just enough to get to the drain plug and filter. And if you overshoot and drive off the end, a 3" stack of lumber won't do any damage.

As for ramps, here's the trick I use for front wheel drive cars with automatic transmissions:
1) position ramps up against front tires
2) recruit somebody as spotter to tell you when you've reached the top of the ramps
3) press brake pedal firmly with left foot, press and hold accelerator with right foot to "stretch out the rubber band".
4) ease off brake pedal until car begins to creep up the ramp, holding the right foot steady. Brakes provide instant response, without the rubber band slingshot effect of the gas pedal. Use the brake pedal like a clutch to slowly creep up the ramps.
5) when spotter indicates the hub has reached the flat part of the ramp, put car into neutral, release brake, and allow car to gently roll into the ramp

This doesn't work with rear drive, as you end up spinning the rear tires and pushing the ramps along. I won't find out how well this works with the Prius until the free maintenance has expired.