$38.99 Craftsman Floor Jack and Stands at Sears

My bad: lost track of your generation.

I find every new piece of equipment, and new car, requires some invention. For example, if you have excess clearance between the jack cradle and lift point (typically at the rear jack point in my experience), a few layers of plywood under the jack wheels, or a square piece of 2x4 in the cradle (plus a hockey puck) will help. You just don't want to stack too high.

Another thing, if your slab is a little out of level, check both jackstands carefully, to make sure they both have firm contact. Sometimes you need to shim one or the other a bit.

Lots of tricks.

 

Here is a screen shot of the on-line manual I downloaded for my 2009 Prius:


Looks the same. Maybe the confusing texts were copied from other cars.

 

1. No matter what, you are likely to utter lots of swear words while working on vehicle suspension parts if you are using hand tools (vs. an air compressor and impact wrench.) That is not the first DIY project that I would recommend for a neophyte.

2. You need high quality hand tools. In particular, you need to use a 1/2" cheater bar and a high quality 6-point socket when removing the rear sway bar. You may also need a piece of pipe to extend the length of the cheater bar.

3. If you use cheap tools and something breaks you could easily hurt yourself as your arm or elbow whacks into something when resistance to your exerted force vanishes.

4. If the car is not correctly suspended with the jackstands, then that sudden change in force conceivably could cause the car to come down, so be very careful. Hopefully the rear tires were still installed, so the car would not drop down much.

 

I dont know about the rest of you guys but buying a cheap piece of crap Chinese jack and stands is not something I would risk my life over. I 've seen cheap Chinese jack stands fold up for no reason except that they are cheap Chinese junk.
Buy a good American made floor jack and you will have it for the rest of your life and after that you can get parts for it and rebuild it. I have 2 Ausco 21/2 floor jacks one of which I bought used in 1972. I just rebuilt it and called American jack company and they sent me a hydraulic rebuild kit and new rear casters for it. Yes, even though it has not been made for 40 years they still carry parts for it. These are real heavy duty floor jacks and I use them on my Cummins Diesel 4wd truck to lift its front end right off the ground. No complaints, no failures, they just keep working. 5 years ago I was working under my 5th wheel trailer it was jacked up and supported with 4 10,000 lb rated jack stands I bought at auto Zone. They were Chinese made junk but with a 75% safety margin I felt safe. NOT! I had worked on the suspension putting in new bushings all afternoon.I crawled out from underneath when I heard a loud crack and a loud groan. One of the 10,000 lb stands gave way and just folded up dropping the trailer without wheels right onto the concrete. The force of the drop pushed the spare that was mounted under the trailer right through the wood floor . I learned my lesson. I threw out all those stands and bought some real nice American stands for 50$ each. An American made jack will set you back some serious cash. 2 years ago I bought another Ausco jack that was 40 years old, and completely rebuilt. I paid 250$ for it and all the jack parts had been glass beeded and magnafluxed to check for unseen cracks. I painted it Ford blue with white handle, saddle, and front wheels. I could not have been happier.
Dont trust your lfe to cheapo tools, jacks, or stands. One trailer falling can ruin your whole day.
-Paul R. Haller-

 

Paul,

I'd hazard a guess most everything I have for raising cars came from China. Maybe the odds are worse, your description of welding and inspection sounds knowledgable, very likely a quality built US product does have the edge.

But you have to know your audience. People are not going to be dropping their imported jacks and jackstands off at the recyclers due to your post. My 2 cents:

Just work smart. Any piece of equipment can fail. There's no point to strident chauvinism, and belief that with US-built equipment you will lead a charmed life. Instead: give yourself an out.

In my case, that consists of a section cut from a tree, about 12" diameter, by 14" long. When I go under the car, it goes under with me.

 

Reminded me of the terminator holding up the blast door - let's only buy jack stands made in the future. LOL

 

Yes. In my case, I have the hydraulic floor jack supplementing the jackstand on the side of the car that I happen to be under and also leave the tires on except where needed for repair access at that moment. It is very advisable to be a belt & suspenders kind of person when you are working under a vehicle.