Are you thinking about tweaking with your car? Or do you want to raise it up to do some repairs? If so, you should really think about investing in some jack stands.
While you may think that using a normal jack is all you need to lift a car, think again! Hundreds of people each year suffer accidents from collapsing cars, but all these accidents could have been prevented through the use of a set of jack stands.
What are jack stands, I hear you say? While the come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, the most common form of stand measures about a foot tall and it is used to fully support cars that have been raised up, usually by a floor jack.
By adjusting the support post on the stands, either through the use of a ratchet mechanism or pegs, you can raise or lower the stand’s height to the same level as your jacked vehicle. The car can then be lowered onto the stands so that they support all of the chassis’ weight. A set of jack stands can sustain this weight indefinitely, preventing the car from collapsing should the seal in the jack fail.
Now, you may be asking, what is the cost? Well, the good thing about jack stands is that they are some of the cheapest car garage tools available to buy, coming in at around $20 to $30.
When buying jack stands, check them first for good build quality – you don’t need to be an expert to do this, just look for welding seams, rust, and so on. Basically, if it looks a bit tattered before it has even left the shop then leave that particular model alone.
Other features that designate a good quality stand are rubber feet, which give added stability when on soft surfaces. They also have better grip than models with metal feet, which gives them an overall better feel.
Finally, if given the choice, go for a model that uses a ratchet to hold the post up over one that uses pegs – the latter is tricky to use and you will be sure to find using them a frustrating experience!
If you do any kind of car repair that involved placing yourself underneath a vehicle, is really is essential that you invest in a pair, unless you have a death wish of course!
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