Jacking up my pickup to do brakes

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So will be 70 in a few months. I am thinking the only maintenance I plan on doing going forward is oil changes and brakes.

With respect to jacking up my pickup to do brakes. I often jack up the pickup on a jacking point using a floor jack, maybe push tire under also and then do the brakes. I am never really under the pickup, just my arms reaching in. So I mostly don't use a jack stand. If the jack was to fail it would rest on the tire I pushed under (to some extent).

Now I could put a jack stand under the body area where the factory jack goes but that is a jack stand holding the body vs the frame.
 
Meh, how much time saved not tossing a stand under there? I get the thought, but… penny wise, dollar foolish.

Plus if you like me, 5 minutes in, its time for a coffee break. Then some other job beckons. who knows how much time might slip by before I get back to this.
 
On the rear I usually slide a jack stand under the axle. I dont put much weight on it but figure its a just in case. I use to put one under the diff but they are not built like they use to be.
 
On the rear I usually slide a jack stand under the axle. I dont put much weight on it but figure its a just in case. I use to put one under the diff but they are not built like they use to be.
Donald this is very good advice ! jack the truck up above the height you want then lower on the jack stand placed under the axle. Never trust a jack.....
 
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If they are not load sharing to start with - whatever the secondary device is will take the impact force …
I keep two 3 ton floor jacks side by side and it a couple minutes can have them in concert …
 
Even if the tire underneath catches the truck if the jack fails the truck weight would crease your skull and break your neck. Put a jack under it. Don’t rely on a jack to hold the weight.
 
I googled how to jack up a Camry. I can raise both wheels on a side with a 3 ton jack and a few wooden blocks using the lift point under the B pillar. Then I use more blocks under the front and rear lift points. My blocking gives me a steady and safe car to work around on a gravel driveway. :cool:
 
I knew a guy that wasn’t going to be under it either, he died in 1994 because the jack failed. When his girlfriend came to take him to lunch, one of my coworkers was the unfortunate one to find him after he went looking for him when he didn’t answer his radio. Needless to say, it wasn’t an image he could shake easily.
Before that, I was always big on safety, after that, I became obsessed with it. There’s too many reasons to not take the extra minute to throw a jack stand under that rig. Please, don’t skip that part of the routine. Cheers buddy. 🍻
 
I sold my HF ratchet jack stands as I did not trust them given the ones that were recalled awhile ago. Maybe get new ones that are pin based.

When lifting the truck by a jacking point I assume the jack stand needs to also go under the frame rather than the body. But not too many places to put jack stands with a floor jacks already in that area.

The body is a possibility for a jack stand but if the jack fails the axle will still drop. Rotor could crush your hand or foot if it was between the rotor and ground.
 
When lifting the truck by a jacking point I assume the jack stand needs to also go under the frame rather than the body. But not too many places to put jack stands with a floor jacks already in that area.
What truck with a full frame is this? My Chevy 1/2 ton has plenty of spots to jack & place stands.
 
With a BoF you can pretty much put stuff wherever on the rails. I will often jack and use stands as a a safety vs resting on the stands. Just depends what I’m working on.
 
I sold my HF ratchet jack stands as I did not trust them given the ones that were recalled awhile ago. Maybe get new ones that are pin based.
I use cribbing. Good enough for boats, so I figure, good enough for me.

Slice a 2x8 into 6-12” lengths. For a tall truck err on longer. And wider.
 
Jack it using the jack point. Throw the stand under a part that can handle the weight. Frame rail, preferably. Ease off the jack so that both are holding the car.

Imagine a sudden hydraulic failure in the jack, where would you like that stand to be in order to save your limbs?

This is a real thing - getting crushed by a car - happens often enough.

In my hometown, Bloomfield, CT, in the 1980s, a friend of my father, an original Duesenberg owner, was working on his Duesy - and was crushed by the car.

He was in his 80s at the time, and he was likely the last original owner of one of those magnificent machines. I’ve never forgotten that. And I’ve never trusted jacks, nor cut corners on jack stands.

Even just rotating tires, there is something besides a jack holding up the car.
 
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