Use 4 Jack Stands To Prop Up Your Car?

[Virtus_Probi]

I started doing my own tire rotations and am glad to have my snows mounted on dedicated wheels so I can use one as the placeholder while I rotate.

I want to rotate the tires on my daughter's car, but we don't have snows for it...I know I could use her spare, but would rather not drag it out. I have heard about people putting up all 4 corners of their vehicles on jack stands to make it easy to work on them, but have also read that some consider this to be a dangerous practice.
I should mention that I will not be on absolutely flat ground for this as our driveway has slopes everywhere and there is not enough room to work inside the garage. I would probably also want to put wood underneath the stands to keep them from sinking into the asphalt unless it was quite cold out.

What do you guys think...is supporting a car on 4 jack stands a great way to go or just plain dumb?

 

[bdcardinal]

I do it all the time. Just have to be smart about lifting each side.

 

[slo town]

How steep is the driveway? Regardless, if it were me I'd only put jack stands under one end or one side at a time, and I'd use wheel chocks under the tires that remain on the ground.

Scott

 

[RooflessVW]

4 jack stands is fine, I do it all the time. It's just as stable if not more stable as having the car on a lift.

 

[StevieC]

I do the 4 stand all the time at my place where I don't have a lift. Works fine. I've even done it on uneven ground.

 

[JLawrence08648]

I do it. It's scary but never had a problem with good jack stands. I only had a problem with cheap sheet metal stands. Put them under the rear axle and the front A members leaving your jack under something. To be safer, I wouldn't put them under the sides. I do that when jacking up the front or rear but not all four.

 

[dadto2]

I do 4 jackstands often, if I'm working under the car. When I rotate the tires, I only use one. I take off the front driver side, lower it onto a jackstand, then just move around the car with the hydraulic jack until I get back to the first front corner. Just make sure you chock the wheels and NEVER get under the car while it's on a hydraulic or scissor jack.

 

[nthach]

I've done it when I had to change the ATF on my parent's car. I had to level the car off with a bubble level on the roof while I was adjusting the stands.

 

[demarpaint]

That's how I've done clutch jobs, exhaust work, 4 wheel brake jobs, and a ton of other work over the years.

 

[Hall]

Originally Posted by rooflessVW
4 jack stands is fine, I do it all the time. It's just as stable if not more stable as having the car on a lift.

Once the car is on all (4) stands, yeah, it's fine. I think the unstable part is when it's on (2) stands and you're raising it to place the next (2) stands. Worst case, the car is up on (2) stands and while jacking up the other end, the jack rolls/moves. It could 'tip' the jack stands and the car drop off.

 

[anndel]

Do that all the time. I have 2 6 ton stands in the front and 2 3 ton stands supporting the rear of the vehicle. I lift the front first, set the 6 ton stands then lift the rear then do it in reverse since the 6 tons can stand more weight. That's for a 2014 Toyota Tacoma pk up. The other vehicles goes to Costco for lifetime rotation every 5,000 miles.

 

[Wolf359]

Just use the spare tire as a place holder. You can also use that time to check the air pressure.

 

[IndyIan]

Usually you can jack one whole side up since nearly everything has a rear sway bar these days. Or you can jack the whole rear of a fwd pretty easily. Jacking the whole front needs something solid though and some cars don't have that accessible.

 

[earlyre]

now i won't recommend this at all, but the local tire shop i use apparently doesn't have enough lifts, and i constantly see them(my car included) doing a rotation using 3 trolly jacks....
now they are professional 3+ ton jacks with the big rubber hockeypuck head...

one at each of the front jack points, and one under the trunk floor where the diff would be if my car was AWD,(which it isn't)

 

[Cdn17Sport6MT]

I jack the car using ramps first then i have a section of 4" wide-flange (wide- I beam) that has a short section of 1-3/16" round barstock fillet welded to the middle of the flange section, mid span. The wide-flange is as long as my rocker panel to rocker panel is wide (on my largest car). That allows me to remove the jackpad swivel from my floor jack and put my lifing beam in place of it. It can swivel, too. I jack up one end of the car at a time and then put wooden block dunnage inder the beam (some under each end of the lifting beam). I also have blocking that straddles the rocker panel pinch weld seam so as to best and most securely and damage-free support the weight of that end of the car at the designated lifting pts. Works well for me☺. Of course all of this tomfoolery is only necessary when you don't have a stout subframe with say independent rear end. Not necessary with a live axle or at the front of the car (with a subframe).

 

[ragtoplvr]

Cars have a designated jacking point. It may need a small board with a notch cut in it to clear.

Other than that 4 jack stands are very secure.

 

[maxdustington]

I had my car fall off 4 jack stands once. That section of the driveway was too sloped to be safe, but I guess I didn't realize it. I definitely gave it the shake test but I think the slope changed the balance. I recall I could move the front end up and down if I pushed it, I guess the jack stands were not in optimal positions in the first place. I was trying to bleed all 4 calipers at once by gravity I think and it slipped off the jack stands while I was trying to crack a bleeder. I was just off to the side but it came towards me and down. I had the wheels underneath it, which dented the floor but gave me enough room to jack it back up. I was not injured but it scared me. You have to make sure you have the stands distributed correctly but I think the most important thing is flat ground.

I think I had the stands under the rear axle and probably the front subframe mount. I think I would move the front stands towards the front of the car next time.

 

[doitmyself]

I wonder why ALL jack stand instructions state this: "Although jack stands are individually rated, they are to be used in a matched pair to support one end of a vehicle only. Stands are not to be used to simultaneously support both ends or one side of a vehicle"


Is it just liability reasons? They don't even advise to use 2 stands to support one side of a vehicle.

 

[maxdustington]

Originally Posted by doitmyself
I wonder why ALL jack stand instructions state this: "Although jack stands are individually rated, they are to be used in a matched pair to support one end of a vehicle only. Stands are not to be used to simultaneously support both ends or one side of a vehicle"


Is it just liability reasons? They don't even advise to use 2 stands to support one side of a vehicle.
I believe they are rated as pairs. I have a set of 2000lb jack stands and they are nice because they are small and light. No way I would trust one of those bad boys with 2000 lbs.

 

[LotI]

The garage is for cars, make room.