How to pick the right jack+stands

[thecantaloupeman]

So I'm about to embark on a control arm rebuild and need a jack and some good jack stands. I went to advance and was recommended a teq correct jack and stand set for 50 bucks. It is a 2 ton. My truck is a 78 C20 3/4 ton with the 8200 gvwr package. Is this jack and stand set good enough for starting out? Thanks.

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[yevgenievich]

For occasional use it is fine. I have been using aluminium 1.5 ton harbor freight for many years before breaking it by lifting questionable things. But after fixing it, still works. Also used steel 3 ton rapid lift, but heavy. The stands might not be tall enough but usually can make work with wood boards. For your use should be fine

 

[bucket]

A lot depends on your work surface too. Is it pavement, gravel, dirt or grass?

 

[thecantaloupeman]

For occasional use it is fine. I have been using aluminium 1.5 ton harbor freight for many years before breaking it by lifting questionable things. But after fixing it, still works. Also used steel 3 ton rapid lift, but heavy. The stands might not be tall enough but usually can make work with wood boards. For your use should be fine

I'll be working in the garage or maybe in the street so pavement

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[bucket]

You can pretty much pick what you like then. With other terrain, you need to look for certain features. Like on gravel, you want larger wheels. On dirt or grass, you want wide wheels and a jack frame with the large lip along the bottom instead on the top. And you really want jack stands with a wide footprint.

But on a garage floor, you can just pick based on your load requirements and your lifting range.

 

[thecantaloupeman]

You can pretty much pick what you like then. With other terrain, you need to look for certain features. Like on gravel, you want larger wheels. On dirt or grass, you want wide wheels and a jack frame with the large lip along the bottom instead on the top. And you really want jack stands with a wide footprint.

But on a garage floor, you can just pick based on your load requirements and your lifting range.

So is a 2 ton jack and stand alright for my truck? I think it weighs a bit more than 4000 pounds

 

[bucket]

Heavier duty would be better, but it can work ok for occasional use like yevgenievich said, especially with the help of wood blocks where needed.

 

[Frankenchevy]

I picked up my Alcan 3.5 ton from Costco for under $100. Something to consider.

 

[skysurfer]

So is a 2 ton jack and stand alright for my truck? I think it weighs a bit more than 4000 pounds

Remember that you're not lifting the entire weight of your truck. It's usually just one end or the other that's raised. If it had a perfect 50/50 front to rear weight balance and you jack up one end, you're only lifting half it's weight. Of course, in the real world the bias is towards the front but you're still not lifting anywhere near the 4000 lbs. or whatever it is your truck weighs. Just pulling a number out of thin air to use as an example, lets say the front end weighs 2800 lbs. A two-ton jack can easily handle that, and it's certainly not going to fail even at 4001 lbs. There's a safety margin built into the ratings, so 4000 lbs is the point where you need to start thinking about a bigger jack.

The jack stands get to split the load since there's (hopefully) two doing the work. So the hypothetical load of 2800 lbs is 1400 lbs on each stand. All that being said, I don't take any chances. I always leave the jack in place with some of the load on it and do a backup set of stands just in case the primary set fails.

L to R: 2t, 3t, 6t, and my first pair with an unknown capacity.

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[bucket]

Remember that you're not lifting the entire weight of your truck. It's usually just one end or the other that's raised. If it had a perfect 50/50 front to rear weight balance and you jack up one end, you're only lifting half it's weight. Of course, in the real world the bias is towards the front but you're still not lifting anywhere near the 4000 lbs. or whatever it is your truck weighs. Just pulling a number out of thin air to use as an example, lets say the front end weighs 2800 lbs. A two-ton jack can easily handle that, and it's certainly not going to fail even at 4001 lbs. There's a safety margin built into the ratings, so 4000 lbs is the point where you need to start thinking about a bigger jack.

The jack stands get to split the load since there's (hopefully) two doing the work. So the hypothetical load of 2800 lbs is 1400 lbs on each stand. All that being said, I don't take any chances. I always leave the jack in place with some of the load on it and do a backup set of stands just in case the primary set fails.

L to R: 2t, 3t, 6t, and my first pair with an unknown capacity.

You must be registered for see images attach

I swear everything you own is spotless and clean!

 

[gotyourgoat]

Remember that you're not lifting the entire weight of your truck. It's usually just one end or the other that's raised. If it had a perfect 50/50 front to rear weight balance and you jack up one end, you're only lifting half it's weight. Of course, in the real world the bias is towards the front but you're still not lifting anywhere near the 4000 lbs. or whatever it is your truck weighs. Just pulling a number out of thin air to use as an example, lets say the front end weighs 2800 lbs. A two-ton jack can easily handle that, and it's certainly not going to fail even at 4001 lbs. There's a safety margin built into the ratings, so 4000 lbs is the point where you need to start thinking about a bigger jack.

The jack stands get to split the load since there's (hopefully) two doing the work. So the hypothetical load of 2800 lbs is 1400 lbs on each stand. All that being said, I don't take any chances. I always leave the jack in place with some of the load on it and do a backup set of stands just in case the primary set fails.

L to R: 2t, 3t, 6t, and my first pair with an unknown capacity.

You must be registered for see images attach

Nailed it.

That set of jack stand on the far right with the triangular base however, not so sure on those. They have an unstable look to them.

 

[skysurfer]

Hah, that pic is from an old thread just after I bought the HF 6-tons. They're all a bit scuffed up now except for the original set which I don't use. They were a gift from my departed Dad so I keep 'em nice.

 

[CSFJ]

Haven't seen a set of those tube style stands in a long time. We used to have a set when I was young, but I haven't seen them since the early eighties.

 

[QBuff02]

Remember that you're not lifting the entire weight of your truck. It's usually just one end or the other that's raised. If it had a perfect 50/50 front to rear weight balance and you jack up one end, you're only lifting half it's weight. Of course, in the real world the bias is towards the front but you're still not lifting anywhere near the 4000 lbs. or whatever it is your truck weighs. Just pulling a number out of thin air to use as an example, lets say the front end weighs 2800 lbs. A two-ton jack can easily handle that, and it's certainly not going to fail even at 4001 lbs. There's a safety margin built into the ratings, so 4000 lbs is the point where you need to start thinking about a bigger jack.

The jack stands get to split the load since there's (hopefully) two doing the work. So the hypothetical load of 2800 lbs is 1400 lbs on each stand. All that being said, I don't take any chances. I always leave the jack in place with some of the load on it and do a backup set of stands just in case the primary set fails.

L to R: 2t, 3t, 6t, and my first pair with an unknown capacity.

You must be registered for see images attach

What he said, never take any chances. I always go much heavier than I think i'll need on jack stands. It's one thing to try and lift with a marginal jack, but never support with a marginal stand. I'm almost 20 years into my career as a heavy equipment mechanic and well into my 20th year on the Fire Department And I have seen 6 instances where we took a vehicle or piece of equipment off of someone because a jack, supporting stand or a "home made" device failed while supporting the load. Two were fatalities, one of which was a 16 year old boy. So I am very redundant with lifting the load, supporting the load, and adding an extra safety in case of failure. And I tend to buy and use way bigger supporting stands than I need. It's very cheap insurance. If it "weighs" 2, I support it with a minimum of a 4, and I back that up with an extra stand or two and at work it's usually 50 ton stands backed up with heavy oak timbers. If you are already questioning it to do the job, you aren't buying big enough stuff to support your work. Some may disagree, but going home at the end of the day, or being at home and being able to come in from the garage for dinner is what's most important. Seeing it one time was enough for me to never use something that "should" work.

 

[QBuff02]

And as a side note, and somewhat critical is that jack stands are usually rated in pairs. So if You buy a pair of stands rated at 2 tons, each stand is rated to support half of that load. So each stand is only good for 1 ton of load. Or a pair of 12 ton stands is rated to support 6 tons per stand and so on.