Author Topic: Any recommendations on jack stands and air jack to lift bus?  (Read 14384 times)

Offline luvrbus

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Re: Any recommendations on jack stands and air jack to lift bus?
« Reply #15 on: June 09, 2012, 10:07:25 AM »
12 tons should hold a bus easy it's not like you are setting on 1 jack with 40,000 lbs on the 1 jack  4 = 96,000 lbs then you have a safety factor built into each they never rate the stands to the max fwiw and check the yard sales the old screw type bottle jacks make good stands
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Offline Lin

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Re: Any recommendations on jack stands and air jack to lift bus?
« Reply #16 on: June 09, 2012, 12:37:41 PM »
I must say that I do not have great faith in jack stands, although there is plenty of experiance to say I am wrong.  Since we are on dirt anyway, wood blocks is the way to go.
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Offline belfert

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Re: Any recommendations on jack stands and air jack to lift bus?
« Reply #17 on: June 09, 2012, 01:03:27 PM »
12 ton would work as that is 48,000 pounds for two stands.  I think I was forgetting to multiply by two.  Are the ratchet style jack stands as good as the ones with the pins?  The ones with the pin seem like they have nothing to stop the any movement.  The ones with the ratchet at least have a flat V to kinda hold things.  Obviously whatever axle is on the ground needs to be chocked.

I assume a 12 ton jack might be good enough too?

I probably have much faith in jack stands as I do wood.  Wood can split.  I would probably use only the best quality wood like white oak.  I wonder if LVLs would work for cribbing?  There is a large manufacturer just down the road that might have scrap stuff cheap.
Brian Elfert - 1995 Dina Viaggio 1000 Series 60/B500 - 75% done but usable - Minneapolis, MN

Offline rv_safetyman

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Re: Any recommendations on jack stands and air jack to lift bus?
« Reply #18 on: June 09, 2012, 02:51:40 PM »
Paul, it sounds like I might have upset you.  Certainly not my intention.  Indeed, I did not see your 20T number when I posted.

I use a homemade jack stand in the front (center) and the two HF 12 T jack stands behind the rear axle on the engine cradle rails.  As I reflect on my bus weight and the location, I probably overstated the percentage of capacity I am using - probably closer to 50%.

As Clifford pointed out, ratings are "always" less than ultimate capacity.  Different products have different rating/ultimate ratios.  For example, hydraulic hose standards dictate a minimum of 4:1 (burst to rated pressure).  Clifford's testing would suggest that they use a 2:1 ratio.  That said, if the product is not somehow regulated by an industrial standard, the manufacturer can fudge the ratings. 

I was at an IHC truck dealer today and saw the jack stands they sell.  The sliding/mating parts are made with square tubing and the height adjustment is via a pin.  Pretty fool proof.  My gut feeling is that a pin is more robust than a "ratchet" mechanism.  I was going to make my own stands and they would have been very much like the IHC units.

The link to the HF 12T stands is:  http://www.harborfreight.com/12-ton-jack-stands-34924.html .  I don't recall paying that much.

Jim
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Offline luvrbus

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Re: Any recommendations on jack stands and air jack to lift bus?
« Reply #19 on: June 09, 2012, 03:51:56 PM »
Jim, I like the pin type check out the Advance Tool  ATD 7449 stands they are pretty beefy and most shops use that type as long as the stand meets ASME/ANSI/PLAD specs you are good to go no matter where they are made

good luck
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Offline rv_safetyman

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Re: Any recommendations on jack stands and air jack to lift bus?
« Reply #20 on: June 09, 2012, 04:30:53 PM »
Clifford, you make a good point about meeting an industry standard (ANSI, etc.).  I spent some time going over the HF pages for the 12T stands and there was no reference to meeting any standard (including the manual).

What I did find was mind blowing

Quote
Item 34924 12 Ton
Capacity 12 Tons (24,000 lb.)*
Height Range (Approximate) 19-1/2" – 30-1/8"
*Evenly distributed across two Jack Stands.

Repeat:  *Evenly distributed across two Jack Stands

That, clearly in my mind, is false labeling - they are 6T jack stands!!!!

BTW, I agree, I would prefer the pin type stand

Jim
Jim Shepherd
Evergreen, CO
’85 Eagle 10/Series 60/Eaton AutoShift 10 speed transmission
Somewhere between a tin tent and a finished product
Bus Project details: http://beltguy.com/Bus_Project/busproject.htm
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Offline Len Silva

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Re: Any recommendations on jack stands and air jack to lift bus?
« Reply #21 on: June 09, 2012, 04:53:48 PM »
You guys do what you want but there is no way in hell that I would get under a bus on those jack stands.

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Offline belfert

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Re: Any recommendations on jack stands and air jack to lift bus?
« Reply #22 on: June 09, 2012, 05:49:31 PM »
You guys do what you want but there is no way in hell that I would get under a bus on those jack stands.

Care to elaborate on why not?  Are you just talking about the imported jack stands, or any jack stand, even a set made in the USA by a reputable company?

I would be more reluctant to get under a bus supported by wood than one supported by a decent jack stand.  I would be worried the whole time I was under there about the wood cracking and splitting, or the stack of wood shifting and collapsing.  I'm sure there are proper ways to stack cribbing, but I don't know the proper way and wouldn't know if someone else did it right or not.  I don't believe I've seen a professional shop using wood cribbing.  The bus shop I normally use for lubing my bus and such has several hydraulic lifts to lift up buses.
Brian Elfert - 1995 Dina Viaggio 1000 Series 60/B500 - 75% done but usable - Minneapolis, MN

Offline luvrbus

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Re: Any recommendations on jack stands and air jack to lift bus?
« Reply #23 on: June 09, 2012, 06:03:50 PM »
I don't do wood or dirt lol

good luck
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Offline wyle.e.kyote

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Re: Any recommendations on jack stands and air jack to lift bus?
« Reply #24 on: June 09, 2012, 09:32:38 PM »
I've had pretty good luck lifting with this one http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200485232_200485232

I do use jackstands, but also I set up some safety-wood in a couple of places just in case ..   

Offline Uglydog56

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Re: Any recommendations on jack stands and air jack to lift bus?
« Reply #25 on: June 10, 2012, 01:20:54 PM »
I have the 20T air over hydraulic HF jack which I have used to good effect.  I have about 300 pieces of 4x4 cut into 2' lengths I use for cribbing and blocking. 

When I was a younger man, before I found out I wasn't invincible, my Dad and I used 5 ton napa jackstands to change rear tires on a loaded grain truck on the side of the road.  We had to hurry as it slowly pushed the jackstand into the asphalt.  Gives me the shivers to think about it now.  I think we had 8 ton on that corner according to the elevator scales.  It was an old international truck (i guess it wasn't that old, heck it's only a year older than my bus) that had 900-20's on it with steel 6 bolt rims that kept cracking around the lugs because it was so overloaded.
Rick A. Cone
Silverdale, WA
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Offline Ed Hackenbruch

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Re: Any recommendations on jack stands and air jack to lift bus?
« Reply #26 on: June 10, 2012, 04:02:20 PM »
 I have a couple of the 20 ton HF air/hydraulic jacks and love them. In the 9 years we have had the bus we have always been on dirt or gravel so i don't have or use jack stands.....i use wood blocking. Starting this fall we will be on concrete but i will still use wood. In Yuma there are a lot of earthquakes and i don't want the bus to fall off of a jack stand. I use enough blocks that the bus could move at least a foot or more in any direction without coming off of the blocks. If i have the wheels off and the project is going to take more than a day, i put them back on at nite. A few years ago i was working under it and the neighbor lady asked if i had felt the earthquake. I said "no, when was it", expecting her to say sometime during the nite. She said, "5 minutes ago". I was so busy i never noticed a thing....really glad i had a lot of blocks under it. ;D
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Offline Slow Rider

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Re: Any recommendations on jack stands and air jack to lift bus?
« Reply #27 on: June 11, 2012, 03:24:36 PM »
I have no idea of the quality of the HF stands but their tonnage per pair is the same way the stands Clifford recommended are rated.


http://atdtools.com/7447


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Offline belfert

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Re: Any recommendations on jack stands and air jack to lift bus?
« Reply #28 on: June 11, 2012, 03:46:51 PM »
Where would one buy good oak or other strong cribbing?
Brian Elfert - 1995 Dina Viaggio 1000 Series 60/B500 - 75% done but usable - Minneapolis, MN

Offline Jeremy

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Re: Any recommendations on jack stands and air jack to lift bus?
« Reply #29 on: June 11, 2012, 05:12:30 PM »
Repeat:  *Evenly distributed across two Jack Stands

That, clearly in my mind, is false labeling - they are 6T jack stands!!!!


Someone once gave me a 'gift pack' type thing which contained two axle stands and a trolley jack. On studying the packaging I was also scandalized to find that the load rating marked on each stand was actually for both of them used together. It shouldn't be allowed..

Just today I've been pricing up some paint for the bus, and kept clicking on adverts that said things like "5 litre paint deal.." only to find that it wasn't 5 litres of paint at all but a pack with half the volume made up by cheap thinners. That shouldn't be allowed either.


Where would one buy good oak or other strong cribbing?

My first thought would be to find somewhere that sells reclaimed railway sleepers (railroad ties?). Garden centres sell at lot of them for people doing landscaping work.


Jeremy
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