Date:         Wed, 26 May 2010 08:58:52 -0700
Reply-To:     "Mike \"Rocket J Squirrel\"" <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         "Mike \"Rocket J Squirrel\"" <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Good types of drive-on lift ramps?
Comments: To: David Beierl <dbeierl@attglobal.net>
In-Reply-To:  <4bfd2801.9453f10a.4dd1.0486@mx.google.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

David Beierl wrote:
> At 06:27 PM 5/25/2010, Rowan Tipton wrote:
>> I've got jack stands but they are VERY unsafe on my unlevel driveway.
>> I use my floor jack to jack up a corner of my van, put a ramp (4 ton
>
> Rowan, MIke -- make yourself some wooden pads that match the angle of
> your driveway.  Stick some ~1/8" steel on the top to take the puncture
> loads from the stand feet.  Hey Presto -- instant level driveway.

The only part about this is I'm having a hard time picturing what to put
the floor lift on to lift the end of the vehicle which is sitting atop
the wood pads.

Say I need 8'' of wood pad to park the downhill end of the van on to
make it level when it's on the driveway. Lifting the uphill (unpadded)
side with a floor jack is easy. Once that end is up on jackstands, I
need to lift the other side to make the van level.

Either I use a very high lift jack (normal + 8'') or build an additional
platform for the jack. Put the jack on it to lift the van, bearing in
mind Scott's warning about not letting the jack tug the van off the
first two stands, then put in the other two jackstands.

I don't know how much lift one can expect from a small floor jack (which
is all I have room for, have not bought yet, Harbor Freight has a small
two-ton model for $30). I figure this would be good to know before
shopping for the wood bits to build the pads. Maybe I'll first buy the
jackstands and the floor jack and do some prep work with a tape measure.

--
Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
74 Westrailia: (Ladybug Trailer company, San Juan Capistrano, Calif.)
Bend, OR
KG6RCR