jacking and support 101........
oh yeh,, gravel drive.. jack stands don't work, please note the wide stance piramid of treated 4x4s.
do NOT EVER USE in a dirt or gravel drive
jack stands
the floor jack.
cement blocks.
tree stumps, (they can split).
what ever you do use it must support the truck if it rains. (ground gets soft).
it must take wind and weather.
it must support a whole house. you sure don't want the truck to fall on you.
all of these drive way mods the truck is supported, has been pushed on, there are extra's that are not in the pictures, like putting the tires under the truck. but not as the support, just the catcher.
even on cement, the floor jack is not a good support.
my buddy was trying to get a bolt loose. tried everything then got a 6 foot bar. he was not under the truck at the time. he (big guy) sort of jumped on the end of it and the welds on the floor jack gave up the ghost and dumped the truck onto the floor. (big guy) there was not room for him under the truck after it fell. He told me how sick he felt that he had just been under there jerking around on the breaker bar.
I know that it is silly of me. but in California, after the 89 earth quake I could not get under a truck unless there was my pyramid of wood supporting it. I could not trust jack stands, because I could easy push the truck over on them. ok, not easy but could still do it.
my best friend in Sacramento laughed at me. untill we were working in his drive and one hit. the truck fell over. we went and bought 10 4x4s and cut them up. that was 15 years ago and as far as I know he is still using them.
as my truck has gotten taller I have gone to a mix of 8x8's and 4x4's.
most of this comes from a story I can tell..
when I was a kid I had a 70 road runner that I blew the clutch in.
I had the transmission out and was bolting up the fly wheel. I don't remember why but I also had the wheel off on the drivers side.
I had it supported by a hydraulic jack under the frame. we lived in the middle of no where. the car fell on me. the frame was just above my hips. I had turned my head to the rear of the car when the wrench slipped.
now this hurt, way bad. but I could breath. but I could not turn my head.
I yelled and yelled for all the good it would do.... then after the panic, I got to work. I could not see the jack, my head was turned the other way. I did get ahold of it and the handle. I released it and mashed it all the way back down against my hip. but I could not get it set up right against anything to jack the car back up.
I felt around some more and felt a screw driver. so with my head trapped, shoulders ect. I started digging a hole in the compacted gravel drive.
when I finally got the hole dug and the jack wedged in under the front A frame.. after a lot of digging prying cramping and scooping... I about cried when I found the hole was not big enough to use the jack's handle, I could not pump it...... so I kept digging.. scooping, I could not breath very well.. and my insides hurt like I was going to die... I did get the hole dug. I did get that car off of me, as you know since I am typing this all in...
amazingly I was not really hurt. my parents would have junked the car and killed me for doing that. I got out with some scrapes, some major bruises. I was lucky that it didn't just crush me when it fell. I didn't even tell my parents.
It was awful, it has been some 30 years now and I can still close my eyes, smell the blood and the under coating of the car. I remember the cramps, the digging, the over whelming sadness that I felt when the jack handle would not work in the hole I dug.
so.. don't let the damnnnnn thing fall on you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!