>Is there anything I should know before I jack up my TR3 and put it on
>jack stands? I do not want to do any damage to the car and was wondering
>if there is any special precaution I need to take when jacking the car.
>
The most important thing is not to kill yourself. People die from having
cars fall on them.
You want to make sure that you have good quality jack stands. You can use
them directly on cement. If you have pavement or dirt you will need to
put boards under the jack stands. I use heavy plywood. If you are on
ANY kind of slope, face the car in the up & down direction; find a tie
point up hill and connect a come-along between the tie point and the end
of the car.
Use the frame as rest points for your jack stands. I use a floor jack &
jack up one end, set the stands at that end then do it on the other end.
When you get the second end up, there is always some lateral stress on
the first pair you placed. Go back to the end you started on & lift the
car slightly off the stands then reseat them.
ANY time you go under the car, give it a good solid push from each side
to see if it is really stable before going under. Its easier to reset
the stands than to breath with a car on your chest. SO far, I know one
person who died when his car fell off a set of jack stands and I have a
good friend who is alive because he had three fast moving employees to
lift a car off him before he suffocated.
That said, I live about 1 mile from the epicenter of the 1989 Loma Prieta
7.1 earthquake. My TR3 was on jack stands when it hit. It was still on
jack stands when the quake was over.
I had regular jack stands on plywood over dirt at the rear and box type
stands that wheels sit on at the front. The car was facing downhill and
was connected to a post on the uphill side. The long axis of the car just
happened to be aligned with the direction of the shock waves.
make your own luck and stay alive.
TeriAnn Wakeman
Santa Cruz, California
NOTE NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS twakeman@cruzers.com
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