A few are against tihis but it works so. A load test maybe ???

[W.olly]

Having made these and they work great for lifting tha car that weighs 1600kg. So say 400kg each corner as its a near as dam.50/50 distribution.

I have yet not load tested them properly but for when I made them I used a 3000kg air jack in them and inflated to max and held them there for an hour or so.

Now that is not a downward load.

Sat here wondering if it's needed to land test to a certain amount?

load test to what.?

 

[Maker]

The need to test them, and the test load depends on your risk tolerance. A test load 5x the working load is quite common I believe.

 

[Ubique]

I'd also be wondering how secure those slabs are - four dabs or five? and onto what substrate... maybe a larger footprint would be advisable?.

 

[Barking Mat]

Looks dodgy as hell. What's the plan ?

 

[GRW]

They look massively strong. When you see the thin angle iron used in 2-tonne rated halfords type car ramps, those things are "Forth Bridge" in comparison, so if welds etc are good, I'd be OK with them (hardly a scientific or engineering guru opinion, but there ya go!).

As @Ubique said though - I'd be far more concerned about them splitting a slab and toppling than structural failure

 

[Richiew]

Speaking as the owner of a Chinese engine crane, I'm sure those stands are perfectly suitable for your personal use.

Those slabs look well settled too.

 

[Anguz]

Most axle stands are 3 legged so they have to share the weight... 4 legged won't share the load if the ground isn't flat and level
That said I would use them

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

As @Ubique said though - I'd be far more concerned about them splitting a slab and toppling than structural failure

Other scary possibilities are:

- The sliding elements of one stand racking and binding up, meaning that you end up with the vehicle being lifted at an angle and toppling.

- The machine screws used as pins sheering under load after a while due to fatigue or overloading, (using thick low-alloy steel round bar, or at least close-fitting high-strength bolts with no sheer loaf on the threads would be more preferable).

Both are probably not going to happen... But without physically seeing the thing in front of me, I wouldn't rule out either possiblity.

OP's idea and execution are pretty nifty, but lifting equipment is not an area I would advise anyone to "F around and find out" with.

 

[Mark 5]

They look massively strong. When you see the thin angle iron used in 2-tonne rated halfords type car ramps, those things are "Forth Bridge" in comparison, so if welds etc are good, I'd be OK with them (hardly a scientific or engineering guru opinion, but there ya go!).

As @Ubique said though - I'd be far more concerned about them splitting a slab and toppling than structural failure

If you see the photo, some of those flags have cracked, still the ramps look as strong as heck to me.

 

[sg66]

I would add some plate to the base to spread the weight on those flags

 

[Gragson]

Wobblyness, Download is one thing.
If it rocks about when your yanking on something hard underneath...
As said, plates welded to spread the corner of each foot each corner.
4 piles of cut up railway sleepers added to the jack points would make me feel safer, let the tyres down a bit to squeeze down

 

[magnet]

You could put a 8x4x3/4 ply board under your stands to spread the load on your flags. They'd bite in nice too when the weights on.

 

[brightspark]

just weld some 3x3 plate on each leg will do

 

[Screwdriver]

Looks "top heavy" to me as if it could easily topple sideways.

I'd want to at least see some left/right bracing on the front and rear pairs of stands. Also I don't like the feet being so perfectly vertical, they really ought to splay out at the bottom so that they can't merely tilt. With the feet splayed out, any sideways rocking motion would necessarily want to lift the leg up as it tilts so that all that weight basically holds the leg vertical. Without any splay, as soon as the leg begins to tilt, all that weight is going to push it further over.

 

[jo1010]

One problem is the fact that all the weight is bearing on 4 small points for each stand - and 1" slabs are not robust enough for that ....if one slab is punched through the whole thing topples.....needs steel plate to spread the load more.....but even then...
Worse is the multiplication of weight.....if you put a 6 ft bar on a big tight nut on the car that 1.5 ton load suddenly becomes a lot more.....
And could also topple the vehicle given the stands aren't connected together in any way....it's frightening me tbh

 

[bricol]

All the above – and no triangulation on the upper part – obviously because it drops inside the lower, but who knows how much is needed to just over-stress one corner weld, start one tube bending. . . and over goes the lot.

What exactly needs so much access under a basic chassis with a plastic body dropped on top? I would imagine there’s more work possibly required in the suspension, hubs, brakes etc – and how do you know support it to get access to those?

I wouldn’t get under a tonne and a half of car for long with it up in the air like that.

 

[winchman]

Stability would be my big concern and the suitability of the point loading on the flags.
But 10 out of 10 for ingenuity.

 

[GRW]

All the above – and no triangulation on the upper part – obviously because it drops inside the lower, but who knows how much is needed to just over-stress one corner weld, start one tube bending. . . and over goes the lot.

What exactly needs so much access under a basic chassis with a plastic body dropped on top? I would imagine there’s more work possibly required in the suspension, hubs, brakes etc – and how do you know support it to get access to those?

I wouldn’t get under a tonne and a half of car for long with it up in the air like that.

A guy I know lifts up his 3.5t lwb van with a forklift, and puts the wheels down on top of Alloy Beer Barrels to work under it.
I'm not kidding!
(He wanted me to help with some work under it - replacing a starter I think. I refused point blank & said no way).
He's done it loads of times so blasé about it - but it only needs to go wrong once!

 

[Dcal]

What's not to like?

They will spread the load far more than standard axle stands ever would.
Once it's set up tap each leg with a hammer to make sure it's taking load and work away.

I'd be much more worried about the slabs but if they are well laid on compacted hard core, they will easily take that weight, however not when the load is applied so close to the edge as the front ones seem to be.

For improvements, as others have said, something to spread the load under the ends of the tube feet will reduce point loads into the slabs, I'd use soft wood, at least an inch thick, and if you are really paranoid I'd put a 4 inch square of plywood under each leg on top of the soft wood to eliminate any chance of the soft wood splitting from the leg punching loads. It's all they normally use under scaffolding so would work fine here too.
Something with a bit of give will be better than steel in this case (in my opinion)
I'd have no concerns about the whole thing toppling over (unless you live in an earthquake zone and even then it would probably survive) the car is connected to the stands (by friction) and the car is a stiff member so there is connection between the tables, also the suspension will move to take up any movement.

As a test, try and push that lot over, and see how you get on.
If you want to load test, just load to slightly more than the design load. The 5x test load is for lifting equipment and that's a destructive test for quality control. If any lifting equipment is load tested above its swl it should be scrapped.

For a physical test, put a heavier car on the tables as that will test the whole load path (slabs and ground included) preferable without moving the tables so you are testing the same patch of ground, or put extra weight in the car. An extra 10% should do it, so 40kgs (two bags of cement) a corner.
Two normal people would provide a suitable test load, two Americans would probably give a higher factor of safety.

 

[dieselsamurai]

I would have no qualms about working under that i would just weld 3X3 plate under each leg like has been said before

it might be suprising how difficult it would be to topple that lot over with the weight thats on them

I think the pins shearing is very remote 4 on each stand and its a tube so splits the force , probably no more than 200kg on each pin and the look like m10