Ball Joints

[BuzzGun79]

I know i have been a member for a short time on this site,{and i love every minute of it}& we all enjoy our vehicles whether they are classics or current & working on them & disscussion of our troubles & such,but i think the Admins of the site would want us all to promote saftey in our suggestions to others.lets make this site better by doing so....just maybe we can become the # 1 site on the internet!!

 

[BuzzGun79]

What in the heck did you do?
Lay the hollow blocks on their sides?
...or was the surface they were based on hard and uneven?
What?

To answer your question Alvin..i was young & dumb to use the blocks in the first place & on a dirt surface that was uneven. now i take the extra time to prepare what ever surface i may be working on so it will be safe for me & others that may be helping me along with proper saftey equipment when you do your own work it is mandatory to have it,if i dont have something of importance i need for a job i either borrow or rent or buy it...Bob :]

 

[Alvin in AZ]

Please Heed my Advice fellas....you may get away with using concrete blocks
& wood many many times....it only takes that one time,then your life will
change..if you survive that is.WORK SAFELY!!!!! ive seen enough people get
hurt or worse!! over the years.BELIEVE ME!! if you dont think it can
happen to you, YOU BETTER THINK AGAIN!

Yeah, I agree 100% we need to promote safety.
Stop telling people to use those stinkin' jack stands!

Alvin in AZ

 

[smokey]

Nothing wrong with using cribbing blocks. I have 3' long 6x6 and 8x8 oak blocks and stack on a cross hatch pattern and have lifted and blocked up fully loaded dump trucks with over 20+ ton of materials in the bed. Cinder or cement blocks will crush and are not safe in any way safe to use.
Quality jack stands are safe but most people have cheap wallyworld stands that I wouldn't trust to hold a block of Styrofoam up.

 

[Alvin in AZ]

...most people have cheap wallyworld stands that I wouldn't
trust to hold a block of Styrofoam up.

Why in the heck would you expect anything else than those tho? :/

When all that's posted is "use jack stands", what do you expect a
n00b to buy? ...and where from? Harbor Freight, Walmart or
the local autoparts store that's competing with those two.

So, we are all talking about -those- sorry jack stands right up until
you post something specific (URL at least) with a picture.

We all know what 8x8x16 cement blocks look like...
http://www.panix.com/~alvinj/file12/toe-in1.jpg
http://www.panix.com/~alvinj/file12/toe-in2.jpg

-------------------------

I've never seen jacks stands that could be trusted. All of them had
legs on 'em like they were made to be used on a level concrete floor
(or permafrost and they all had a very small foot print too.

IME, they are worse than a bare-bottle jack on the ground, at least
the bottle jack has a flat bottom. LOL

The pair of jack stands I was given even sunk into asphalt.

--------------------------

Trailer trash here.

Born and raised and later too, needed to be mobile for the railroad.

All my trailers were blocked up using 8x8x16 cement blocks, if your
pickup crushed a cement block or fell off a stack of them, then you
did something wrong.

And I suppose you thought this was going to be easy?
Anytime safety is brought up, it ain't gonna be easy.

Alvin in AZ

 

[smokey]

I'll have to remember to take a picture of the stands I made. they have a heavy base plate welded on I believe it is 1/2" plate 2'x2' the stand pipe is thick walled square tubing. They look like this but have a base plate welded on also for stability. http://www.denlorstools.com/home/dt1/page_3387_113/otc_heavy-duty_20-ton_jack_stand_otc_1783.html
I have had the cement blocks crush and crack under the weight I subject hem to with some of the things I block up. School bus, OTR trucks,heavy equipment.etc

 

[Mil1ion]

Use 8"x 8" Fir (stacked if you wish).

I use 8000 lb rated steel ramps

Cinder blocks made or stored anywhere in the world are not safe

 

[3/4 Ton Joe]

I have 3 ton jack stands that work very well plus I leave the jacl under as well. Here is a pic of the front end with the tire off. I think I have the ball joint figured out. , just need to figure out the front brake calipers. How do they come off.

Thanks
Joe

 

[3/4 Ton Joe]

Forgot to mention already spent the money on the new ball joints. Most likely will bet the rotars turned while I have them apart, and maybe replace the u-joints in the front axle.

 

[Alvin in AZ]

just need to figure out the front brake calipers. How do they come off.
Joe

Need a special socket to loosen the jam nut on the front wheel bearings.
It's setup like a 2wd only they used a special washer and a jam nut to
hold your front wheel bearing adjustment.

Any auto parts store can hook you up with the right 1/2" drive spindle
nut socket.

Looks like Autozone's part number for the socket you need is 15009-01.

~$20

Alvin in AZ

 

[BuzzGun79]

ill get some pics up tommorro of the type of stand that is safe,you can get them at Harbor freight.they are sturdy & heavy duty...Alvin your a funny dude man.. Bob

 

[BuzzGun79]

i posted some use full info on floor jacks & jack stands in the general automotive category so others may view it as well pics of my stands are in my Gallery of pics sorry for the in convienance but i have no picture software on this computer to re size them to put here in the catagories..i tried to cover as much that came to mind.we can tweak as we go...Bob

 

[kiwi f150]

Now this is what i call an unsafe stand!!

Pure darwinism at work here or maybe an improvement to the gene pool if he leans back on the "stand"

 

[BuzzGun79]

^^^^"Ill fix your truck for 10 dollar"^^^^^