Custom Jack Stand

Now that everyone has critiqued the stands and made good logical suggestions, here's a little tale that happened to me with my GT on stands. If you've seen any of the pics of my driveway you'll note it is a small incline. After I painted the rear-end and was going to install it, I jacked up the back of the car to get a little more height to roll the assembly under the car. Luckily the front still had the wheels on. As I took the weight off the jackstands the whole car started rolling back down the driveway and the jackstands tilted. I got lucky and wasn't pinned against the gate and the car never hit the ground. I ended up using a 2 ton come-along winch anchored to a fence post and the front suspension, to finish putting in the rear-end. The jackstands you have do need some mods, Jeff is right about a bigger footprint, it's less prone to tipping, Dave has a good point about a swivel action, that could be compensated for by anchoring all four jackstands together about where the screwjack is on the stands. Like I said they look really nice but can be made safer, and that is the basis for all the criticism or critiquing on this thread. There aren't really enuff Opel owners and to lose one to injury or worse working on them is not a good thing. Take all of this as it is given, in the old addage, better to be safe than sorry.

Thank you, everyone, for your comments and concerns. Here is the thought process for their design.

I chose 3 legs, and don't want a plate underneath so that they will always be steady on the ground, no matter what the surface, pebbles and uneven concrete, etc. I thought about the need for beveled connections on the connecting rods and decided to keep the 3 legs and make the connections as necessary. The diameter of the circle that the legs fit in is 8", I got that from the set of 4 stands that I presently use, although I admit that after I fabricated the stand, it looked a little small to me too. I tried the stand under the car over the weekend, and it appears to be quite stable as is, I am set up on a level concrete garage floor. The interconnecting rods have two holes in them to resist rotation due to the round pins, in general I will probably have 3 of the rods installed when working on the car, leaving myself access from one side. I ALWAYS, have a hydraulic jack as a backup somewhere under the vehicle on the end or side where I am working. I too had an acquaintance through business, who DIED , because he was trapped under a car when changing the oil. I am going to be fabricating the other three this week, I will be increasing the circle for the legs to 10" and I will change to a 4 leg pattern - just to increase the anti-tip factor. Again, thanks to all for your input - I will post a pic of the modified version when it's done.

Second Jackstand Design

OK, here it is, (still needs paint) with many of the useful comments incorporated.

Jack Stand In Use With Caster Ass'y Attached

Here are a couple of Pics of the Jack Stand In Use with the "Jackable" casters that I built. The near side tie bar is left off for now so that I have access with a creeper. When the car needs to be moved I will attach the fourth tie bar, crank up the four caster assemblies, and wheel is out.

jack stand un custom

question 1- will a pair of these work on the back end? or are they just for the front?

markandson- dam are you good at metal fabrication. 2-Are you bringing the gt to carlisle?3- this is off topic...how did you fit in sportwagon springs to your gt?4- how many loops did you cut? arent they too short after you cut them?
5-are you bringing your gt to carlisle?..i guess you can answer in the carlisle thread or tell me at the cave place...

the best equipment I have bought was a portable car lift for my opel...
for under $1500.00 its been best tool I have.

It will also do your wife car...