Jack stand's on asphalt

I am about to lift my truck in the air with four jack stands. The parking lot I got permission to use is maid out of asphalt. I heard I should use wood, or something underneath the jack stands to distribute the load. Does it matter what type of wood it's maid out of? Should I also get a longer piece of wood, to place underneath my service jacks?

Thanks

 

Plywood as shown in your picture is perfect. Just make sure it is real plywood and not chip board.
If you have a bigger piece to use under the service jack it will be good, although not essential.

 

Absolutely...... you should use wood under the jackstands or you'll have L shaped indents in the asphalt.
If you use a hydraulic jack, sometimes the wheel's can create dents too.

Anything that's thick enough to support the weight (without cracking or breaking ). You'll know as soon as you put weight on it...if its not thick enough or strong enough.

 

X2

 

Yep what you have pictured there would work great for using jack stands on warm asphalt

 

Thanks everybody, great tips. Just picked up some 3/4" plywood for my jack and stands, had home depot cut them to size.

I had it cut to 15x15". It's about 4 inches more then the jack stands base dimension.

I hope so too. My dad's letting me use his lot to work on my truck. I forgot how it looks like. He says it's leveled, will see lol. It's so hard to find flat ground here in L.A, due to all the land tilted towards the storm drains.

Just curious if it wasn't leveled, would it be better for the angle of the ground to be length wise or width wise to the vehicle? I know the obvious answer is to find another place to work on it, but just out of curiosity.

 

Just IMHO
Plywood is great but they can slip from plywood. So I would be very careful. Still I think the best way to go is to weld foot bases to those legs and never have this problem.

 

I'd never trust a stand on wood. Could crack at anytime.

Personally I'd avoid jacking up on asphalt at all.

 

Thanks Ill be mindful of the slipping issue. I wish I could weld it like you said, but don't got a welder and no place to weld. I know jack stand manufactures are trying to save money when it comes to building jack stands, but it would be nice if they built all stands that way to begin with.

 

Be careful of jack stands on asphalt.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/need-some-help-after-jackstand-failure.375619

 

Ya there are better option's out there, but unfortunately I'm a guy who is addicted on working on his truck, and has to share his parking garage with 19 other people. I can't see any other options at the moment.

Thanks for the reminder. I actually read your thread before I created this one. That's why I wanted some extra info before I proceed. That's scary man I'm glad your alive!!

I got 2 pair's of Pittsburgh 6 ton jacks, and two 3 ton harbor freight jacks for some extra security, also I gotta get some wheel chocks

 

If you are doing this often you could have the base of the jack stands welded to steel plates similar in length and width to the plywood you had pictured. Although you wouldn't need 3/4" thick... Probably 1/4"-3/8" would be good. That being said I have never seen an issue using plywood but I have access to concrete floors so haven't had to do so myself

 

3/4" fir plywood will work great, the jackstands will sink into spruce too much for my liking.

If at all unsure, don't do it. Here's a sobering local-to-me example as to why:

http://www.castanet.net/edition/news-story-142127-101-.htm#142127

 

Park your truck length ways, if the ground is not level. I always put my rims under the truck (good side up) in such a way to prevent the truck from falling all the way down in the case of an accident. You should have no problems with wood. Metal with a significant load does not slip on wood. Thats why you see truck loads of steel with wood dunnage in between. Yes its also to help pick up the pieces too. So again, you should be fine. Just use a hardwood, not a soft wood.. Hee hee, that sounds perverted! And shake the hell out of the truck once up on the stands before you remove the tires to make sure its stable. Be safe! Hope this helps.

 

Well, funeral costs more than getting those pieces welded.. There are way too many people who died crushed by their vehicle. I would rather be safe than "quick."
Even if you spend another $100 on getting that welded I think its worth it.

 

X2

 

You make a very good point. I already spent a ton of money on tools. What's an extra 100 bucks on someone to weld it for me. If I go to a welding/fabrication shop, what exactly do I ask them to do to make it less prone to failure? Thanks

 

I've used similar plywood under jack stands on asphalt without problems many times.

 

Ask them to weld a base so they aren't prone to sinking into asphalt. They SHOULD know what to do if you tell them that.

 

I'll get a pic of a properly built stand that works on asphalt - used them to work on my lifted Sami and doing fab work on trailers . These will support a semi truck , loaded but a lighter version can be made if needed .
Sarge