Three Jack Stands or Four?

[dibbons]

Getting ready to remove differential on my '65 Formula S (has a 489 case 8 3/4). The car is stripped except for K-Member, spindles, torsion bars, steering column, differential, and leaf springs (no glass, no interior, no motor, no transmission, no driveline, etc).

I placed the jack under the carrier of the 8 3/4 and placed two jack stands on the frame right in front of the front leaf spring bolt/pivots.

I placed the jack under the center of the K-Member and placed jack stands under both control arm/A-arms close to the front stabilizer bracket. When I released the jack, the vehicle was only resting on the drivers side control arm while there was about a 1/4" space between the jack stand and the passenger side control arm. Had to put a slice of thin plywood under the passenger side jack stand so the vehicle would sit on all four stands-not just three. I expected to find more flex in a 50 year-old vehicle than that.

i suppose these cars must really be light after having taken off so much drivetrain. The floor of the body shop must not be level or my vehicle is tweaked somewhere a little bit?

This is all in prep of fabricating the wood lattice to turn the vehicle 90 degrees on its side to paint the bottom structure.

 

[BeatersRus]

that certainly did make me stop and reread your post several times.
thoughts...
are all the jackstands actually the same length?
or are they cheaper chinese stands?
is your floor actually level?

if the answer is yes to those...then..it has to be the car itself....?
if so,then now would be the time to fix that And install subframe connectors,
so it doesnt happen again.

 

[Garethw]

I had that happen too. Totally stripped down car and got only three of four jacks to make contact. I just made sure they were in exact same places left to right. Then it was fine.

 

[dibbons]

The stands are new (Chinese) from AutoZone. I did not measure them before installation. It could even be the placement of the two rear stands (not exactly matched), throwing off the front a little bit. It would not take much to make a difference.

 

[missing linc]

Have had that happen before as well, there is some variation/tolerance in the body structure, could be the floor is out some too, that was the cause of mine. Concrete rarely floats evenly, unless the contractor is required to make it within a specific tolerance, they just make it reasonably level. My floor has a slope for drainage, that makes it hard to use jack stands in one specific area.

 

[Demonracer]

In MHO, the better it is supported, the safer you are while working around oR under it. Think SAFETY first, always.