Well...68 years old...and still learning. Many of you may say, "I already knew that."
...but just in the event others have ignored the obvious, I'm not ashamed to share that I had missed this little deal for years!
Recently, we have had a couple of threads about jacks, lifting, and supporting our vehicles when working on them. Also, as usual, our subject wanders, swerves, and weaves off-topic from time to time. It was reading one of the prior threads that reminded me that I wanted to buy a couple of additional ratchet style jack stands. My favorite jack stands are a pair that I had bought probably twenty five years ago. So...a couple of weeks ago, I stopped by a local Northern Tool store and bought a pair of 3ton jack stands on sale for about twenty five bucks. Today, I finally got around to opening the box and checking them out. I set one of my old stands next to the new ones for comparison. Three rather obvious differences were quickly apparent. The new ones are smaller (less material) and the parts were formed and assembled from fewer parts (less welding). Also, the new ones have an additional locking pin to double the safety factor of the ratcheting mechanism.
One thing on both, that I have never paid any attention to, was an odd shaped hole punched into the body of both stands. Suddenly, a little light went on in my feeble brain (duh).
You ever get in a hurry, grab one of these jack stands by the "post," only to leave the base behind? Or, worse, while calling on one of my industrial customers, I once saw a maintenance worker drop the base of a ratchet jack stand on his foot when the base slipped off the post.
That weird shaped hole forms a "tab" that is to be bent in to lock the post in place and prevent it from sliding out! The reason they are NOT shipped with the post "locked" and the tab already bent in...is because they can be shipped un-assembled in a smaller package.
I know...it is a very little detail, but if you tend to misplace things, lose things that belong together...or, like that poor maintenance worker...find creative ways to hurt yourself...this could be important. This is what I learned today.
So...now, any of you needing to place jack stands under your Studebaker while the wheels are off, have no excuse to be looking for the post or base that got separated since it was last used.
...but just in the event others have ignored the obvious, I'm not ashamed to share that I had missed this little deal for years!Recently, we have had a couple of threads about jacks, lifting, and supporting our vehicles when working on them. Also, as usual, our subject wanders, swerves, and weaves off-topic from time to time. It was reading one of the prior threads that reminded me that I wanted to buy a couple of additional ratchet style jack stands. My favorite jack stands are a pair that I had bought probably twenty five years ago. So...a couple of weeks ago, I stopped by a local Northern Tool store and bought a pair of 3ton jack stands on sale for about twenty five bucks. Today, I finally got around to opening the box and checking them out. I set one of my old stands next to the new ones for comparison. Three rather obvious differences were quickly apparent. The new ones are smaller (less material) and the parts were formed and assembled from fewer parts (less welding). Also, the new ones have an additional locking pin to double the safety factor of the ratcheting mechanism.
One thing on both, that I have never paid any attention to, was an odd shaped hole punched into the body of both stands. Suddenly, a little light went on in my feeble brain (duh).
You ever get in a hurry, grab one of these jack stands by the "post," only to leave the base behind? Or, worse, while calling on one of my industrial customers, I once saw a maintenance worker drop the base of a ratchet jack stand on his foot when the base slipped off the post.That weird shaped hole forms a "tab" that is to be bent in to lock the post in place and prevent it from sliding out! The reason they are NOT shipped with the post "locked" and the tab already bent in...is because they can be shipped un-assembled in a smaller package.
I know...it is a very little detail, but if you tend to misplace things, lose things that belong together...or, like that poor maintenance worker...find creative ways to hurt yourself...this could be important. This is what I learned today.
So...now, any of you needing to place jack stands under your Studebaker while the wheels are off, have no excuse to be looking for the post or base that got separated since it was last used.
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