The Ultimate DIY Budget Wheel Cribs Guide | How To Build Wooden Wheel Stands - In Metric!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 มี.ค. 2024
- The Ultimate DIY Budget Wheel Cribs Guide | How To Build Wooden Wheel Stands - In Metric!
In this video, I share a guide on how to make low-budget wheel cribs, AKA wooden wheel stands.
Here is the shopping list to make these wheel cribs yourself:
16x 2.4M Lengths of wood: ebay.us/obdxGj or www.diy.com/departments/metsa...
500x 4.5 x 75mm Decking screws: ebay.us/JhTSDI
You'll want a low-entry high-lift jack to get the car lifted onto them too:
Sealey 2.5 Ton Jack: ebay.us/wR3cz3
Here are the tools you'll need:
Circular saw: ebay.us/NWrDgp
Woodworking Clamps: ebay.us/kZYxoV
Wood drill bits: ebay.us/qqt9fv
Dewalt Impact gun: ebay.us/82Wy7X
Impact Screwdriver Bit Set: ebay.us/nFTnX2
Dewalt Sander: ebay.us/LkEAbV
The design changed part way into the video when I realised I'd miscalculated and purchased a length of wood too many. But this turned out to be a happy accident because I modified the design slightly to make it even more sturdy and heavy-duty.
Thanks to this, I am extremely confident in the safety and longevity of these wheel stands. I'd be confident sitting a Rolls Royce on top of them.
All of the measurements and information in this description is to make the uprated final version of these wooden wheel cribs that I showed part way into the vid.
The problem I have which spurred me onto creating DIY wheel stands out of wood stems from working on my BMW E30 restoration project. Whenever I need to work under the car int he garage, I have a very unpleasant time wedged under the car in a tight space.
I spent some time shopping around for off-the-shelf solutions to this, I considered extra tall jack stands, the type they use on trucks, but they would not lift the car high enough for me.
I even considered metal wheel stands, the type they use to do wheel alignments, but they are ridiculously expensive for what they are and I could not justify spending the best part of a grand one something so basic.
Finally I priced up the angle iron to make a set of my own, welded together. Unfortunately I was also knocked back by the price of this, metal is very expensive these days. That's when I turned to wood, and discovered lots of other automotive restoration enthusiasts come to this same conclusion.
First things first, I created the design on paper which I show in the video. I did this with a combination of factors in the front of my mind:
- Safety of resulting stands
- Cost of materials
- Availability of materials
- Working height achieved
The design was heavily influenced by other wheel crib designs I'd seen online and I went out of my way to create my own version of them taking all of the best ideas I saw and turning them into one ultimate DIY wheel crib design.
As a bonus, I also designed the whole thing based on metric measurements which is something I looked for but could not find in other how-to guides.
Having scoured around for the best priced materials, I opted to steer away from the heftier 2x4 sized timber, for the more sensibly sized budget timber available at my local hardware store for very cheap in 2.4m lengths.
Knowing this, I got to designing my stands based on this fundamental type of wood. I came up with a design that uses layers of wood screwed together, with batons on the top to stop the car's wheels from rolling off the top, which was a concern I have with the shorter blocks I'd previously made. The batons on the top are what makes these known as wooden wheel cribs rather than just wooden wheel stands.
The finished design is 38cm tall, 48cm long, and 30cm wide. Giving a wheel lift platform of 34.2cm which puts the underside of the car quite high from the ground.
To build them you will need 48x 48cm lengths, and 48x 30cm lengths of wood, cut from the 16 lengths of 2.4m CLS timber, this means very little wastage. I cut mine with a circular saw after marking them in batches. I then sanded down and rough edges to minimise spilnters.
To assemble them, use the decking screws, you'll need around 500 of them and I recommend doing 2 screws per join for extra strength.
When all was said and done, the BMW E30 I'm wording on ended up with a 50cm lift between the ground and the underbody of the car, which is plenty of room to work in. A roaring success and should make working on this garage restoration a breeze going forward.
For more helpful how-to guides and restorations: www.spannerrash.com/
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#wheelcribs #wheelstands #diy #restoration - ยานยนต์และพาหนะ
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Nice job on this. Over-engineering is just the right amount of engineering. Thanks from the USA.
Haha that's a good saying! Thank you 😃
Over-engineering = confidence = safety
You always find the 'experts' coming out of the 'woodwork' with their wordly advice on videos like these. But in reality i think those stands are absolutely fine and perfectly safe and i bet they are more than capable of taking a lot more weight. Its crazy how strong wood is, especially when its in a condensed structural shape like this.
But they would definitely be bomb proof is you added the extra central lengths all the way to the bottom
I couldn't agree more, everyone has an opinion on how strong they are.
To be honest they are far stronger than they look. I'm seriously impressed by how solid they turned out.
Obviously I will continue to be very cautious, but so far they're amazing.
When working under any car, Safety is paramount!
Nice Job.
Amen to that, nothing is worth risking your life for. Thats part of the reason I built them. Jack stands scare me!
Dude that beginning of the video is perfect. You start off with quick picture montage. Then channel logo. And then right away reasons why you built this device. -Thats how you do it. Perfect! 😎.
Thanks man! Hopefully good for audience retention. Hope the vid was helpful for you. 😃
Beautiful! I am on the way to the DIY shop! 😊
They're a genuine game changer, enjoy and stay safe!
I had an uncle who had built the exact same design stands and he had a plymouth satelite which was a much heavier car sitting on them for almost 25 years without being removed and it was in a old dirt floor barn. When he had passed on we had to remove it from the property and the stands were still in perfect condition after all those years. You have a tried and trusted design for sure.
No way haha! Now that's what I'm talking about. People don't seem to appreciate just how solid these things are when they are all secured together.
Thanks for sharing that story.
There are hundreds of (TH-cam) videos on making these wheel cribs, and I've watched many of them. And most are designed very poorly, specifically in that the tire rests solely on the top (front & rear) wood pieces. OMG!! They are not intended to be load bearing and designed only chalk the tires to prevent the vehicle from rolling off the cribs (as you state at 3:30). The vehicle weight should rest completely on the wood pieces directly under the tire to properly transfer the load to the floor.
You've got a good design and when safety is of concern, it's never 'over' engineered. I'm very glad to have stumbled across your video. This will be my starting point to building my own set, along with some of the suggestions from your followers. Regards, ... a fellow E46'er
Awesome, really glad you appreciate the design of my cribs. I too noticed a lot of sub-par designs, and you just can't be cutting corners on something like this where safety is involved.
Of course, I could have made them even more stout, but so far, there hasn't been a moment where I've questioned their strength.
I've used these a few times now with my E46. It's a bit tougher to get that car on versus the E30, but still worth the effort. Glad it was helpful for you. Cheers!
Thank you for this! I've been looking for something almost exactly like this. This was the video I needed!
Nice, I can't recommend them enough. They're brilliant. Hope yours come out just as well.
Great stuff, good video. I regret not digging an inspection pit when I built my garage.
You and me both, but I do wonder whether it would just end up as a bin full of all kinds of stuff (worst of all water). 😆
Pros and cons for both I guess!
I'm not even a car guy, but as a biker, I admire the budget solution. Liked ans subbed. Looking forward to having a nosey about your channel.
Ha ha, I caught your old man's video on powder coating and didn't realise it was the same channel 😂. I'm actually rigging up a powder coating set up at your inspiration. Brilliant!
@@soggybawsmoto Welcome aboard mate, glad you're finding some useful vids on the channel. You'll have good fun DIY powder coating, it's very satisfying to do. 😃
I made a couple of these for my e30 manual swap - they are a game changer. So much room- and in my opinion- so much more stable than some jacks.
I couldn't agree more! Some people seem to be saying its not safe, but these are way waaayy more solid than axle stands.
Wise to be very cautious with these things, but I don't think people get how solid these things end up.
@@SPANNERRASH yeah - very safe- I’ve seen much bigger and heavier cars using these our tiny e30 shouldn’t be much of an issue.
I’m a 3 foot 2 midget and made this with your tutorial , I can now do pull ups from the exhaust on my smart car thanks
Haha! Really glad to have helped you out with your special gym setup, hope you get huge. 😆
Built these a few years ago aswell, but rarely used them. But if needed they are really useful.
Awesome, great to have to one side. I hope I won't have to use mine much to be fair! 😆
Nicely done. Cheers!
Cheers Jim!
Great Idea works very well
Thanks mate, so far so good, they're a huge upgrade and super value for money!
I did mine in two halves that lock together so you can half the height when needed.
I did the same, definitely worth the time investment for garage mechanics
Thats a bloody good idea, I put the screws in from the bottom on the lower levels of mine so if I want to I can take layers off. I think I'm more likely to want to add another layer if anything though. But the height right now I'm pretty happy with, much higher and getting a car on would become an ordeal.
@@mattcapper9488 Absolutely!
I’ve got my cribs in two for easy storage and the chock section sits on top of either or both. So at 20” off the ground I’ve got half a ton on each wheel crib. No joint between just friction but it’s level and the weight of the Landy on the wood it cannot slip. Not like a mushroom head on a chassis rail which I always feel is ‘ too slippery’
I built a set of stackable crib blocks back in '17. I got my '88 IROC wheels up about 23" which gave me plenty of room to drop the manual tranny before pulling the engine.
Sounds awesome, thats exactly the kind of work I want to be able to do under the car without suffering too much. Love them so far
Well done, my friend!! If I ever get a chance again to do this kind of stuff, I will be looking for this kind of thing. Who knows, maybe I can yet get a grandson to think beyond the easy!!. I won't hold my breath, but you did well just the same.
Cheers Jon! These cribs work really great, hope you get chance to make some of your own and use them. 😃
What a great idea, I'll have to try that.
thanks for the video, you saved my day :)
Cheers!
Awesome and what a cool idea! I used 8 old steel rims stacked on top of each other and welded together as cribbs. I just happend to have them lying around.. Otherwise I would have definatly gone this route!
Cheers Michael, this trick seems more common in the US, but a couple of UK guys have mentioned about the steel wheel method too. Interesting one, sounds like it works just as well.
Great stuff. I plan to copy your design exactly
Cheers! You will be pleasantly surprised by how good they are. I could never go back to rickety axle stands now!
Great job!!!
Cheers pal!
hell yeah dude i feel like i owe you a beer for planning this, thanks
Haha really hope it's useful for you mate. 😃
Absolutely loving them so far, using them constantly.
hey mate i built four of this 2 years ago. But they are dollies which i can i use to wheel my car into tight corners for storage. 16" x 16" on 5" castors. They are very solid and I use these to support my car when i want to work under the car too like changing clutch line, axle boots change etc.
Adding dollies, now there is a good idea! In my small garage there aren't too many places to wheel the car so I almost always want it dead centre, but I will definitely consider that. If I had a larger space like you it would be a game changer. Thanks for sharing that idea. 😃
good to know. I also made a ste of wood planks that can be stacked on top of dolly making it adjustable height when I want it raised higher. I use M8 bolts wiht 2: thick by 4" wood planks. The height is roughly 9-11" tall, enough for me to use creeper to work on my car bottom. @@SPANNERRASH
Thanks. Was good to show how you got the car on to them as well, that can be the tricky bit
Thanks Oliver, glad its helpful!
Deffo need a good quality high lift jack to make life easier. Even then its a 2 stage lift.
Thank you for the metric measurements 😂🎉
Haha no worries mate, all others I found are in yards, feet and inches, which my brain does not compute. 😆
@@SPANNERRASHthose other measurements are for cavemen
@@Dale_D589 Haha! Careful, you'll start a scrap with some of the old school guys 😆
Got me thinking of making a set, thanks. Since I'd be working on the driveway I'd probably make a fifth block to place next to me when working underneath the car, it would probably give you a chance if the car was ever knocked off the blocks. I say that with the picture of an Amazon Sprinter van in my mind.
Nice, so far I highly recommend them, best value garage equipment ever, by a large margin. A real game changer for a DIY mechanic.
Once you've built them to this design, providing your driveway is relatively level, you'll feel perfectly safe. The car is literally planted on them and they are truly solid.
You'd have to be doing something crazy to knock the car off.
@@SPANNERRASH It's not me doing something crazy I'm worried about, it's other people. Even on my own driveway I'd still worry about some passing idiot losing control and knocking the car off the blocks - sod's law and that.
@@spencereagle1118 Fair point, that would be disastrous!
Very nice. Now add a creeper to move around under the car easier.
100%! I have a cheap one but the wheels keep getting jammed, I really ought to get myself a decent quality one to make the most of this. 😃
Good video thanks.
One word of warning, I used those exact same decking screws for a garden project and after a while they started snapping at the shanks for no apparent reason and under zero load. I think it is being caused by the timber expanding and contracting (worse if outdoors and getting wet). Only noticed it as I had to undo a couple and the heads were literally just held in by the countersink and fell right out. Checked a few more and about half of them were broken.
Oh dear, thanks for the heads up on that! I'll be sure to keep these blocks from getting wet, and I'll certainly keep an eye on their integrity.
You really can't be too careful with something like this! Cheers
@@SPANNERRASH Decking screws resist corrosion but aren't the best for heavy loads.
You could try _flat head masonry screws_ for both corrosion resistance and heavy load capacity but you might have to _predrill_ all your holes first taking the build more time.
I'd use #10 construction screws, 3" long, much stronger than deck screws.
Only change I'd make is to have a solid line of support all the way down from the center of the wheel to floor, easy with just a few more blocks.
Yeah it would indeed have been better, but to be honest, even the original design without the extra support layers would have been ample for what I'm using them for.
They are remarkably solid when assembled. I've no worries about them so far.
Agreed... That would have put the entire assembly in compression instead of part of it being in tension... If you look at how *real* cribbing is done, you will see it that way and you don't even use nails / screws to attach the pieces together... Even houses can be raised up in this manner...
In general, you should never trust any one lift system, no matter what it is. When you have the car on this, still get jack stands of appropriate height under the area you're working, to have a back up catch.
I usually have 3, jack stand, jack as backup, and a tire under the side or corner. One of the last things you ever want to do is have a car land on you, it's worth making sure there is back up.
One thing is OK for storage, but when you're getting under it throw a back up under there too, it only takes a minute or two extra.
Don't get me wrong, I trust ramps/cribs like this far more than most other lifts. But it takes very little to throw a secondary jack stand under near where you're working, that would at least keep that corner or end of the car off you if something happened.
If you're doing this often, make a custom, secure riser for the jack that fits in the pad hole. Probably your most dangerous part currently is the idea of something shifting during the lift and the block going off the jack. If it's really connected, the jack will tend to drag along and not drop the car. Again not that likely, but a good general practice.
And of course jacking in the center is a bad idea on a lot of cars, so make sure that is OK first.
Yep, I completely agree with all your points there. You can literally never be too careful when getting underneath a car.
I generally have my jack still in place and in contact with either the diff or the subframe to give that extra security.
Thanks for sharing!
I don't have a helper so I would use my miter saw on a stand with the end stop set at a desired length. Thank you for the video, I'll give it a try. 👍
Using the right tools would have helped massively, hope your crib build goes well!
I basically built similar 4 stands years ago.
Still using them. Im not afraid going under car.
I trust my wood stands more than factory made metal stands.
Nice, yeah I've been saying the same. Way happier with the car on these than I was with axle stands. Feels absolutely solid, not rickety in the same way. Cheers!
I built mine a few years ago from the same wood from B&Q! Mine have the addition of adjustable feet from m20 bolts so i can get a level setup patch anywhere for corner weighting and sus alingment work. Also diyed my own adjustable 'smart string' 4 wheel alligment setup to use with them.
Mine have the extra peices at every level, and 2 extras in the top layer to be solid (nongaps) to put metal slip plates on for alignment work, and also the longacrea corner wieght scales.
Also used wood glue at every joint... Could probs park a tank on mine 😂
They are very handy things. You'll have them a lifetime!
Awesome idea Adam to make them alignment platforms! That did actually cross my mind too but wasn't sure on how to level them. Using some hefty bolts sounds like a really great idea.
I thought mine were solid but sounds like yours are the whole hog with the way you've assembled them. Maybe not too late for some modifications to mine down the line for similar use.
Thanks for sharing that! 👍
@@SPANNERRASH the hefty bolts also mean the platforms aren't sitting on the wet drive (I don't have a garage) which is a handy side effect. The nuts are welded to large spreading washers which themselves are screwed to the platform so you can't loose anything.
The other thing I did was to make the wheel chocking pieces removable so you can tightly chock the car from rolling whilst also removing the chocks just from the wheel you're adjusting at the time.
@@adamhaycroft5610 Sounds like you put some serious thought into those. You should consider selling these as a product. People would love to have a set of those.
You really mastered Sisyphus
Hopefully the boulder won't roll back down the hill.
I saw this method at the marina for houseboat being stored in dry dock. I made a set for working on my cars. They work great. But, it is best to use nails and construction adhesives. Screws break.
Nice, interesting insight on the nails and adhesive. I was considering using adhesive too, it would be a good idea. But honestly these wheel cribs are absolutely solid.
Useful idea and well executed, I've been thinking about building something along similar lines but to run the whole length of the car and with a long ramp at one end so I could drive the car up onto the ramps. I don't have the luxury of a car pit or a 4 post lift and need to get under the car to do a couple of jobs (prop shaft centre bearing has failed and to get access I need to remove the exhausts - this is on a BMW 8 series so weight is significant)
Thanks Jason, really pleased with the result on it, car should be a pleasure to work on compared to before.
Interesting idea about making your own ramp. With longer length I'd start to be a bit more worried about flex, unless you build the whole thing as sturdy as these 4 blocks.
Only other consideration is space to set it up, use it and store it. If you have that though, it would save a lot of faff getting the car up on them.
I just purchased a Kwik-Lift a couple of days ago. It's similar to your ramp idea. They stopped producing them a couple of years ago, but I found one nearby on Facebook marketplace. It is sturdy & works well, but takes up a lot of floor space in the garage. I'll probably resell it after servicing the transmissions on all of our cars. I think the DIY block-stands here would be a better solution for my needs since they're easy to store & cheap to build.
@@glennr9913 Space was also a big consideration for me too, haven't got enough as it is.
These blocks stack nicely and can live in she shed when not in use.
Everything is a compromise though of course.
God idea mate. I had similar restraints, garage built to maximum before needing planning etc. I had a very frightening experience. I was working on the rear suspension on my E31 and managed to drag it off the axle stands. Luckily, a scissor jack jammed up underneath and saved me from serious injury and the car from damage. This prompted me to look for a better solution, and I ended up buying a HAMER lift. These are ideal for the home garage. I don't think the company is in business any more, but they come up second hand quite regularly. Mine is the biggest they did, and cost me about £2000 new, but I have never regretted it. You can Google it and see what the principle is, it wouldn't be that hard to build.
Bloody hell, I bet that scared you. You do hear a few horror stories of cars slipping off stands. It can easily kill. To be honest that's one of my reasons against going for tall axle stands and picking wheel stands.
I just looked up the Hamer Lift you mentioned, that's an awesome contraption, it's like a proper 4-post lift but in miniature form. £2k sounds like a heck of a lot compared to the £70ish I spent but that actually looks worth the money, which you can't often say these days. Shame they went out of business!
@@SPANNERRASH Yes, the guy who had the idea for the HAMER (It's an acronym for something but I can't remember what!) and had them manufactured was called Brian, he was fairly local to me, Todmorden I think. Really nice chap, delivered mine himself, he sold the business to someone else who I don't think made a go of it unfortunately. There are only 2 minus points for the HAMER, one is the cost and the other is that it takes a fair amount of physical effort to lift a heavy car, my E31 for example. It was fine for me when I bought it, but not so good now for a 71 year old with arthritis! The positives however speak for themselves: super safe, great for restoration work as it gives excellent access, dismantles in about 30 minutes so can easily be set up somewhere else, outside for instance, can be made to work wheel-free (HAMER make a beam to fit on, but I have made something along the lines of your wooden construction idea), can lift a maximum of 3000Kg, which is ample. I can get my cars high enough so that I can sit up underneath and work. which is about the best I can hope for in my garage.
Excellent......THESE CAN BE VERY STABLE (THE BEST).....Looks like you could extend the bottom 2 x 4s by approximately 1 ft to give a little more insurance the vehicle can't roll forward or backward and tip the whole business laterally forward or backwards......That may be 'Overkill'......But......... WHEN I WAS A KID, A FAMILY FRIEND LOST THEIR SON DUE TO A FALLING CAR....SOOOOOHH SAD.
Cheers Phil, I'll be very careful, I think the car is a lot safer on these than on the rickety axle stands I was using previously. No matter what though, always worth having something else holding the car at the same time as an insurance policy, all too common you hear of people getting hurt, sad.
Hello from the Midwest US! The underside of the e30 is lovely! So my shop is two cars deep and the car in the rear of it is afforded the time to sit and be worked on opportunistically - these will make that space much more pleasant and useful. I am wondering if just a couple more "stories" would make these high enough to drop engine and or transmission out of small cars like Honda Fit/Jazz and Toyota Yaris, even e120 Corolla that dont need the subframe dropped to do so, while being able to slide the unit out and not scrape the bottom. That could be life changing in my 200+ year old shop with it's 90 year old busted concrete floor! Subscribed and excited to see that lovely bimer be finished
Hey Drew, thanks for the kind words! These wheel cribs have been brilliant so far. I've had the E30 on and off them a few times now. I think depending on the car you'd need a fair bit more hight to drop an engine down and out. Brilliant for gearbox removals though.
A couple more layers to add height would be tempting, but I'm doubtful I could get a car on them. I'm already operating about max for my jack and how many risers I am prepared to use.
Maybe you have other means of lifting a car higher, if so, I think if you're careful they should be spot on.
Hope that helps!
Yea I was thinking that as well - tranny swaps much easier. And no I don’t have any means better than you to lift. lord willing someday I’ll have a 2 post. They aren’t expensive the building and concrete required is :)
Enjoy your bmw - looking forward to seeing it in my recommend videos! And enjoy your summer! It’s short like mine
Lets play a game...car jenga, while someone lies underneath
Haha "Russian Jenga" we're calling it 😆
Looks good, good work. What are the long term plans for the car once up and running?
Thanks Thomas! Good question, but my plans are simple; get the car as a going concern, drive it and iron out any bugs for a while.
Then I'm gonna turn my attention to the cosmetics and give it a new paint job etc.
After that, hopefully just maintain it and enjoy it every chance I get! 😄
FREE timber pallets would work no expense save time there's thick ones out there, but all said beautiful car beautiful colour well worth it im looking forward to videos on this car thanks champ.
Cheers Russel! Interesting idea, if the pallets are in good condition I could see it working very well. You'd need to dismantle a few of them though!
The E30 has a long way to go in the cosmetic department, keep your eyes peeled for updates on that though. Cheers! 😃
if you would add rollers on the rear stands, you could spin the propshaft by hand to remove it :D
Haha thats definitely an interesting idea!
My current plan for that is just to jack the car from the diff to get the wheels lifted ever so slightly from the wheel stands, then I can turn the prop by hand and access all the bolts.
Hopefully I won't need to do that often! 😆
New to your channel. Awesome job on the wheels cribs. Did you have garage building videos?
Welcome aboard mate! Sadly the garage build was pre our YT channel so we didn't film it. Maybe some day I will dig out all the photos and put a little explainer vid together showing how it was done. Interesting idea.
top i did the same for a little honda project
Cheers Stephen, they really do seem to work a treat. Super pleased with the result.
I've got my Peugeot van on some second hand steel wheel rims welded together. I was given 8 rims years ago as my son put alloys on his car . All it cost was a roll of mig wire .
Other people have mentioned this method, it sounds great. equally good compared to the cribs and potentially a bit easier.
If you have spare steel wheels it seems like an optimal method.
*Better:* Take both rear crates, bolt a ~1500lb dollie to each bottom, then bolt a ~1" thick, ~8" wide, ~ (your under carriage's width here) board on the top of each (but spread out to your car's width) and place that entire assembly under the rear under carriage. Now, same with the fronts, now you have two mobile units you slip under the car in the front and rear section, that's NOT interfering with working on the suspension, wheels, brakes and now can push the car around.
I was even able to do my exhaust in the exhaust channel by sliding it up and long ways up and in (opposed to just straight up as the two lifts are kinda in the way). What's awesome is when I wanted to take the car and move it to the center of the garage for more room, or work on the side nearest to the wall by myself just push it (3000lbs) and moved easly. Then when I needed to pull my other car in, push it back against the wall.
The only work around is make sure not to set the car down onto the brake or fuel lines. In my case my car had front and rear lower jack pick up points (higher points). So I set each crate, on the jack point, so it's like being supported at all four corners. Since the jack points are protruding, the top board does not smash the brake or fuel lines as there's a gap.
Really great idea, thanks for sharing the info on that. I may well revisit to do something similar!
I’ve got a 2.7 t scissor lift in my front garden ( I can just get my 109 Landy over it, get in and out the house and not block the pavement It’s sunk in a pit 14” deep on a concrete raft and sits in there ( 2 years now) happily, I’ve greased and oiled it all over and the ram end has a tarp over it so it may be damp but it doesn’t get rained on. Lift is boarded and boards stay on to lift the Landy but I put big blocks to engage chassis rails and lift from there. All for wheels a foot off the ground in about ten minutes. Or go up much higher and put cribs under wheels 20” high and drop it all down so the lift and boards form the floor level again. Twenty minutes work. Loads of room underneath diff changing is easy grinding and welding I’m kneeling with straight legs. Lift was about 1700 delivered but at 60 it’s a fvckin boon! Also makes a fantastic bike lift
Wow that sounds like an awesome setup! If the lift is sunk into the ground doesn't it turn into a small swimming pool when it rains though? 😃
@@SPANNERRASH big soak away in the middle and I’m on chalk. If I was on clay I’d have to have a arranged a sump and a pump I suppose. Bhrepairs Ltd. They supply it and they have a website. No connection. And it’s made to their spec.
When I need all four wheels up in the air, I use 2 sets of car ramps and just drive it up on all 4 at the same time.
Haha that's brave!
I have a set of car ramps but my cars are far too low to drive up onto them like that.
Also, nowhere near as high-lifting as these bad boys.
That will work IF you can fit the ramps under your vehicle..
Gripfil, manys the time I've lathered that goop on and never once regretted it's ability to make deconstruction 873% more difficult. Try it, it's the future.
Haha! Yes it absolutely crossed my mind. I used that stuff to stick the insulated panels on the inside of my garage door. Wasn't expecting it to last long, but they're still absolutely solidly in place. Impressive stuff!
Very nice. I figure making them stackable would make it easier to get the car on them, but then you would have to modify the design to include a method to interlock them somehow. Wouldn't be difficult. Great idea though. I'm gonna need to make some mysef.
I've been using them a lot and they're really brilliant. Some way to make them half-size would be great but I've been coping fine so far using axle stands or my smaller grey blocks as an intermediate lift to get them up onto the full height.
Great, maybe I can use 2 of them to put front wheels of my tractor mower from my elevated terrasse
Yep you can have just one axle raised with these no problem. Hope they work out for you
Now that's what I call Jenga 😂
Haha makes working on the car more exciting. 😆
What an excellent idea. I'm always slid under my E46 on axel stands wishing i had a bit more room. It's people like you that make TH-cam the place it is! Well done sir. 🫡
Cheers Daniel! Yeah these stands are a game changer, sounds like you are in a similar situation to me. I highly recommend these stands so far. 😁
I know it's extra work, but don't forget the value of a pit.
True. A pit would have been awesome. Maybe not as cheap or easy to put in at this point though!
Didn’t know you had garages in UK?? 😮
Haha course we do, we just pronounce them differently. 😆
i still wouldn't get under it, but doesn't mean it won't work. Good luck with the project. Those are great cars.
Cheers! Always wise to be extra cautious, but I'm much happier than I was with jack stands.
You really want a solid path all the way down the middle so that your load is a directly supported to the floor by the compressive strength of the cribbing(a center cross on every level). Your lower pieces are in tension, and the tension is held with deck screws, really should be construction screws or nails for the shear strength.
I did consider adding cross supports on every level but the weight is distributed into the corners.
The screws aren't really load bearing as far as I can tell. I'm no structural engineer, maybe you are.
I'm fairly confident you could put a car on these without them screwed together. But obviously that would be a really foolish thing to do. 😆
@@SPANNERRASH weight distributed on the corners is exactly the problem... you need to study bending moments and the compressive and tensional strength of wood. The gap in your layers creates a high shear load on deck screws that are really only designed for axial load.
Agreed, why place wood in bending when you can insert two more blocks and have it placed in compression. That way the middle takes the weight, and the corners are for stability.
I made some from CLS a few years ago that were 12 inches high and tahy must have been good because i lent them out and never got them back lol
Haha hopefully your mate is just storing them for you! 😆
In the USA we call that lumber a 2x3 inch which actually measures closer to 2.5 inches by 1.5 inches just like our 2x4s if they are S4S which means surfaced on four sides they measure 1.5 x3.5 inches the only time lumber in the USA actually measures what you buy it as is if it is rough cut lumber the loss of material size is due to drying and milling or surfacing the lumber through a planer. The length of 2.4 meters is a little odd in USA measurement that comes in just under 8 feet or 94.49 inches (7.88 feet) and standard stud lumber length for 8 foot ceilings in the USA is 92 5/8s (7.71 feet) of an inches or for 9 foot ceilings the pre cut wall studs are 104 5/8s (8.72 feet)of an inch you can also buy non pre cut stud material also that is 8 foot in length but if you do that you have to cut everyone down to the right length for your wall because there length varies slightly. Lumber sizes can get quite confusing no matter what unit of measure you use but the metric system is simpler to grasp/ Next time I am at the lumber store and see some 2x3 material I will measure it and see what lengths we have available here just out of curiosity.
Thanks for the insight Bill, I didn't know that about US lumber not measuring what it lists as. Very interesting stuff, but sounds difficult!
You should put small rotary wheels down there to be able move car arround ;)
Absolutely, castors would be a huge upgrade to these wheel stands. Only issue is I haven't really got enough space to want to roll the car anywhere. 😆
If I was in a larger unit though, 100% I would be putting them on wheels!
@@SPANNERRASH You never know. After work is done you can move it toward wall to have more space in garage :)
I would have made each level modular so that you can lift a row at a time. You'd have to figure how how to stabilize the design so they lock together like legos, but I think in the long run they'd be easier to work with, because that's a ton of height.
Yeah thats an interesting suggestion. I put the screws for the lower levels in from the bottom which means I could expand or semi-dismantle them one day depending on what I need.
They are really strong when all tied together, but I'm not sure they would be as tough as all separate layers.
Very nice!
I think you could have made the design stronger with less wood by rotating wood pieces by 90 degrees. Most of the bending force would be on the largest width.
Thanks! Yeah someone else mentioned that and it makes sense. My only worry in that case would there would be less contact between pieces and it may be less stable, and screws closer together.
I bet it would work fine though.
Going to copy - with CONFIDENCE -- old git, UK
Thanks Stephen, they are proving to be a godsend so far.
As some others have said, using structural screws instead of decking screws would be a reasonable upgrade.
But I am confident with the way these are built so far.
Looks good - why not carry the middle brace all the way through?
Cheers! I am fairly confident its unnecessary, they are overkill already for what I am using them for.
If people want to add that to the design though, it wouldn't hurt.
Would it be possible to build something similar but to lift on the jacking points rather than the wheels. Then the suspension could be worked on also?
Good idea, and to be honest I don't see why not with a little creativity. You could even make the top platforms large enough to support an axle stand. They probably would already to be honest, but I'd be a bit worried about safety without some extra thought there.
Always get your Dad to give you a hand 😂😮😅
The old man is the MVP, we enjoy quality time working on projects together. 😁
Great idea. How stable do you think these will be with side loads - could they topple?
Compared to axle stands, these bad boys are fully planted. You could take a run up and barge into the car and it won't move on these.
@@SPANNERRASHYou know, a fear creeps into ones mind....thanks for snapping me out of the delusion! Now that you have pointed out the jack stand comparison, its pretty easy to see that stability will be miles ahead.
Any reason why the centre cross supports do not feature on every row?
I assure you it would be overkill, but if you were worried you could easily add cross supports throughout and the design still works perfect.
These have no flex with a car on, I'm honestly surprised by how solid they are.
@@SPANNERRASH if I ever get round to building these, I’d deffo put on every level with glue & bolts after reading about these decking screws from other comment, great idea thanks 👌👍
With the wood prices today, it would probably be cheaper to weld some square tubing together.
If you think wood prices are high, metal prices may shock you. 😆
Although to be fair, I was hoping to do exactly as you describe, but I couldn't make it happen as easily or cheaply as this.
Where do you get cheap metal stock from? I had absolutely no luck.
This is a cool idea. My only concern is the lifting extenders on the jack. I would worry for the car to fall off the heightened jack 😅
Yeah thats the only part that concerns me too, but the blocks I am using are solid and there's some really great places to raise an E30 from front and rear.
I guess you need to figure out the best method with your car and see if it will work for you. Now I've done it with this BMW a few times, I am fully confident with my method.
You could always use wooden boards under the Jack instead to raise its height.
There is another solution which is NOT as good. I used to use car ramps . . . if you already have these 🙂
Jacking up the car using a scissor jack and large blocks of wood, until each of the four car ramps would slide under the wheel . . . it was a faff
Your solution is better . . . it provides a more comfortable working space.
If you have good tall ramps then that's a good idea, I have some shorter ones but I was never happy with the working height beneath. This is what spurred me on to build the blocks! 😄
Old variant 😎👍
Old school methods are the best methods 😃
Nice job! Why don t you put the wood on the other side? You could get about 1 maybe 2 floors high and wood is stronger on this way i guess
Have a gooday!
Thanks! A few people have suggested that and yes I think it would work that way too. My only reservation is that the contact between the planks would be smaller and less room for additional screws.
Great idea! Turning the beams was better, the load on the wood is not efficient in this config. The wood has more resistance against bending in the other plane.
You'd have used the wood tall side up? Interesting idea.
@@SPANNERRASHwhich side of a rectangle has the most resistance against bending?
@@Slayer66642 Fair point, but I felt it might be much more unstable as it reduces the contact area between each plank.
I wonder what they would fail at. Maybe 3 tonnes or more each. Centre beams all the way down might do 5 tonnes or more.
I wouldn't be surprised if you're right. Plenty strong to put a 1 tonne car on between them.
As youve omitted the centre supports of the bottom two slats I wouldn't get under a car supported by them.
You could add those in to the design if you were keen. Most designs I saw had no centre supports and I thought that was a bit crazy.
After I built them though, I realised just how solid they are, the extra supports are overkill for what I am doing with them. They're absolutely solid.
Great job. As a carpenter, I have no issue with your design. They would probably hold 5 tonnes each before the timber started to crush.
Awesome, thank you for sharing that. I think people underestimate how strong this wood really is!
I wonder what the load capacity is for each crib (I am sure it's enough given there are 4) but just curious.
Good question. Based on how strong they feel versus other things I use to support cars I'd reckon maybe around 1 tonne each. But I'm not planning to confirm that. 😝
These units could easily hold five times more weight than is being placed on them. You could put the entire weight of the car on just one of them.
I'm not planning to try that, but I 100% agree. I would imagine they would each take over 1 tonne, and the car is less than 1 tonne 😃
They're very stout things!
Is that your professional opinion???? Capacity is not just what you consider to be the ‘perceived’ strength of the structure, but equally important is the point and mechanism of loading. Sure if you somehow had an UDL that loaded the crib on each end (compressive loading) then yes it would increase its capacity in comparison to point loading it in the middle of the longer horizontal sections which creates both bending and shear in relatively small sections of wood, that’s without even getting into the complexity of the strain in the fasteners being used which would need to consider both the fasteners material properties and the strength of the interface with the substrate.
what size is your garage? 6m by 4m? thanks
Something like 5.5m x 5.5m or a shade under that. Its as much as I could do without needing planning permission.
Have you a pdf of the plans?
Hi Mate, sadly no PDF, it was more back of a cig packet type of hand-drawn plans. 😝
I lingered on my "professional schematics" when filming for a while though so you can see exactly what you need to make them.
They're fairly simple things in reality. Are you going to knock some wheel stands up for yourself?
Pretty clever thinking when it’s about lifting the car but Isn’t it a problem that can’t work into the weel arches now?
Luckily the hard work in the wheel wells is already done, just need to stick liners back in the front and properly bolt the wings back on.
For wheels-off suspension type work I guess I will have to stick to trusty axle stands. But for everything else, this is a huge upgrade. 😃
I am following you from the start but was not sure about finishing them anymore. Good that they are. And if I remember correctly you were not always wearing proper pps’s I hope you will from now on. You’re a nice guy and especially for yourself I hope can stay that for a long long time 👍🏼
@@Dennis-eh2vx Hey Dennis, in my defence I am quite a bit more careful these days. You'll notice in this video I was wearing eye and ear protection.
We do hope you'll continue enjoying our videos.
Noice build, would it take the weight of a Holden Commodore 1770kgs or around 3900 lbs? Tyres r 245 wide too. Cheers Graham
Thanks Graham, and I'm very confident they would be fine for that weight. I will be putting my 1600kg E46 on them with no concerns at all.
@@SPANNERRASH thx mate
What has 245s? Ve or vf I’m guessing?
You don't have center supports on the first two levels?????
I didn't think they were necessary, they are overkill anyway. I only added the extras as I had more wood than anticipated.
Wouldn't hurt to do an extra in all levels though.
In Czech those blocks would probably cost like normal high stands. :D :D
Because high stands are cheap there, or wood is expensive? 😃
@@SPANNERRASHHaha, I calculated, roughly 140 pounds. 70 GBP you said?
@@petrholusa5855 Thats right, around £70 GBP to make these here in the UK using wood from the local hardware store (B&Q).
I wonder why more expensive there?
You missed an opportunity for a Paul Daniels phrase.
For this next trick, I'm going to need some help, please give a warm welcome to my beautiful assistant Miss -----------------.
Haha! If only I'd thought on at the time.
👍🏻
Cheers!
Lifting front by the engine?
I am lifting it by the E30's front subframe, it works really well.
On my E46 there is a dedicated central front jacking point so that also works perfect.
"You can put a Rolls Royce on these" - yes, if you got one 😂
Haha a man can dream. 😂
not trying to be a "nay sayer" but 2x4's are much stronger when turned on their side rather than flat. I would think they would be much stronger designed with the boards on their sides? Just a thought?
Yeah thats true and I have thought about that since, but there would be a smaller contact patch between each plank, and I wouldn't have been able to get two screws in spaced like I did. So I guess its swings and roundabouts. Either way can work.
The result I got, I'm very happy with though. The cribs are a huge upgrade to my workshop.
Just so you are aware the central timbers are doing nothing as the load is being transferred to the front and rear timbers because you did not add a central timber in layer 2 and 4. The middle is where the load is. So just to make it bullet proof slide another piece through the centre `in layer 2 and 4 which will fully transmit the load to the floor better.
Yeah I can see where you're coming from with that, but even without the central timbers these cribs would be solid. Still tempting to add them in for full over engineering though. Cheers!
@@SPANNERRASH Yeah I would mate as there will definitely be no deflection on the lower timbers if you have heavier motors on them. 👍
Wow. I wouldn't trust this for no amount of money. Lol. Some things you just should not cheap out on.
You'd be really surprised about how solid they are. I am far more confident than I was with axle stands.
I've seen wrecked trains being supported by similar wooden stands.
Haha genuine??
They are super strong, I'm fully confident in them.
Yup. They were constructed with 4x4s or 6x6s but they were holding up...the weight of the train and journey didn't seem to stress the stands. I have photos. I'll try to share.
@@SPANNERRASH
Be nice if 2 short stacks could stack.
Yeah I was having that thought too. I put the screws for the lower sections in from the bottom to leave my options open about that. 😀
Okay but you can only raise the car with the wheels on the car? Waht about tall the job you need to do with wheel removed?
You can't win them all! For suspension work you will have to do with the old school axle stands.
This is more for underside work.
@@SPANNERRASH Okok yeah... for sure lol. I'm more of a all or nothing type of guy,
@@JackRR15 Haha everything is a compromise when it comes to working on cars. But I feel you 😃
I’m sorry but I’m struggling to understand the concept and its applications.
I have 500mm axle stands, and used on the jacking points I have plenty of room to work under the car.
Such axle stands are not expensive at all and by lifting the body you can actually work on the suspension as well which is a huge benefit.
Please advise
The jacking points are one of the main things that need attention on this car so having it lifted without any obstruction to them is certainly useful.
Inexpensive 500mm axle stands sound really good, where can I pick a set of those up from?
For suspension jobs only I was planning to use standard axle stands going forward but I would love some tall ones too.
@@SPANNERRASH Aye wish he’d let me know too where I can get cheap axle stands 😂😂
You can do the same for some euros if you use pallets. Cheaper faster and easier.
Someone else mentioned that, interesting idea if you have a good source of quality pallets.
Pallets 😂 better make your will
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