Trailer, Ramp Length, E30 Loading


#21

Ranger wrote:

[quote]Steve D wrote:

[quote]
I wouldn’t worry about the 3000# capacity. Don’t work on the car under them, of course. :laugh: There’s not much chance of failure. And it would make a great thread anyway. I’m surprised THAT hasn’t happened to Ranger yet. ;)[/quote]

Last night I showed my wife how the car tends to support itself on 3 of 4 jackstands. I explained how this was kinda dangerous because it’s so easy to knock the weightless jackstand away when you’re under the car working. The damned car tried to come down on me last year in exactly this way.

You never know how women are going to react to things. I figured that it was possible she’d demand that I get a lift. Which would relieve me of any guilt re. going further in debt.

All she did was tell me not to get killed.[/quote]

If you get the front up on jack stands at the same height and then use the diff to jack the rear you can set both rear jack stands to the same height. Lower the car onto the rear jack stands and you will ensure all 4 stands are carrying their share of the weight. This will let you work under the car more safely.


#22

So my 8 foot aluminum ramps worked great. I used those combined with the trailer jack and a couple 2x4s to jack up the front of the trailer and she loaded/unloaded with no problems. I got home at midnight last night, and I just discovered when I pulled up from work today that at some point on the last 150 mile leg the bearings in one of my axles failed so instead of 4 shiny white rims I have 3 shiny white rims and one covered in greese. The bearing cap is completely gone and it looks horrible with mangled metal on the end of the spindle. I hope I can get the nut off to fix the damage. I can’t believe my year old trailer had a bearing go on my second trip to the track.