Removing Jack Stands From Your Car
Whatever goes up must come down. You need to do some maintenance or minor repairs on your car, and you have raised the car onto jack stands. Now, the work is done, and you must get the car back on its wheels. How do you go about it?
Follow the steps below to do it safely and with no damage to the car or risk of injury on your part.
How to remove the jack stands from a car
Clear your work area
Before you go ahead and start lowering the vehicle from the jack stands, you should first clear the work area. Remove all tools after finishing whatever you were working on.
Ensure there is nothing under the car, from the garage creeper you were using to any nuts, bolts, or parts removed from the vehicle for disposal. You should also remove any secondary safety measures you had used, like any tire or wooden blocks. With all that done, you can proceed to the first step.
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Raising the vehicle off the jack stand
Dependent on how you raised the car, place the floor jack under the same jack port you used. Raise the floor jack to take the weight off the stands gently.
This will enable you to free the jack stands and get them out of the way for the next part. Ensure the saddle is not in contact with the car’s body before pulling the jack stand.
How To Release jack stands
If you were using a ratchet-type jack stand, release the locking lever that clamps down on the ratchets on the center column, and the column will slide down by itself.
For a Pin type jack stand, pull out the pin- releasing the center column that slides down on its own. In the case of a threaded-type jack stand, rotate the center column anti-clockwise to lower it down.
How To Lower jack stands
Do this after moving the jack stands away from the work area. Open the release valve that releases the hydraulic fluid holding the lifting arm or ram (for a bottle jack), and let the vehicle come down on its own.
After the floor jack is detached from the car’s body frame, push it all the way down with either your hands or a foot. Close the release valve before storing it.
In case you were using an all-in-one jack stand
With an all-in-one jack stand, the steps you take are different. Here, it is much simpler; all you do is release the locking lever and open the release valve that releases the hydraulic fluid holding the lifting arm or ram (for a bottle jack). The jack will come down by the car’s own weight.
Wheel Chocks
These are the last things to remove. After getting the jack stands and the floor jack off the work area and storing them appropriately, remove the wheel chocks from their resting places. Now, you are done.
Conclusion
Lowering a car from jack stands is usually a short affair. This, though, should not imply that you could take any risks. Be cautious because, with a simple slip, the car can come crashing down, causing harm or damage to the vehicle. Follow the procedures sequentially, and you will have your car on all fours quickly. Try it out.