It's better to get 4 just in case you need all 4 to do some troubleshooting with all 4 tires up in the air.
Esp if they are on sale.

 

I lived for quite a while with just two until I bought another two a particular task. It’s so much handier if you do work yourself. Even just for a tire rotation. P.S. I don’t trust to go under with the vehicle just supported by four hack stands. I see what you mean about the six ton stands.

edit: if there’s no need for having all four wheels off and working under the car, you could get two six ton stands and use the other two to make a set of four and for example put them at the back and leave the rear wheels on.

 

Ok thanks im getting 4!

 

I’ve got 6 jackstands. I usually use a single pair during the oil change, and then I go to a tire rotation so I’ll use the second pair.

The reason I have a third pair is because the third is a 6 ton rating that does up to 25”. I need that extra height if I want to lift my full size Ford van at the front frame rails. The unexpected bonus of having the third pair is if I’m under a car with 4 stands, I can use the extra pair as a redundant backup.

 

I’ve got 6 jackstands. I usually use a single pair during the oil change, and then I go to a tire rotation so I’ll use the second pair.

The reason I have a third pair is because the third is a 6 ton rating that does up to 25”. I need that extra height if I want to lift my full size Ford van at the front frame rails. The unexpected bonus of having the third pair is if I’m under a car with 4 stands, I can use the extra pair as a redundant backup.

View attachment 173562

That's cool, backup is good. I will end up with (4) 6-ton stands and (2) 3-ton stands, and one 3-ton floor jack, one 2-ton floor jack, and one 20-ton bottle jack. So I should be in good shape I think. Oh, plus I have a couple of trailer jack blocks that hold 25,000lbs, and some solid concrete block 4 x 8 x 16.

 

I had 2 for years. I finally got 2 more, but seldom use them.
For years I tried to convince my to allow a 2 post lift in the new garage. She was adamantly against it because we would have had to drill holes in the heated floor without k owing where the pex tubing is. I finally picked up a used scissors lift for $800. Now I seldom use the stands at all.

 

that looks nice. What’s the capacity on that scissor lift?

 

Had 4 for years. Two sets of two that are the tripod leg type with the strap around the base of legs for lateral support. Cradles are the type that are good for resting 2" wide-or-so frame rails on, but lousy for resting the pinch weld portion of unibody lift points on. So, bought two more with cradles that can accomodate hard rubber inserts to rest the pinch welds on, after lifting car with floor jack by the frame rail.

This is what they are. And these are the rubber inserts. Also bought a rack to mount them out of the way. They work pretty well and don't crush the pinch welds flat. Also, with the flat pads on the bases of the stands, they don't dig into the garage floor and ruin the coating.

 

Great ideas thanks! Love the rack. The pinch welds you are talking about, those are the ones on the side of the car where the factory jack goes right?

 

Yes. There's usually some some sort of detent or notch to show where the lift point is.

 

Cool, I'm getting them! I used the jack stands today on all 4 of those points and it was fine, but will be so much better with those things. Thank you Mopar Marq!

 

Anytime the car is off the ground then please be safe. Remember that the amount of force applied can move the car. The jack stands can only resist so much lateral force. Please be safe

 

Yes sir!

 

I hope what you purchase works to your satisfaction. One thing I've found challenging sometimes is finding a decent jack point that ISN'T the pinch weld jack point so that I can use the pinch weld jack point as a place to rest the car on the jack stand after lifting it. Or vice versa. It seems to be more of a challenge with newer vehicles. The '92 Acura is no problem, the '86.5 Toyota no problem, '06 CR-V no problem, '04 Grand Cherokee I have to use the axle as a lift point for the jack. My sister's 2020 Grand Cherokee doesn't seem to have anywhere that is a good lift point.

Don't know which gen you're working on, but on my daughter's '06, I use the frame rail itself (adjacent to catalytic converter, if right side) to lift the car with the floor jack. Then I use the jack stand under the engine/trans subframe usually just aft of the forward attach point to the frame rail. The subframe is pretty strong, as it has to tolerate engine, suspension and steering forces (even though the weight of the car on wheels is supported by the strut towers.)

Also, as Avisitor said, can't be too safe. Even with car in Park, parking brake set, I still use blocks of wood as wheel stops behind and in front of tires that are still in contact with the ground, regardless of slope.

 

I have a 2006, and I jack it in the center of the front or rear, and then put the jack stands under the pinch weld jack point.
I use wheel chucks and just got newer better ones like this:

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Front and back placement is shown in this video:

 

Just watched the video. Can't tell you how many times I've been under that '06 and never noticed the arrows and reinforcements on pinch welds. Especially the front since I've done at least 4 drain and fills on the transmission. What a doofus. (Although in my defense, I've never jacked the car up to do trans drain and fills - just too easy to leave it on the ground.) Thanks for the video.

As an aside, I do hate changing the engine oil filter on that car. I don't know why Honda insists on mounting their oil filters sideways - what a mess. (The CR-V and the Acura.)

 

I like the posts mentioning redundancy. I’m deftly afraid of being under the vehicle when only supported by the jack stands and more than one wheel off. The good thing about tools is you save money by doing the work yourself, and that justifies buying the tools. Over time the tool set gets better and things get easier.

 

Yea, I used to hesitate to buy tools or to buy good tools, but I've learned not to hesitate because it's all part of the cost of taking the job on yourself, like training to be a mechanic, part of the whole deal, and buying tools is a lot of fun and organizing them and having the right tool around when you need it is extremely satisfying.

I agree about being under the car with 4 jack stands. The 6-ton ones make me feel safer. I have been considering (2) 3-ton jacks over the past few weeks, and just now I made the decision to get a second one so that when I go under the car, I can have 4 jack stands and 2 jacks under those front and rear center points.