Mobile axle stands?

[Willbav]

Morning all,

Post #1 from a newbie.

A quick question in advance of kitting out my garage for a build. 

I’ve got fairly limited space and am considering a pair of mobile axle stands so I can get a bit more room around the car when needed.

I’m just wondering if I’d hit a problem when using an engine hoist with the legs of the hoist clashing with the strut of the forward axle stand. 

Any advice?

Thanks,

Will

[Jonathan Kay]

Welcome.

... a pair of mobile axle stands...

I can't remember that being discussed, but there might be something in the archives, There's lots of useful discussions on fitting out garages, tools and some great build blogs. Have you found the register of loan equipment?

How much width have you got?

I’m just wondering if I’d hit a problem when using an engine hoist with the legs of the hoist clashing with the strut of the forward axle stand. 

It's going to come down onto its wheels at some point! ;-)

Jonathan

[Wrightpayne]

Welcome!!

I lift engine in with all 4 wheels on the ground, mainly because I lift from an RSJ holding up the corner of the house!

It does make it easier (IMHO) to put the engine in, by moving the car in small increments with height / angle controlled by the block and load leveler. I would imagine the engine could become a pendulum when shoving the engine hoist frame.

Regards

Ian 

[ChrisC]

Best thing I purchased for my build was mobile axle stands.   I built in a single garage and you could move it from side to side and back and forward as you worked on a specific corner of the car.   I went for big casters, because small casters where not in stock when I ordered my axle stands, this proved a massive plus because it made it easier to move on my garage floor (it’s not smooth) and the legs of the engine hoist went under the legs of the axle stands, meaning we could move both the engine and chassis during install.  

Got mine from here http://www.cjautosheywood.co.uk/mobax.shtml. I have standard with nylon wheels.  The bar across the axle stands is a pain if you hit it with your shines, but is wider than the car so when you push the chassis to one side of the garage you can’t damage the chassis.

 

[elie boone]

During a build you U can use 2 chassis stands and put some casters under it, makes it easy to push around, if you finish the build you have a few options, go jack, or a piece of wood with 4 casters under the tyres or modify an axle stand so you can bolt it to the hub ( no wheels ) and put the axle stand on casters.  

[tomwood]

I bought the same ones as ChrisC, I have a minuscule sized garage and they were an absolute god send during the build.

i forget exactly what I did when putting the engine in now but there's a good chance I switched to fixed axle stands at the front so the engine crane legs could go underneath. The problem with the mobile ones is the length of the cross piece. It's fine at the back where the car is generally wider but at the front it's wider than the car and can sometimes be annoying.

Having said that, as Chris mentions the fact it's wider than the car does mean you avoid running the risk of pushing the car into a wall when you move it about.

you won't regret buying them. I still use them now over the winter to take the weight off the suspension and tyres and also maximise useable space in the garage whilst the cars not being used.

Tom

 

[Edzup Ezzer]

I've got a pair of mobile axle stands from CJ Autos which work well.  I got around the 'wide' front cross piece issue by buying another short length of box section from a steel stockist.  I wish I'd got the bigger wheels to make moving it a bit easier on my plastic tiled floor but I'm still able to move it OK.

Ezzer

[Jim 123]

If you are limited for space you may want to give some thought to headroom for an engine crane in case it is an issue with your garage. Mobile axle stands probably will position the chassis a bit higher off the floor even on lowest settings. The beam of your engine crane will need to get the engine plus gearbox sloping almost vertical as you lower them into position.  I had overhead clearance challenges and opted to put the car on wheels before installing the engine.

[Willbav]

Thanks chaps, some great advice there.  I can see this is going to be a regular haunt.  I look forward to one day passing on my own tips.

Larger wheels make sense - should give me the option to move it onto my block paved drive if I do need extra headroom for the hoist.

Will

[Willbav]

Hi Ezzer,

Thanks for the tip on wheel size, which ones have you got? I’ve got plastic tiles too (disc profile).

I see that CJ Autos have a set with 100mm wheels. Just wondering if these are the larger ones. 

Thanks,

Will

[Edzup Ezzer]

Will,

I bought the smallest CJ Autos mobile axle stands which have 80mm steel wheels.  The stands are easily strong enough for a Seven but on my plastic tiled floor (the tiles are by Dynotile and have air gaps on the back for insulation and comfort which 'give' a bit under the concentrated load of small steel wheels when standing for a while, and consequently require more effort to move the car but do recover.  BTW they are absolutely fine for vehicle tyres.)   CJ Autos do bigger stands with bigger wheels (100mm or even 125mm) but these are more expensive.  

The bigger ones would roll easier but the smaller steel ones are ok on my floor.  On a firmer floor I expect they'd be better still.  You pays your money, you make your choice.  

Ezzer

[Purplemeanie]

Will,

I did like others for my build last year and bought CJ Autos smallest mobile axle stands. I bought the steel wheeled version but switched the castors out for “rubber” shod wheels that I bought from Amazon... made it much easier, and quieter, to wheel around my concrete garage.

I also had barked shins from the front cross member being too long but just cut it, and the rear, to be the right size for the application after a couple of hours of dancing around them.

Best purchase I made for the build. I still use them regularly to get the car up high to work on and to wheel it in and out of the garage when I’m working on it. In fact one of the best things about the mobile stands and a small garage was that I could get the build out onto my drive on a nice day and have extra space to work.

The height aspect was also worth the purchase for me. The CJ stands go high enough, and securely enough, to give plenty of room to work under the car. I also found myself leaning my head on the cross members as I lay under the car for long periods.

In terms of getting the engine hoist into place, you can see how I got on here...

http://www.purplemeanie.co.uk/index.php/2017/08/28/build-session-11-all-hands-to-the-hoist-engine-in/

Good luck with the build!

John

[Willbav]

Hi John,

Thanks for your comments. By coincidence, I discovered your fantastic blog yesterday evening and was reading it until the early hours. I must remember adequate sleep will also be a critical build preparation!

I hadn’t got to this page yet but I’d already had similar thoughts about moving the chassis to the hoist. It’s good to see that works well.

I think I’ll copy you with swapping the wheels out (do you recall the specific ones?). I see you found some with locks; essential for me as my garage has a slight incline and the drive even more so. However as long as I can stop everything rolling away (using chocks and the wheel locks) it should definitely simplify getting the angle needed for the engine install. 

Many thanks,

Will

[Purplemeanie]

Glad you're enjoying the blog Will. I must say you're doing well if you managed to read until the early hours, most people fall asleep (day or night) long before that! :-)

If you have any questions about the blog then please feel free to contact me, either on FB Messenger (JFPMartin) or email (john.martin@purplemeanie.co.uk). Or of course on this site.

John

[graemesmith]

Built my 310 last year on CJ Autos larger mobile axle stands with the nylon wheels.  They give you a really nice height to work at and the car moves around easily even when complete.  Getting the engine/gearbox in was quite tricky though.  Limited headroom in the garage and I couldn't get the crane past the axle stands.  I ended up putting the front on normal stands at a low setting.  Did this all myself and it took about 3 hours in total.  Since then I've seen the correct way to do it.  When you are ready to put the engine in drop the front of the car onto a single axle stand positioned at the star joint (or whatever its called).  You can then move the crane around very easily.  There are some videos and photos on various blogs of people doing it this way.

Initially I didn't like the idea of a single stand supporting the car at the front but now I happily jack it up using that part of the chassis as it is really very strong.

Big tip: Make sure you have a jack tall enough to get the car off the stands once you have built it!  Sounds obvious but it wasn't to me.....  Took me 3 different jacks and 2 sets of axle stands to lower it.  Basically, a jack which has the reach to lift that high is rarely low enough when retracted to fit under the jacking points.

Having just looked at the video of my build I now remembered I actually used the crane to lift and lower the car to get the mobile axle stands back on after I fitted the engine.  There is just enough room between the crane legs to get the mobile stands back under the car if you crane it up from the very front with a strop.  You can't do that once the radiator is fitted though.

[Willbav]

Thanks for your comments. I was thinking about this last night and whether it would it be possible to find a jack that could lift onto the mobile stands and also be low enough to go under the car once finished. 

I’m scouring the internet for the right jack but think i’ll have to go with two; one for high lift and one for low entry.

[SLR No.77]

I bought a set via eBay for £134 for the pair, if you assemble them using only one cross piece (rather than the two provided) they're still wide enough to adequately support the DeDion tube and no excess to trip over. The wheels are fine on my floor type to roll the car around quite easily. Wish I'd bought a set years ago!

Stu.

 

[elie boone]

this is what i use, it's made modular so i can use it on different chassis

[Strangely]

Re: jack. I bought one of these -- not that seller, but the same jack. It's low enough to fit under my quite-low K-Series sump, and it claims to go high enough to lift onto these mobile axle stands, but only just. I'm happy with it, apart from it being very heavy.