Supporting Front of Bongo with Axle Stands

[Manny]

I have a 2 ton trolley jack from Halfords which I bought years ago before the Bongo. I use it to lift the bongo and then drop it onto axle stands before I get under it. I have never yet had any trouble, as Kirsty says it is only lifting about have the weight wether front or back as the engine and gearbox are in the centre of the vehicle. That should give a fair amount of safety margin. I am not encouraging anyone to do the same, that is up to the individual. Mind you, if I was buying one now I would certainly go for a bigger one.

Manny

[mikeonb4c]

I have a 2 ton trolley jack from Halfords which I bought years ago before the Bongo. I use it to lift the bongo and then drop it onto axle stands before I get under it. I have never yet had any trouble, as Kirsty says it is only lifting about have the weight wether front or back as the engine and gearbox are in the centre of the vehicle. That should give a fair amount of safety margin. I am not encouraging anyone to do the same, that is up to the individual. Mind you, if I was buying one now I would certainly go for a bigger one.

Manny

And as I say too - lets be clear about that. This debate though is about what 'should' happen and what 'does' happen in the real world. One point for example that could use immediate investigation is whether '2 tons' can be used by manufacturers to describe:

1) The point load that can be imposed on the jack

OR

2) The weight of vehicle the jack is suitable for use with.

I'm not saying thats the case here, but it is this kind of thing that is classically used to fudge the truth about product performance (think of the way in which the use of 'Watts' as a measure of the power of sound amplifiers has been debased in the last 15 yrs or so by quoting peak wattage and not Root Mean Square wattage - forgive me if I've got the details wrong here).

So until all that is cleared up, and having witnessed the seals on a new '2 ton' jack explode when trying to lift a Bongo, I would be 'happier' with a 3 ton jack

[apole]

Hi guys,

I have a halfords 2 ton trolley jack, purchased not for the Bongo but a while back when I had normal cars. It doesn't state clearly if it can actually lift 2 tons. However if you look at their axle stands they do say that the pair can lift 2 tons, so 1 ton each.

I can see both sides to this debate, and I'm grateful that it's being discussed as it's all useful information, which in this case is safety related.

Personally I'd never venture under anything heavy that isn't fully supported, not worth the risk as if something were to fail it is most likely to fall quickly and not slowly.

I recently had my tyres all replaced, and the fitter jacked up my car with very hefty trolley jacks x 4 and in working on it he never gets in a position where if it fell it could crush him.

So I guess if you were brave you could take more of a chance if you were not going underneath the car, but if you are or in anyway likely to get caught it just isn't worth it.

Safety has got to be more important that saving a few quid. I'll see if I can find out if there is some marking or standard on these jacks that indicates if they are safe for the full weight indicated, or like the axle stands I had (took them back as never used them) mislead you somewhat by showing you a bigger figure than each can take.


Thanks again for all your help.

[splitpin]

I too have 2 ton trolley jack which so far has coped with Bongo without problem, before Bongo came along we had an Autotrail coachbuilt which weighed more than Bongo, same jack was used on this also with no problem.