Making a cradle to jack a D30

[mjeff87]

I've had this dream for awhile now, of making up some sort of cradle to use with a floor jack to lift the front end in one maneuver. Trouble is, I can't weld :cry: Maybe one a youze guys out there (Pat? :D ) would be willing to fashion it up.

 

Basically, I'm thinking an "|__" shaped bracket that you could mount on a floor jack saddle, then position under the diff housing. The vertical part would be the length of the distance from the bottom of the diff to the bottom of the axle tube. That way, when you jacked up, it would raise the front axle level and even, allowing you to slip jackstands under wherever you wanted....without having to jack each side seperately, or raise the frontend nosebleed height to get the passenger side high enough.

 

Thoughts?

 

(yeah, I'm lazy ;) )

 

Jeff

[rws]

Had the same sort bof idea and wound up buying an extended length floor jack that would lift to 31", can now go to nosebleed height with out having to move the jack.

[JOMJ87]

I decided to ponder on this a while and thought of a idea. Really this is for the front but could work for the rear. Here is a horid drawing but you get the idea hopefully.

 

 

It is a chunk of steel with a radius ground out in the middle to semi match the axle radius and since where you need to jack is half on the tube and half on the diff you could desingn it so that it is notched for this. Also it would have a strap on it to hold it on the axle so all it really does is sit in a perfect spot for the jack to get to and give it a good jacking surface. I am not good at explanations but this sounded good in my head. :hmm: but who knows.

 

ps the grey is the axle and the blue the jack and the red the block and strap

 

Cole

[pingpong]

Have you looked into the tranny jack pads that you can buy for a floor jack? YOu can also ratchet strap your axle to the frame and use a hi-lift jack to jack up both sides if you don't have crazy flex like me

[87manche]

I just set the jack right next to the housing on the passenger side, it balances just fine there.

Jack it up, put stands under each side.

Always use a block of wood so the jack doesn't slip.

[Wildman]

This is something that I have though about too, seen this-

Northen Tools Item #145883 $29.99

Can't get a picture of it up, but it's a wide extention for a floor jack, like the old bumper jacks, but thinking that it might get in the way of placing jack stands, O'well, just another tool :brows:

I do the same as 87manche, jack on the right side of the punkin.