All About Jackstands

Some tools get all the glory. Wrenches and sockets get the flashy chrome, screwdrivers get the multicolored handles, and they all get transported in fancy boxes to and from the track. But the lowly jackstand is often the unsung hero in your arsenal of tools.

If you take a trip to any racetrack in the world, you will see racers who have spent thousands of dollars on safety equipment to protect the driver in the event of an accident on the track, and that's as it should be. But the same driver and crew will jack up the car, crawl underneath it to make wholesale changes, and not even consider using a jackstand. If the jack should fail or get inadvertently bumped, or another crew member doesn't see someone under the car and lets the jack down, the potential for serious injury, or worse, is very real. The thought of one corner of a 3,000-pound race car falling down on a crew member is not a pretty picture. Even a lighter open-wheeled car can cause serious injuries. The truth of the matter is that this type of accident can be avoided by placing the race car on jackstands.

While not complex, the jackstand is a critical tool in the racer's toolbox. Getting under the car to make adjustments and/or repairs is part of the race-day routine. For less than the cost of a dinner and a movie, a complete set of jackstands can be part of your toolbox. Jackstands are available in every auto parts store in the country, and many of the larger mail-order houses sell them. Basically, jackstands can be purchased wherever racing parts are sold. It is not a question of availability; it is more a question of priority and foresight.

Just as every other product in racing has been improving or undergoing a redesign, the jackstand has changed a bit over the years while its function remains the same: hold up the car and allow the crew to safely work underneath. The selection of jackstands on the market today is broad. They're available in racy polished aluminum models, and you can still purchase some economy models. The basic design has not changed that much in the 30-plus years I have been involved with racing. The individual stand is a bit flashier, but the product is still about as complex as a rock.

The older designs are still with us and work just fine, but there are a few things that can cause the racer some grief. With just a bit of forethought, you can avoid problems at the track. The older designs of jackstands feature two tubes that slide in and out of each other to adjust the height. There are a series of holes in each tube. Once you determine the correct length, you slide in a pin supplied with the jackstand and the placement of the pin determines the length of the stand. This system still works well, but the whole process falls apart if the pin is missing. Then you end up slipping the shaft of a Phillips screwdriver through the holes. This isn't a problem until you discover you need a Phillips screwdriver and the only one you have is in the jackstand. Drilling a hole in the pin, running some small braided wire or chain through the hole, and securing the other end to the jackstand prevents this from becoming an issue.

Another problem with the tube-in-a-tube design is that it may sink in soft dirt. This is not a problem if the pits at the track are paved, but dirt pits are a different story. The weight of the car distributed over a small area can obviously cause the jackstand to sink into the dirt. The solution is to set the stands on sections of a board or plywood. This gives the stand a greater area to distribute the weight. You can go to a lumber rack at any large home improvement center and find some remnants for less than a dollar or two.

If you purchase some of the newer jackstands on the market, you'll see that they are a bit more adjustable and have only two parts and no pin to slip into the stand for adjustment. That's one less thing to monitor at the track. They have a rack-and-pinion type of arrangement that is self-locking. If the inner part of the stand is pulled up, that part contacts the car and a series of gear teeth will cause the jackstand to lock into position when the weight of the car is applied. It's a very robust and simple design that requires no extra parts to ensure that the stand won't move down. The base is also wider, which makes pitting in the dirt less risky, at least from a jackstand perspective.

There are several reasons you need jackstands, but the most important reason is they make working on your car much safer and easier. Jacking up the car in a hurry to make a chassis adjustment without using a jackstand is simply not worth the risk. Ignoring this advice is foolhardy, as it takes very little time and effort to place a jackstand or two under the car. There is no excuse for the car to fall off the jack and hurt someone.

The pits at most short tracks are crowded, and all it would take is another car bumping into your car while it is jacked up in the pits. This could be caused by something as simple as a driver avoiding another car or some foot traffic in the pits. It really does not take much to knock your car off the jack. The safety issue is just not worth the minimal time you may save by not using one.

Take the time to look at the various models of jackstands on the market, see what works for you, then make a move. The cost is just not that much for the added level of safety. Placing jackstands under the car after the crew has jacked it up takes less than a minute, a much shorter period of time than a trip to the hospital.