Jack stands on sloped driveway?
 

Is there any sort of consensus as to the maximum angle jack stands are safe at? I'd like to get into doing more of the work on my BRZ myself, rather than having to take it into the shop for everything that requires the car to be off the ground, but my driveway is slightly sloped and I'm worried that jack stands won't be safe with the slope. Just checked with my iPhone and it measured the slope at 2 degrees, though I'm not sure how much I trust that measurement.

Alternatively, I was looking at maybe just getting a pair of wheel ramps so I can at least put one end of the car up on ramps at a time for some work. The highest I've found would give a 7" lift, so not a whole lot but probably enough to do some work (though I would only be lifting one end at a time with these, with chocks on the other end, and the tires would still be on the ground so it's not ideal). I'm thinking if I went with this option I'd position the car so that the wheels on the lower end of the driveway were being lifted, to minimize the angle it would actually be at.

And working in the garage, which is (presumably) level isn't an option for me as there isn't enough space in there. A car can fit in there, but there would be no extra space around it.

Suggestions?

Well.... I don't know how bad of a slope your driveway is so I can't assume it's 2 degrees.

Personally I would avoid anything slope more than 10 degrees and no more than 1 wheel off the ground.

If I was you I'll organize the garage, maybe invest in storage racks. $80 at any hardware store will dramatically increase garage space.

Maybe post a pic of that driveway of yours?

just dont. find somewhere flat. dont kill yourself for a stupid car.

Just make sure the logs you use are solid oak .......:D

Seriously, with a 2 degree slope you should be OK with ramps ....... just remember the front wheels are NOT locked by the emergency brake.

If you need to get the wheels off the ground, I'd suggest you just lift one wheel at a time.

Always chock the other wheels; never trust a jack as the sole support.


humfrz

Get some wheel chocks. It won't go anywhere if you set the e-brake, use wheel chocks and ramps or stands on 2 wheels. But 2 degrees doesn't sound like all that much to worry about

Thanks for the input everyone. Sounds like I can probably go either way on this, ramps or stands, so it will mostly be a matter of sorting out how much I want to be able to do here to decide which is more suitable.

Driveway is full now so I can't get a good picture of most of it, but here's probably the more relevant view.

Meh, that's a very small slope, you are good to go.

Use jack stands that have a wide base and you should be fine.

So, it doesn't help you for whole-car work, but something I do for oil changes or half-car work is I'll put the car into the garage, then put ramps at the entrance to the garage (still on flat surface) and drive up onto them. You have a lot of space this way even in a cramped garage.

As for all the other ideas, do what you want but it's your ass on the line, nobody else's. I dumped a Chevy Expressvan off of stands a few months back. First time I've ever had it happen, but it was because of a mix of an imperceptible incline and the e-brake not doing its job. Work safe!

When speaking surface inclines that is pretty much in the perfectly flat category. I think the floors in my house have more angle than that.

Be careful and never lift the rear end if the front is on ramps. I did this once and nearly shit a brick. I had the rear up about 2 feet on the rear diff with a floor jack, when the front wheels decided to roll down the ramp. I basically went with it slowly until they were off the ramp and then slowly lowered the rear diff with the jack. Talk about adrenaline.

I would recommend trying to get the level level then taking a picture to show what angle of depression the driveway is at.

You mean something like this? Hard to get a picture of it's so close to level, I guess it's nothing to worry about. For now I'm planning to just use ramps for 2 wheels anyway and not get a jack/stands. 2 wheels up on ramps, chocks on the other 2, probably about as safe as I can get in my own driveway.

Yeah you good dog. :cheers: