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I recently built some wooden wheel cribs and thought it would be worth sharing here in case someone hasn't seen these before. They are a fairly common way for shops to get cars up in the car when the suspension needs to be loaded under vehicle weight and a 4 post lift isn't available. They are more stable than jack stands of a similar height because the car is much less likely to slide off. I built them because I wanted the suspension loaded while installing weld-in subframe connectors and I needed room under the car to work.
It was a lot of cutting, drilling, and screwing but I think they are going to come in very handy.
I built mine 14x16in 8 layers tall. It tooks 64 cuts from 11 2x4s to make a set of 4 wheel cribs 8 layers tall, plus 224 #10x2-1/2 screws to put them together. A simple saw stop made the cutting go quickly. I cut 3pcs of each size from each 2x4. Predrilling and screwing took quite a while. If I had a larger framing nail gun I think that would be the way to do it much faster. Cost of wood and hardware was about $60 from the local box store.
Getting the car on and off of these takes some care. I start by lifting the front of the car onto jack stands, then I get the rear of the car onto the wooden wheel cribs, and finally I return to the front to get the front onto wooden cribs. These are right at the limit of my jack working height, especially up front where I have to jack from the frame and the wheels droop. Out back I jack from the rear end so it's much easier. Once the car is up on the stands it's very stable and easy to access things underneath.
It was a lot of cutting, drilling, and screwing but I think they are going to come in very handy.
I built mine 14x16in 8 layers tall. It tooks 64 cuts from 11 2x4s to make a set of 4 wheel cribs 8 layers tall, plus 224 #10x2-1/2 screws to put them together. A simple saw stop made the cutting go quickly. I cut 3pcs of each size from each 2x4. Predrilling and screwing took quite a while. If I had a larger framing nail gun I think that would be the way to do it much faster. Cost of wood and hardware was about $60 from the local box store.
Getting the car on and off of these takes some care. I start by lifting the front of the car onto jack stands, then I get the rear of the car onto the wooden wheel cribs, and finally I return to the front to get the front onto wooden cribs. These are right at the limit of my jack working height, especially up front where I have to jack from the frame and the wheels droop. Out back I jack from the rear end so it's much easier. Once the car is up on the stands it's very stable and easy to access things underneath.