Safety question

[jimmyybob]

when it's in the air, give it a good shove in all directions to see how solid it is. I

Cheers

This is vital you should do your best to push it off its stands, only then will you feel safe under it.

[Willy Eckerslyke]

Slightly hesitant to suggest this, but an engine crane can be useful for lifting one end of a car. Drive one end of car onto ramps, then lift the other end with the engine crane on its highest load setting (i.e. the boom unextended), and you have loads of room for access. You can't rely on the crane's hydraulics alone, so should use additional props for safety. Doing this on a slope safely will require some thought - perhaps using ratchet straps to hold the crane in position. It's the sort of technique I've used to good effect, but getting it wrong could kill you.

[OneCarefulOwner]

When working on Abandoned Project #1, we used an engine crane to lift the front end of the car up (sans engine) before putting end-on ramps under the sills; that gave us fantastic clearance for mucking about with the exhaust & gear linkage, and the ramps were surprisingly stable.

[CologneV6]

Definately DO NOT use bricks or blocks
I've had to deal with fixing cars on a driveway with a 15 degree slope for years. Removed engines, gearboxes, changed clutches etc...
I used a 2-ton engine crane to lift the front of a car up by the engine crossmember and stuck ramps under the chassis with timber blocks on top and then chocked the rear wheels for good measure. I have also used lengths of timber bolted underneath ramps to raise them up by 9" and made long timber ramps to get the car up on to them without any problem.
Fence posts have proved perfect for the job - new ones, not old rotten ones please.
Also useful to tie the higher end of the car to something heavy...like another car...while you are doing the lift. Tow rope, ratchet strap or steel cable...
If you've ever seen the tank restoration shows on the Discovery channel they use railway sleepers to support tanks weighing several tons when the guys are working underneath them, so timber should be perfectly OK for a car.

[ajmin]

Mine's on 12" ramps under the front crossmember packed with a single layer of 4" fence post cut to size and a pair of standard 1 ton axle stands under the rear axle at about half height on a sloping drive and its been there about 6 months and never budged an inch and steady as a rock. Just try and not get yourself under where you are welding, you will get hot...I try and get myself in a position so I have the mig at half arms length so I can support it with the other arm ie elbow on the ground