Jacking up a carrier
 

Any Do's and Don'ts when jacking up a carrier .. Dale

Use a heavy duty Jack and heavy duty stands!!!!! :thup2:

We use something similar to these to lift M113s, but might but a bit expensive for occasional use.

http://matjack.thomasnet.com/categor...gs?plpver=1001

as above... never place any part of your body between the contact surfaces of the track and the floor.... heavy duty axle stands are a must. make sure its on level ground and if need be use a base plate for any bottle type jacks.

common sense stuff i know, but its best said as folk tend to cut corners and get dead :)

Have her in gear and chock the track...

However, when I initially got my carrier and had to get underneath, I had a setup of railway ties to drive her up on in order to fit underneath and work effectively - I think this is safer than jack and stands (if you can work on it when it is up this way).

Last year when I was rebuilding my shop I was fortunate enough to find a 12,000lb capacity, drive-on FKI Bradbury hoist, with wheels free option, for $1200 (our fleet mechanic was downsizing so I snapped it up)! Now I can work on and under in style!

Good Topic be it Carrier or CMP
 

Hi All

Good topic for discussion, anything this big and heavy can do a lot of damage if it drops.

My personal favorite is 8x8x30 cribbing blocks. I just like the idea of solid objects that are thicker than me that can't slip or tip over.

But I really like Hans solution, you lucked out there.

Cheers Phil

Railroad Ties / Sleepers are what I use but they are just like the cribbing blocks when cut to shorter lengths to keep things manageable. One tie can be cut into four shorter blocks and they are pretty solid for holding the weight once you jack the vehicle up.

I've always used a 3-ton floor jack to get one end of the vehicle up and then move the blocks into place so the jack isn't under load later when working underneath the carrier. Used to place 5-ton jack stands beneath the carrier before the blocks but I had one literally fold up and collapse. Likely from my having been in the vehicle earlier and doing work which possibly caused the load to shift. It didn't fail while I was in or under the vehicle fortunately.

Blocks are certainly safer, even though they are harder to manage than stands. Getting crushed will ruin the rest of your day. Assuming there is someone handy that can jack the vehicle off whatever part of your body is pinned.

How's this for an idea?

Having worked on flat bottomed armoured vehicles in government workshops, I can say that we would not use stands, timber blocks being order of the day. If the vehicle was nudged, it would just move on the blocks, but on stands, being metal to metal, it would likely slide off. Another point is with a thin armour floor it puts a point loading at the point of the stand.

Jacking up a carrier
 

Some important things to consider when undergoing jacking operations take your time and do it right!
1. Always jack on a level surface preferably concrete.
2. Check your equipment for faults.
i. jack stands for cracks or missing floor pads
ii. hydraulic jacks for proper fluid level and leaking seals
iii. make sure the jack has sufficient capacity to handle the load.
3. If you are jacking a carrier that does not have a center divider make sure that the hull sits level and do a cross corner alignment check before any serious riveting work is undertaken. A small misalignment error at the bottom can equal a large error at the top.
If you think I am preaching, I was a general safety officer and I have seen jacks collapse after blowing their seals, jack stands crack and collapse and cars fall off hydraulic hoists.

Lift her slowly on a suitable jack and use blocks mate.
Old railway sleepers (check not rotten....seen that a few time!!) chainsaw to length/size required!
1 rail sleeper is about £15.00 here and you can get 3 large blocks from one of them, cheaper than good heavy duty stand!
If up in air for prolonged period you can alsi `TIE` them together with steel straps with holes in to put screws thru!
And dont stick ur daft head under til its secure! :thup2:

Thanks for the tips everyone all points taken on board . Yes I have gone for timber blocks with rubber mat under hull to look after the paint work . I just jack up one corner to take off the double station on the hand right hand side . Once it was off , I jack her back down the level whilst I work on the station over the next week or so , The hull did creak and groan a bit as I lifted here up ... Dale

It has been touched on. I always have a bit of wood between the hull and the jack. I jack under the vertical side plates, and I block the hull with pine blocks.

I've got one of those jacks
 

Hi All

Great photo Clive, I've got one those jacks it was in my HUP when I bought the HUP many years ago. Thing must weigh close to 200 LBS. As to the rest of what they were up to must have been a story.
Cheers Phil

http://canadianmilitarypattern.com/R...Beasttools.jpg

Dale
 

I noticed your comment about putting rubber between the blocks and hull to protect the paint. If you plan on having the carrier sit on the blocks for some time, I would replace the rubber with cotton waste. Over time and under pressure, the chemicals in the rubber can react with the paint and the paint will stick to the rubber when you get around to removing the blocking from under it.

Also, my Father in law worked for many years in the Transcona Railway Shops in Winnipeg. Whenever they had to jack up a steam locomotive (steam jacks in the day), they put a wad of cotton waste on the top of the jack to prevent any metal to metal slippage from happening.

David

Much like Richard, when we're working on the bigger stuff there isn't much that beats a big lump of wood. It spreads the load over a wide area and provides a good amount of friction to prevent slippage or movement.

I suppose everyone is a bit skittish about saying it as forum members are no doubt smarter than the average bear but under no circumstances should bricks or breeze blocks be used to support any vehicle at any time let alone something as heavy as a UC no matter how pressing the job.
Common sense cannot be relied upon as it is becoming less common in the population at large and so the compulsion to state what would be innate knowledge to most.
Wooden blocks cannot be beaten for supporting a vehicle under most circumstances although axle stands are very good.
Over the years I have found that the red-gum posts used in Australian suburban fences are an excellent source of material when cut to length and still can't help picking them up when I come across them.

David

X2 on the reccomendation against bricks. I have seen cinderblocks disintegrate under weight...

Was there wire connecting those posts at the time of collection? Or more accurately, an electric service wire running to the address behind the fence posts? ;)

After reading through this posts, maybe I missed it but one should never, ever work on a vehicle that is supported on a jack or jackstands.
The blocks as described are the best, making sure that the load has been released from the jack and is bearing solely on the cribbing.
Another area that is often ignored is the substrate. While maybe not quite so worrysome in your garage, jacking loads outdoors often has its own challenges.
As was pointed out previous, make sure the fround you are working on is solid, preferably concrete. Soil, grass, gravel and even asphalt tend to give.
I have seen all too often where guys will lift a load with a jack and toss a block under the frame "just in case". Many times the load hovering above the block. This is foolhardy because if the jack slips, rolls, get nudged etc the "safety" block may fail to catch the load on the way down, get split, dislodged or otherwise be pushed aside.
The company I work for moves loads (mainly jack and slide) often in excess of 200-400t so I have a bit of an idea.... :teach:

Have used both wood blocks and truck stands and to be honest prefer the stands for carriers, easier to set correctly etc I use 5T stands as a minimum ..... over 10T Armour go the wood blocks if you don't have specific hull frame stands. Most importantly however- do not support the weight on the floor plate. All stands/blocks should be on the corner's of the hull, where the side meets the floorplate, the weight bearing ability of the side plates is far better than the floorplate. I use a frame spot welded to this location to move hulls in the workshop, when the frame is cut off, it leaves a couple of weld dags that locate the stands nicely, and no slipping issue. Same locations should be used when jacking also FYI- sliding the jack under the floor is not the best way to go.

Rob

The red gum fence posts I refer to would be well known to Australians in Victoria and New South Wales. They are approximately 3"x 5" in section and around 8 feet long with six feet of that above ground. They are notched for the attachment of three rails. The notch is the logical place to cut them into blocks. They normally rot through at ground level though it may take 40 years before they fail. The remaining post above ground is usually in excellent condition and so well worth retrieving when a fence is replaced.
We don't normally have power connected to our suburban fences though in some parts that wouldn't be a bad idea.

David

For anyone in the Fraser Valley or on Vancouver Island looking for a lift:

https://www.gcsurplus.ca/mn-eng.cfm?...1&sf=ferm-clos