Safe Jacking and Axle Stand Use

By How to Read Tyre Sidewall Markings
Comments 35
17 Jul 2026

The Jack Only Lifts — It Never Holds

A trolley jack, a bottle jack or the scissor jack in the boot all do the same job: they raise the car. None of them is designed to hold it there while you work. Hydraulic seals creep, screw threads strip, and a jack that has held steady for ten minutes can let go in the eleventh. Every year people in the UK are seriously injured by cars coming down off jacks, and most of those accidents happen in a home garage or on a driveway. The rule is simple and it has no exceptions: once the car is in the air, it goes onto axle stands before any part of your body goes underneath.

Get the Right Equipment for an Older Car

Classic cars are usually lighter than modern machinery, which helps, but they are also thinner in the metal and often older than the person jacking them up. A pair of 2-tonne axle stands is ample for almost any classic and gives a generous safety margin. Look for stands with a wide welded base and a proper locking pin or ratchet mechanism, rather than the pressed-steel type that relies on a single notch to hold the load.

For lifting, a decent low-profile trolley jack is far more stable than a scissor jack and reaches proper chassis points. If the car has been lowered, measure the clearance under the front crossmember first — a jack that will not slide underneath is no use at all.

Axle stands rated at 2 tonnes or more, always used in pairs
A trolley jack with a rubber pad or a block of hardwood in the cup
Two wheel chocks, timber ones are ideal
A sheet of 18 mm plywood to spread the load on soft ground
Wheel spanner, a good torch and a pair of gloves

Ground, Position and Preparation

Choose concrete or sound tarmac, level and dry. Block paving and gravel will shift under load, and a jack on a slope can roll. If you must work on a driveway with a slight fall, face the car downhill so it cannot run towards you, chock the wheels staying on the ground, apply the handbrake and leave it in first or reverse — or Park if it is automatic.

Loosen the wheel nuts a quarter turn before lifting, while the tyres still have grip on the ground. A seized nut is far harder to shift once the wheel is spinning in mid-air. If you need to turn a wheel during the job, release the handbrake only after the car is safely on stands.

Know Your Jacking Points

On a separate-chassis car the chassis rails are ideal: solid, strong and easy to find. On a monocoque, use the factory jacking points or the reinforced sections of the floor and sill, usually marked with a small notch or dimple. Never jack on a sill seam alone unless the handbook says so, and never on the floor pan, the sump, the exhaust, brake or fuel lines, or suspension arms that are designed to move.

Front crossmember, or the chassis legs behind the front wheels
Rear axle tube or differential casing on a live-axle car
Factory sill jacking points for a quick lift with a scissor jack
Chassis outriggers on a separate-chassis design

Tap the area with a small hammer before committing. A dull thud where you expected a ring means rust, and rust is not a jacking point. On fibreglass-bodied cars, check the handbook or owners' club guidance before lifting anywhere that is not a proper chassis member.

Raising and Supporting, Step by Step

Slide the jack under with the pad centred, then raise it slowly, watching the car and the jack together. If the jack starts to lean, stop and reposition it. Lift just high enough to slip the stand beneath — extra height only makes the car less stable. Place each stand under a strong point, set to the same height on both sides, and lower the jack gently so the weight settles onto the stands rather than dropping onto them.

Once the car is down on the stands, give it a firm but careful shove at each corner. It should not move. If it rocks, lift again and reset. Leave the jack in place, just touching the jacking point, as a back-up — but never as the only support. If a wheel comes off, slide it flat under the sill as a final barrier.

Before You Slide Underneath

Check that the stands are fully seated, the locking pins are home and the bases sit flat on solid ground. Keep your phone within reach and tell someone that you are working. Take your time getting down and back up again, and never work under a car that is supported only by a jack, however briefly — a minute is long enough for things to go badly wrong.

When the job is finished, reverse the process carefully: raise the car slightly, remove the stands one at a time, lower the jack slowly, then torque the wheel nuts to the correct figure with the car back on its tyres. A few extra minutes spent setting up properly is the cheapest safety equipment you will ever buy.

Safety

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5 Comments

Robert Sonny says Jul 21, 2024 at 10:00am

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Reply
- John Abraham says Jul 21, 2024 at 10:00am
  
  I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system
  Reply
  - Robert Sonnysays Jul 21, 2024 at 10:00am
    
    I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system
    Reply
Robert Sonny says Jul 21, 2024 at 10:00am

I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system
Reply

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