I am jacking up the car to drop the gas tank. If I put the stands under the axel, will that leave me enough room to do the work and get the tank out. If I support the car at the rear frame the suspension will hang and give the shocks and springs a pretty good workout. Does that matter? What is the prefered position for the jack stands? It is a very solid car/frame (72'Dart Swinger).

I personally prefer to put jack stands on the frame, so the vehicle does not move at all. If supported by the axle, when you go to really harp on a bolt the vehicle bounces on the suspension--which make me nervous. Of course, that may stem from the fact that I have had a car fall off jask stands while I was under it

-S/6

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The "Silver Bullet"
87 Ram D150

Ooooo, scary. I always go crazy with jackstands when I am working under the car, usually two on the frame at least, with another two as backups, and I leave the jack contacting the lift point as a futher back-up. I usually work alone, and being here in SoCal, I figure if an earthquake can knock it off the stands, there aren't enough stands.

I usually jack the rear of the car directly under the differential, and place jackstands on the axle tubes. Use at least two ton capacity jackstands to give you a margin of safety and durability for rough use. If I am repairing th axle or suspension, or require the axle to be sprung for clearance, I will then support the frame only. The older and less solid the car, the less feasible this latter option is.

Make sure that any wheels that are still on the ground are firmly chocked to prevent them from rolling, and set the parking brake if your rear wheels are touching the ground. Leaving the jack in place as Nosser said is a fine idea, especially if you are supporting the frame.

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I've been calling it as i see it for my entire life and that's not about to change. Take it or leave it.

Thanks for the replys. It sounds like it is ok to put them under the frame and let the suspension hang. I just thought that was an extreme range of travel for a 32 year old suspension. I've still got a small jack under the rear diff so it's not at full travel, don't want to break more than I fix.

Never worry about letting the suspenision hang... if you drive it it is going to travel (up and down at 60mph) don't worry about letting it drop at 0. I'm bad for crawling under one on a Bad Hyd jack if anything but i have had jack stands on the frame for repacing the bushings!
Frank

Yep, if anything it is the weight of the car itself that puts the most stress on the suspension components. I remember pulling a 440 out of a 69 Coronet that had no frame left, the leaf spring perches were punched right through the trunk floor. Go forth with confidence

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I've been calling it as i see it for my entire life and that's not about to change. Take it or leave it.