Looking for "Rolling Jack Stands"? These Rock!

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

Hi Guys. Thought I might let you guys in on a sneak peek at a new product I've been lucky enough to get my hands on. I just finished up building a GTM for some great guys who are in the final stages of getting these into production. They were kind enough to leave these ezVjacks with me to try out when they came to pick up their GTM. IMO, these are PERFECT for what we (as kit car builders) need them for. They put the vehicle at the perfect height to work on, whether it's mechanical work or body work. They are fully adjustable for width. As you can see from the photos, the GTM chassis is pretty narrow at the rear, and wide at the front, so these worked out great, as you can adjust them for whatever frame width you have in the location you need to put them. The center caster can be locked into position in 90 degree increments, so you can lock both of them in-line with the chassis so the chassis will ONLY roll straight forward or straight back.....OR lock them at 90 degrees, so you could have the car pushed up tight against a wall, and then pull it straight out from the wall to work on it. The huge casters roll across rough or cracked floors with no problem at all, and also raises the supporting beams up off the floor far enough so you can roll a floor jack thru the opening between the casters.......in other words, you can use a floor jack to jack the car up, then roll the ezVjacks OVER the handle/body of the floor jack, get the arms positioned where you want them, lower the car down onto the ezVjacks and then pull the floor jack OUT FROM BETWEEN THE CASTERS on the ezVjack! This really makes it easy to get the car on and off of the ezVjacks.

As I said, these guys are getting REALLY close to production on these. They do not have their website on-line yet, but if you are interested in ordering a set, you can call them at 920-256-0549 and get on the order list. These are super heavy-duty units that will last more than a life-time, and when not in use, they fold up to a very narrow profile and can be stood up vertically against a wall to take up very little space.

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j88/vacextar/1205300006.jpg

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j88/vacextar/1205300005.jpg

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j88/vacextar/0506070001.jpg

[Kempo]

Looks like a great product. Thanks for sharing.

[Racebrewer]

Nice. Great design. Nothing stabler than a tripod (the three wheels). 2 x 4 pieces of wood won't mar the paint like a metal piece would.

Some additional means of height adjustment in the "jack stand" parts would be helpful. AT 6' 2", I like a car way up in the air.

Also, they need a "Little Red Wagon" kind of handle to let you pull the car around<LOL>

That design looks soooo useful.

John

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

Hey John........I'm also 6'2", and as I said, the height works great for me. Most of the outer stuff (suspension/brake work, door hinges, latching/windows, door electrical stuff) is at the perfect height to sit in my nice padded roller seat and work, and for bodywork on pretty much the whole car, it works out great when standing. Honestly, they are almost dead-on the same height that I have my home-built jack stands made that I have been working from for years. I've got a couple of cave-man home made jack stands as well as a couple of "saw-horses" welded up that I've always put the chassis up on to work on these cars pretty much from start to finish. These ezVjacks are almost identical in height.......so the only change for me is that I can easily swap stalls in the shop to make room for cars coming in and out, which is a HUGE plus for me.

Here's my old saw-horse. Don't think I'll be needing it much anymore. :)

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j88/vacextar/0801170015.jpg

[FFRSpec72]

Is there still room to get under the car, what is the approx height the car is off the ground?

[The Stig]

Hey John........I'm also 6'2", and as I said, the height works great for me. Most of the outer stuff (suspension/brake work, door hinges, latching/windows, door electrical stuff) is at the perfect height to sit in my nice padded roller seat and work, and for bodywork on pretty much the whole car, it works out great when standing. Honestly, they are almost dead-on the same height that I have my home-built jack stands made that I have been working from for years. I've got a couple of cave-man home made jack stands as well as a couple of "saw-horses" welded up that I've always put the chassis up on to work on these cars pretty much from start to finish. These ezVjacks are almost identical in height.......so the only change for me is that I can easily swap stalls in the shop to make room for cars coming in and out, which is a HUGE plus for me.

Here's my old saw-horse. Don't think I'll be needing it much anymore. :)

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j88/vacextar/0801170015.jpg

Ok, I'll be the one to ask what may be a really dumb question... But how the heck to you get the car down off the stand after you've pretty much built the complete chassis?

[tirod]

A hydraulic jack. Mine will lift up to 21". Just used it to change the oil and rotate the tires last week.

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

Is there still room to get under the car, what is the approx height the car is off the ground?

The pads that the car rests on are about 16.5" from the ground. So in the front of the car, where I have it setting on top of 2x4's, it is 18". In the rear, I just have the chassis resting on some 1/4" plywood.......the jacks will come with some polyurethane pads/covers to go over the steel pads, but the set I have here is a pre-production unit, so they didn't have those ready quite yet. So, yes.....plenty of clearance to get under the car with a creeper. The other benefit these have for under-car work is that they don't cover very much of the bottom of the car.......AND, let's say you need to install the aluminum or Russ's skid kit at the front of the car. If you look at the pic of the chassis up on these jacks, you will see that the single center caster is right under where you need to work. No problem, just get out the floor jack, raise the car up just a bit off of the ezVjack, spin the ezVjack around so the center caster is now under the center of the car and lower it back down. Now the whole front of the car is clear to work! Get the front aluminum and skid kit installed, spin the ezVjack back around the way it was, and now the whole center of the chassis is clear to work on! Same with Diffuser installation. While you're fitting the diffuser to the body, USE THE CENTER CASTER part of the ezVjack with maybe a 2x4 or some thick foam to support the bottom of the diffuser while you position it and fit it to the body. Once you get the diffuser attached to the body, and you're ready to drill the holes thru the diffuser into the chassis......just spin the ezVjack around so the center caster is under the center of the car, and the whole back of the chassis is open to work on! If you've got your floor jack handy right there, it takes all of about a minute to spin the ezVjack around to face the opposite direction.




Ok, I'll be the one to ask what may be a really dumb question... But how the heck to you get the car down off the stand after you've pretty much built the complete chassis?

I build these cars pretty much from start to finish up on stands. Most of the time, they never move from their perch from the time the build has begun until the car is final painted and the wheels and tires go on just a few days before delivery of the car to the customer. I made two "boxes" out of 2x6's, so they are 5.5" tall. I install the tires all around, and start at the front of the car to lower it down. Pull out the front stands (or ezVjacks in this case :) ) and lower the front tires down on top of the 2x6's. Then move the the rear, pull the stands and lower the rear of the car all the way to the ground. Then move back to the front and lower it off of the 2x6's. That way, you never have a huge difference in height between the front and rear.

[LCD Gauges]

I have similar rolling trays that fit under the wheels, and I love the ability to move the car anywhere in the garage for ease of work. If you don't have a set, I highly recommend getting them...unless you have an airplane hangar as a garage! :D

Shane's product would be more versatile for cars with/without wheels, whereas my rollers on work with tires on the chassis.