Super kind offer. But the plan's off -- the van is not built for
overcoil shocks.

-- RJS

On Sat, 2011-06-04 at 17:26 -0700, Don Hundt wrote:

> Bring it over to Redmond sometime next week and I will help you put those
> on. Nice flat driveway, floor jack , jackstands and tools.
> Don
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Rocket J Squirrel" <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Sent: Saturday, June 04, 2011 3:55 PM
> Subject: Re: Help the chimp avoid getting crushed
>
>
> > On Sat, 2011-06-04 at 18:04 -0400, David Beierl wrote:
> >> At 11:53 AM 6/4/2011, Rocket J Squirrel wrote:
> >> >Would such a jack be helpful when working on a not-level car? I find
> >> >that when all four tires on on the ramps, the van seems mighty stable
> >> >and high enough off the ground for me to feel comfortable.
> >>
> >> It's more stable than before...probably.  If you've spiked those
> >> ramps into the ground then definitely; otherwise you're still
> >> depending on ramp-to-ground friction with the same vectors
> >> involved.
> >
> > Ground is concrete driveway, not notably spikeable. Once the vehicle is
> > up the ramps, you can push on it all you want from any direction and it
> > doesn't seem to pay attention.
> >
> >> But.  From your numbers I'm guessing you have to raise the
> >> wheels about six inches to level the vehicle.  That means your
> >> driveway is about a thirteen per cent grade, or a bit under four
> >> degrees.
> >
> > 8 inches, more like, the height of the ramps. About 6 degrees, according
> > to the bubble level screwed below the driver's seat window. But your
> > analysis still applies.
> >
> > [snip]
> >
> >> I'm with Scott.  Find or build a flat place to work, or get out from
> >> under.  Not that we care about you or anything, but reading gory
> >> stories can ruin your morning. ;-)
> >
> > Indeed and I thank you for your consideration.
> >
> > I'm pretty much tied to working on the driveway. The street is a busy
> > one and last year someone driving down the street plowed into a parked
> > car in front of our house. If it had been on stands and someone under
> > it, they would have been in serious condition. Likewise if you want to
> > stick your feet out from under the vehicle -- curbside won't work, and
> > traffic side would be worthless. So the street is out.
> >
> > The only level place in the front of the house is the front lawn and I
> > guarantee that Mrs Squirrel would not take kindly to me parking the van
> > there to tinker with it. When we first moved in, when the front had no
> > grass, and was just dirt, my son parked his Jeep there. Once. She let
> > him know that while the front of the house wasn't landscaped yet, that
> > was no excuse to make the place look like hillbillies had moved in.
> >
> > Jonathan Poole's suggestion to pack everything -- tools and parts -- up
> > and move location to someplace flat with resources, like the parking lot
> > in front of a FLAPS is a good one, but better suited for the kind of guy
> > that doesn't need to take six trips from the van to the tool cabinet and
> > back again just to get the right tools and bits to replace a light bulb.
> > I'm not that kind of guy. I have never walked out to the van with the
> > right tools, there's always something -- or a lot of somethings -- that
> > I need to fetch.
> >
> > Really -- the van is really stable atop two or four of those steel
> > ramps. More stable than it would be on jack stands or a floor jack.
> > Floor jacks have wheels and that would not be helpful on a concrete
> > driveway with an 8-degree slope.
> >
> > This is just the way it's going to have to be. It is, as they say, my
> > funeral.
> >
> > --
> > Rocky J Squirrel (Jack Elliott)
>