Agreeable! And with Dougs description of the shakes in his Syncro, one could imagine
the Syncro just dancing itself (insert appropriate music here) off the stands.

I did the same thing myself once, though. I used to work at a junkyard for a short
while, and I had to check the tranny in a smashed M'bishi Galant. The car was not
driveable, so I lifted it up on a forklift, and got in behind the wheel. The car was
very stable on the forks, so I felt no dangerous situation could occur. That Mitsu
had 210 km/h on the speedo in 5th, rpms @6500. I don't dare to think of what could
have happened if it fell off, but at least no one were under the car. Still, I
wouldnt do it if I did not know the stability of the stands or lift.

PerL
87 Syncro 112i

Steve Schwenk wrote:

> Don't do this unless you have the right jack stands
> (theyre are a lot of cheapos out there), know where &
> how to palce them and know what you are doing.  It is
> not hard to see this experiment resulting in death,
> should things go wrong.
>
> EMZ wrote:
> >
> >       If the vibration is that bad, try this. I did this years ago.
> > Jack up all four wheel, on good strong jack stands, about 2 inches
> > off the ground. Have someone start the van and run thru the gears
> > until the vibration is at it's worst. You should be able to
> > climb under the Van and see the drive shaft, or whatever, shacking.
> >
> >             Eric                   86-VW4x4
> >             vw4x4@fyi.net          72-240z
> >             Pittsburgh, PA USA     1936-Chrysler
> >
> > On Tue, 20 Jul 1999, Fitz-Randolph, Douglas wrote:
> >
> > > Thanks to all who replied with suggestions about the causes of my vibrations
> > > (see excerpt from original post below). I was really looking for advice on
> > > good mechanics in the Northern New England area - there don't seem to be any
> > > listed on either the Vanagon site or on Karl Bloss's list. Derek Drew
> > > supplied Gordi Davis in NH, but that was the only suggestion. What do all
> > > you other N. NE. syncronauts do when you've got syncro-specific problems?
> > >
> > > For those inclined to speculate on the causes of the vibrations, in addition
> > > to the original post (below), let me add the following:
> > >
> > > 1) The vibrations are so bad that it feels like I am driving on railroad
> > > tracks - the ties, not the rails.
> > > 2) I made the following repairs with no effect on the vibrations:
> > >     - New rotors, calipers and pads
> > >     - New bearings installed by mechanic
> > >     - Front outer CV joints inspected (OK) repacked, new boots - by mechanic
> > >     - Driveshaft u-joints replaced (once) and balanced (twice) by driveline
> > > shop.
> > > 3) The vibrations occur both with my brand new Michelin MXT's and my old
> > > Nokian Hak' LT10 snow tires - both with different sets of wheels.
> > >
> > > Anyway, all suggestions/advice is appreciated!
> > >
> > > Doug Fitz-Randolph
> > > Yarmouth, ME
> > > dfrandolph@talkam.net
> > > '90 Syncro
> > >
> > > Original post: << I started having these vibrations - body of car, not
> > > steering wheel or brake pedal - when applying power at certain speeds. They
> > > spread to other speeds over the course of a few months, and in the last week
> > > (with driveshaft) increased exponentially and became so bad that I thought
> > > it best not to drive the van. Removed the driveshaft, presto - problem gone.
> > > The u-joints were in sorry shape - binding and sticking - so I had them
> > > rebuilt by a local driveline shop. Reinstalled the driveshaft - the
> > > vibrations weren't quite as severe, but were still completely unacceptable -
> > > driving the van still didn't seem like a good idea. Took the driveshaft back
> > > - he rebalanced it - no difference. He said "there's no way just a bad
> > > driveshaft could be causing vibration like that". My door lock buttons were
> > > unscrewing all by themselves! The front bearings and outer CV joints check
> > > out fine, the inner CV's were both replaced about 10-20,000 miles ago. >>
> > >