Can I Dangle My Car in the Air from the Quick Jacks Alone?

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by Argess

Mind you, Patrick is committed now as he's drilled the hole, so he might as well try it and see what happens.

Patrick is waiting for Bob P. to opine on sleeving the frame bosses and aluminum round tube, but he's already ordered the 4130 Chromoly thick-walled round tube and shaft collars to beef up the lateral strength anyway.

[1795]

Originally Posted by Argess

Doesn't a flatbed have the winch in the center, so the pull won't be straight if that's the case. Gets worse the farther up the flatbed you are. Honestly, I never really noticed if a flatbed winch can be moved laterally.

And any side load would be doubled with only one strap....

Also, there will be a twisting torque on the whole car when you pull it from one side, so there will be side-loads even if it is a straight pull. If the whole business is beefy enough, everything will be OK.

But is it? Patrick's ERA looks different than my older one, if I remember correctly. I wouldn't trust the threaded rods in mine for this purpose as I think they would bend quite easily.

Mind you, Patrick is committed now as he's drilled the hole, so he might as well try it and see what happens.

Good point about the winch typical being in the center. When I installed the winch on my trailer it was offset to the side that the strap was attached to the quick jack, so it is more of a straight line pull.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by 1795

Good point about the winch typical being in the center. When I installed the winch on my trailer it was offset to the side that the strap was attached to the quick jack, so it is more of a straight line pull.

Wait a minute, this is just high school trig. You know, the horizontal and vertical components of a force that acts at an angle measured from the x-axis? I asked Ellie and she says that if the quick jack tow hook is one foot away from the exact middle of the car, and the tow winch is lined up with the exact middle of the car, and the winch is ten feet away from the car, the angle is just over 5 degrees to that quick jack hook from the winch. The sine of 5 degrees is about .087, so if the winch is pulling a thousand pounds worth of force to get the car up the ramp, you've got 87 pounds pulling sideways on that hook. That ain't much. Ellie says she can muster up that amount of force with one paw and that we're dumb for having to ask a dog to solve a simple trig problem.

[rodneym]

Yes.
Indeed, Ellie is the smartest one here

[patrickt]

Beefing up the horizontal strength of the linkage. Here is the before picture:



And here is the upgrade. The sleeve around the lower boss and aluminum tube is 4130 Chromoly, with a wall thickness of .120", just measure it, cut it, grind it at an angle for a perfect fit, and tap it on to the boss for a snug press fit. I used an ID of .76", as the aluminum tube is .75" and the boss was a few thousandths above that. With the grommets out you can test for any lateral play with the aluminum tube and threaded rod installed -- if you did it right there will be next to none.



To get to the bottom linkage ERA was kind enough to include a removable plug in the fender well.



Part two will be the replacement of the threaded rods, nut, and acorns with Grade 8 stuff. Then, not only can I dangle her from a crane, but I can drag her sideways across asphalt without ripping the front end off.

[Jerry Clayton]

Its no stronger than the weakest point----------sooooooooo???????????????

[Buzz]

Patrick is nothing if not determined. Nice work. I'm just waiting for the field test video.

[xb-60]

Originally Posted by Buzz

.....I'm just waiting for the field test video.

Me too.
Three pages in now Patrick. Time to to test the prototype, otherwise it's all hot air.
After all, the question was asked..."Can I Dangle My Car in the Air from the Quick Jacks Alone?"

Cheers!
Glen

[Jamo]

Originally Posted by Buzz

Patrick is nothing if not determined. Nice work. I'm just waiting for the field test video.

Buzz...a picture from you would be worth a thousand words.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by Jamo

Buzz...a picture from you would be worth a thousand words.

That would be quite the honor... and a perfect closeout to this thread.

[Buzz]

Originally Posted by Jamo

Buzz...a picture from you would be worth a thousand words.

Lol! The thought did cross my mind!

[HI Cobra]

What - no picture! When Jamo mentioned it I had visions of Buzz whipping something out! LOL. Glad to see this site seems to be up and running again, I
got tired of trying to open it when it was mostly inactive.

[kbmyers]

I'm in. I thought #805 needed to be towed this morning when it wouldn't restart at a gas station. Luckily we were able to jump it, since I didn't realize there is no place for a tow strap on this car. Time to fix that. Perfect timing for this thread!