Jack stand use question

[Cubey]

Is it harmful to support a Dana 70 on one side only for a short period of time (2-3 hours max), while working on the wheel seals/drum brakes?

I have my eye on getting a single Esco 22 ton stand (~$100-110) that uses a pin instead of a ratchet bar setup. I really only want/need one stand since I will only be working on one side at a time. Assuming it's not gonna wreck something doing that.

I can't say I trust cheap jack stands at all anymore, no matter who makes them in the "split" design with ratcheting bar, due to HFT's failures in both the welds and bars. I returned the unopened HFT 6 ton stands I bought in March even though they weren't in the recall.

I need to do the rear wheel seals on my RV, and I have to use a 12 ton bottle jack with a "Big Bottle Jack Buddy" (https://bottlejackbuddy.net/the-big-one) to raise it, since my 3 ton Craftsman floor jack can't lift the rear end at all. It simply stops. You can't even move the bar/lever anymore. But to be fair, you can't get much leverage since you have to lay under the back when trying to pump the jack in order to reach the axle in such a way that you don't block where the stand needs to go. I think the jack is maxed out though to be honest.

So, a big bottle jack with the "Buddy" to cradle the axle makes it so I can safely jack it up without buying a $300-400 22 ton jack. And it's useful for tire changes out on the road too since it's compact vs a 22 ton floor jack. I already tested the 12 ton bottle jack with the "Buddy" and it works great. The short little 2 piece pole with the bottle jack lifts the thing fine, no struggle at all. The "Buddy" cradles the axle so it can't slip off like it could from the flat top of a bottle jack alone.

It's safe enough since I won't ever be under there messing with the jack or stands unless the wheels are on, so even if the jack or stands fail, the wheels will be on. Plus there is quite a lot of room under there, it's not a tight squeeze for me. The black water tank is gone right now, so there is a big area above the frame with nothing in it that could go around me if it did somehow fall. Unlikely though. It's on a good old textured cement driveway that's level.

 

[Brenden]

If you’re worried about safety, there’s almost never a price worth more than your life. And yes, stay far far away from the ratchet style jack stands, I’ve witnessed many mangled hands; luckily it was only hands.
To answer your question, I’ve never had a problem on any solid axle that I kept up on one side. You just need to be sure to tip it the other way when you’re done to get oil back into the opposite hub before burning out the bearings.

 

[Cubey]

If you’re worried about safety, there’s almost never a price worth more than your life. And yes, stay far far away from the ratchet style jack stands, I’ve witnessed many mangled hands; luckily it was only hands.
To answer your question, I’ve never had a problem on any solid axle that I kept up on one side. You just need to be sure to tip it the other way when you’re done to get oil back into the opposite hub before burning out the bearings.

Yep, I will be doing seals on both sides... so one side will be leaned, then the other. I just don't see much point in having two 22 ton stands right now. Just extra cost that I don't need to spend. I don't need to totally support the rear end, such as during an axle swap. I can always buy a second one later if I ever need it. The total cost for the pair would be more than buying a pair of 22 ton stands of another brand right now, but I'll worry about that it if ever comes up.

I'm in a residential area, so I can drive very slow at first to get the oil churning... and have to when exiting the roughly 40ft long driveway into the 2 lane street. I wouldn't be me peeling out with dry bearings or anything like that.

I bought a new bearing packer that connects to a grease gun, in the event that I find the bearings being in bad shape, so I could also just grease them up for extra insurance if need be, even if the old original bearings are still good. (I hate manually packing bearings)

This looks pretty darn study. The bottom-most plate that contacts the ground is a whopping 3/8" thick.

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[Brenden]

Those are excellent jack stands. The absolute only thing wrong with them is when you bash it on your shin when carrying it, haha.

And for the sake of entertaining experiences. In a much heavier application, a job got passed down to me from first shift, guy did a wheel seal and I got stuck with the DOT inspection 2nd shift. DOT Passes and the guy hops into his truck and goes about 5 mph out of the lot, gets to the road and all we heard was a loud bang from in the shop. The result is in the picture.

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Foreman called 1st shift mechanic, he said he didn't prefill the hub because he greased the bearings.. Just some food for thought.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

(I hate manually packing bearings)

I'm with you on this one. It's still the way that I pack them though. After you replace the axle seals, you could let it sit overnight before driving it. That would give the oil enough time to settle back to it's normal position. Between that and packing the bearings, I don't see where you'd have any issues. Another thing that you could do is to put one side of your axle on the stand while holding up the other side with the jack. Safety says that you use the jack under the side that you're not working on just in case the jack would happen to fail and drop your RV back down quickly.
So how have you been? It's been a while since I've seen (heard?) from you.

 

[Cubey]

I'm with you on this one. It's still the way that I pack them though. After you replace the axle seals, you could let it sit overnight before driving it. That would give the oil enough time to settle back to it's normal position. Between that and packing the bearings, I don't see where you'd have any issues. Another thing that you could do is to put one side of your axle on the stand while holding up the other side with the jack. Safety says that you use the jack under the side that you're not working on just in case the jack would happen to fail and drop your RV back down quickly.
So how have you been? It's been a while since I've seen (heard?) from you.

It's probably gonna sit for weeks, if not a month before it gets driven after it's done.

Doing fine here. I'm staying at my mom's house paying her some rent for a room since the pandemic is going on. It's cheaper than an RV park here and it helps her save up some money too. The RV hasn't moved in months, since refilling it after doing the transmission oil/filter/pan change. I have insurance back on my truck for now, but it still only gets driven once a week or less typically. It did come in handy for getting that old enclosed trailer a few weeks ago. I need to use it to go get wood sometime in the next few months to fix the RV wall framing that's all rotten away. I'm bored to death and hating it but what can I do? It's not a good time to be traveling around.

 

[Cubey]

Foreman called 1st shift mechanic, he said he didn't prefill the hub because he greased the bearings.. Just some food for thought.

Well if it sits there level overnight and the differential is refilled properly, it should be fine... should it not? It's a full floater, so the differential oil lubes the bearings on a Dana 70.

 

[Brenden]

Well if it sits there level overnight and the differential is refilled properly, it should be fine... should it not? It's a full floater, so the differential oil lubes the bearings on a Dana 70.

Yeah if it sits overnight that should be completely fine, and if you say weeks or a month I'd be confident with it