Can I use just a hydraulic jack without jack stands?
Hydraulic jacks are mechanical lifting devices rather than secure structural supports, meaning they can fail without warning and should never be relied on alone. Attempting vehicle maintenance under a car held only by a jack creates an extreme safety hazard that prevents safe repairs when proper equipment is financially out of reach.
What the numbers show
Counted from the threads quoted below. How we count
- This comes up 14.0× more often in r/AskMechanics than across the site as a whole.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Using wooden cribbing blocksDid this help you?
- 2Driving the car up onto a curb or inclineDid this help you?
- 3Renting or borrowing jack standsDid this help you?
- 4Sliding a removed wheel under the car as a backupDid this help you?
- 5Refusing to work on the vehicleDid this help you?
- 6Arguing with management about safety standardsDid this help you?
- 7Buying a second hydraulic jackDid this help you?
- 8Buying a spare tire to use as a placeholderDid this help you?
- 9Using multiple jack stands with hydraulic jacksDid this help you?
- 10Farming out the maintenance to a dealer or shopDid this help you?
- 11Using wheel chocks on the rear wheelsDid this help you?
- 12Engaging the parking brakeDid this help you?
- 13Using wood or a cinder block behind the wheelsDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“You should never ever trust a pump jack ever. EVER!!!!!”source ↗
“Should I lift each side of the car using 2 hydrolic jacks and swap tires, or buy a spare tire and do one corner at a time? The later requires more labour.”source ↗
“I just don't know if it's dumb to lift one side of the car at a time with 2 hydrolic jacks.”source ↗
“I assume you mean at a dealer or shop? The thing is I will be doing this to 3 new SUVs and swapping winter tires on all 3 as well. I figured DIY would be more economical in the long run.”source ↗
“Me and my manager have been getting into arguments, because I refuse to touch a car if they rotated tires after I told them they couldn't be.”source ↗
“There is another manager saying I should be written up for insubordination.”source ↗
“I told him straight up that I'm not doing it. I'm pretty sure the risk is small, but I don't know the consequences of something does happen, and I don't want to find out.”source ↗
“Would two jack stands be enough to safely support the car while doing jobs like ball joints, tie rods, control arms, brake pads, and an oil change please ?”source ↗
“It’s my first time doing any mechanical work myself.”source ↗
“Hopefully I survive It’s my first time doing any mechanical work myself!”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
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- 8Nicked rubber seal or broke a clip during DIY car repair