Hoist alternative?

[Runner-Wannabe]

Ok you crafty weekend wrenching turning warriors, any idea how I can raise a 4Runner high enough off the ground to do frame repairs?

I have the basics. Axle stands, floor jack and ramps. No hoist or cake for one.
Any thoughts on how to really get one up in the air (safely)

Not high enough to stand under but high enough fo me to have ample room on a creeper.

 

[Jpilot]

4 car ramps? I would think, if you left wheels and tires on, you would have plenty of room under to work on the frame. If you need to get to the area next to a wheel, do one at a time with a jack stand on a pile of wood.

 

[MAST4R]

4 car ramps? I would think, if you left wheels and tires on, you would have plenty of room under to work on the frame. If you need to get to the area next to a wheel, do one at a time with a jack stand on a pile of wood.

I used those for my Outback, but I have not been able to use them on the 4R. The front wheels just roll over them like it is nothing

 

[Jpilot]

I used those for my Outback, but I have not been able to use them on the 4R. The front wheels just roll over them like it is nothing

Keep your tire pressure high and they should roll up no problem.

 

[MAST4R]

Keep your tire pressure high and they should roll up no problem.

The point is, I cannot stop on top because I cannot feel when to stop, I just drive till the wheels have dropped on the other side. Not so on my Subarus.

It is like a small rock on trail, don't feel it

Just a fun fact, that's all...

 

[MyanRagahis]

Make some ramps. Make 4 of them to whatever height you desire. I found some lengths on the internet and decided to copy it.

Added stoppers because my Dad liked to use it for his car now too and felt it was safer to have.

 

[Runner-Wannabe]

Thanks guys, I know that I’m dealing with a vehicle with decent ground clearance from the factory but I was hoping for more height while working beneath.

I’m a bigger guy plus creeper plus grinders etc means it’s kind of tight. I found this on my chev pickup project, but that was a 2wd.

Maybe I’ll use my steel ramps attached to wooden ramps as suggested to give extra height if needed. That should be stable enough. I’ll weld or bolt on stops at the ends of the ramps to prevent overshooting. Good to know about that one!!

 

[Jetboy]

How brave are you? - This guy is doing it right. You can see he's using a backup piece of wood. Just in case.

Seriously - what is your working situation like? Do you have some land - or more like live in the city? Some cinder blocks or landscape blocks could make a nice place to drive up on for each side to work under if you're doing it outside. Or you could literally dig a hole in the middle and work in the hole like the old mechanics shops used to do before they had car lifts. Or you could buy some tall jack stands. Or lift one side and do the work then do the other side.

There are some specialty wheel stands that you jack up one corner at a time until you get as high as you need to go. But they're $800 for a set.

A lot of people make up wooden stackable interlocking blocks as a poor man's version for more like $20 so you can also go up as high as you need. This is particularly common if you own an old Camaro or Mustang apparently based on my search of the internets. This is actually the most common method by far that I know of for this type of thing. It's pretty common and has seemed to work well for a lot of people.