How to Balance Things (Skid Plates) on a Jack

SSTJ

SSTJ

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When raising or lowering large and awkward items like skid plates, carefully enough to align bolt holes, how do you do it?

Do any floor jacks come with an attachable plate that allows for a larger surface area of contact?

Update: Ok, the answer seems to be either an ATV jack or a transmission jack.
 
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I've used a piece of 1 x 8. I've also used nothing when taking the transfer case skid off and it worked fine. You may need to reposition after slightly lowering and seeing how it tilts. A transmission jack or an ATV jack works really well too. I used my transmission jack recently to remove my transfer case and my fuel tank. There probably are adapter out there but I've never looked for one.
 
I just lay a board on the jack, maybe 1 or 2 square feet, and lay the skid on it. Lifted up, you'll need to slide the skid around a little to align it anyway.
 
I had to drop my trans/xfer case skid recently.

I only have one rolling floor jack at the moment, just a little 1.5t hft standard jack.

To drop the plate I took off the nuts on the trans mount, placed a ~10" piece of scrap 2x10 on the jack and got it to where I thought the center was. Unbolted the sides, then started to slowly lower it and just grabbed the side to help guide it down since it was a little off balance.

To reinstall, I proped one side up with stacks of wood a few inches lower than where it needed to go total, and the floor jack on the other side. I gave up quick on trying to balance it perfectly in the center on the way up, haha, you could balance it back up the same way as my removal with some patience.

Depending what your skid plate is and how heavy it is your mileage may vary.
 
Ok, thanks all. Yes, I've dropped both skid plates by balancing on a bottle jack. I guess the increased surface area of a rolling floor jack would help, but wondered it I was missing a helpful accessory.
 
I use the Harbour Freight ATV jack.
20230226_173755_copy_1024x768.jpg
 
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Balancing a board on a jack to set the skid on top of the board is the same thing as balancing the skid on the jack without the board, only more complicated 😉
 
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I use the cheap transmission jack from HF all the time to drop the skids. Works well for me.
 
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jjvw said:
Balancing a board on a jack to set the skid on top of the board is the same thing as balancing the skid on the jack without the board, only more complicated 😉
Click to expand...

But easier to slide the skid around on the board to balance it and line it up. Besides, you don't want to scratch up your brand new skid with the jack, you want to save that for the rocks. :D
 
SSTJ said:
When raising or lowering large and awkward items like skid plates, carefully enough to align bolt holes, how do you do it?

Do any floor jacks come with an attachable plate that allows for a larger surface area of contact?

Update: Ok, the answer seems to be either an ATV jack or a transmission jack.
Click to expand...

some rolling jacks have a bolt that allows you to remove the round plate and replace it with a cross beam.

https://www.harborfreight.com/steel-floor-jack-cross-beam-64051.html
 
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Clocktower07 said:
Another vote for a transmission jack. I purchased this one from harbor freight years ago - it definitely does more than just transmissions!
Click to expand...

Yep. I have yet to actually use mine to lift/lower a transmission - but multiple times to get the fuel tank, skid plate, and transfer case in and out of the TJ.
 
IOwnCalculus said:
Yep. I have yet to actually use mine to lift/lower a transmission - but multiple times to get the fuel tank, skid plate, and transfer case in and out of the TJ.
Click to expand...

I use mine for all sorts of stuff as well. I also found one on FB for $50!

It is really useful when lifting and lowering things (heavy bumpers, gas tanks, skids, etc) when working alone.
 
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