Jack and axle stand capacity

Hey all,

I am going to park Wheely for a couple of months as I travel back to Europe.

It will be in the company parking lot, so safe but no one will move it around, so I was thinking of placing it on axle stands, hence 3 questions:

1-I'll need to buy a jack to lift it - what weight capacity is needed? People have been telling me either 10ton or 16 tons..what do you say? Wheely is a 6x4 Defender so would weight more than a normal 110/130
2-The axle stand has to be the same capacity of the jack? i.e. if the jack is 10 ton then i need to buy a pair of axle stands where each stand is capable of lifting 5tons?
3-Shall I buy just 2 pairs of axle stands ? should I keep lifter the front and middle (2nd axle) or front and back (3rd axle) ? or better to go for 3 axle stands?

Cheers,

Simone

I'd use pair of 5tonne stands on each axle, which are cheap enough.
You might need the use of a high-lift jack to get the height for the middle pair ... unless you are daft enough to jack up from underneath ... And remember to use chocks at all times when lifting!!

I have left mine parked up from the 12th Dec to around 20th March over several years. Never used axle stands or anything. Never had a problem with the tires until they became old and needed replacing anyway.

No need for a few months, but if you do go ahead, a 5 tonne Jack and breeze blocks would be fine - and very stable.

It probably won't affect you but I've seen axle stands pushed into the ground over time when the weather was warm and they were sitting on asphalt. If the ground is soft, it might be worth sitting them on a plate of some kind, if concrete floor no problem.

My rule of thumb is take the rough weight of the vehicle, say 3 ton for a 3 axle Landy, and roughly double it then get whatever is available .. So in your case I'd probably use 3 sets of 2 ton jackstands. Each Jackstand is then capable of holding 1 ton, 2 stands per axle, so it'll easily hold a 3 ton vehicle. When you use a Jack you aren't picking the whole weight of the vehicle up, only one end of each axle usually, so a 3 ton jock would easily work. I use an sgs 3 ton Jack which easily lifts a front end or back end of my Landy. Given the correct position it'd also easily lift the whole thing, but I ain't tried it!

Having said that, a couple of months probably won't make much difference to a parked tyre, mine was parked for about 6 months whilst working on it with no problem.

IMHO, the only worth concerning yourself over is the affect on the tyres.

IME This can be easily countered by pumping them them to their recommended storage pressure - likely to be around 50psi - but check

IOW, what most everyone else has said

Yep I left mine for six months, no problem at all with the tyres....but I should have disconnected or removed the battery.

Only a couple of months you say, why bother there's thousands of vehicles parked up longer than that while the owners are elsewhere. The LR factory used to (and may still do) pump tyres up to 45/50psi before going storage which could be months and re adjusted by the dealer when sold.

I have a car in the garage that's only used in the summer, guess what the tyres are at 45psi at the moment

thanks guys, very helpful indeed!