Jacking safely for flat tire change

[dmjlambert]

I know I would appreciate it from anybody who can help. To help you understand where I am coming from: I am a newbie. I understand things about drum brakes, electrical, lighting, HEI, alternator and a little bit of drive train. I know nothing yet about suspension, I don't know what A-arm or control arm means or what it looks like or if they are one-in-the-same, I don't know if you guys are talking about putting the hook-type part of the 1974 on a certain part such as the A-arm I don't know about if we're talking about putting that hook on the rear shock mount, and putting all the weight of that particular corner of the truck on it. All I know regarding the suspension is: what I think is the front spring pocket, and the rear shock mount are both low enough to barely get my bottle jack under when the tire is fully inflated or over-inflated, and with 15 inch rims there is no way to come close to getting the jack under there.

Another thing I don't know is what "wearing 33's" means or how it applies to this situation. I have found that you see a funny picture of a woman in too-tight pants and her butt sticking out if you google "wearing 33's" to try to find out what it means.

I don't know what it means to "make a pad" such as one with a nub for the front or 1/4 round curve for the rear, although that sounds interesting. I'm not sure if we're talking about welding or cutting plate metal or machining or what. I have wrenches and screwdrivers and have not gotten into welding and machining yet. I wouldn't mind buying such pads if they were available to supplement a jack that was not designed to lift an Chevy properly out-of-the-box.

I know there are all types on this forum, including people who could probably mine their own iron and fabricate a Chevy from the ground up and understand every molecule, and there are newbies with a handful of tools, and everybody in between. I don't consider myself an idiot (although some are probably getting fed up with me), I am mechanically inclined and I try to contribute to threads where I can help. But I don't know the lingo, and would like to just know the proper way to do stuff that I feel I am not doing right. Picture help a lot, as I learn visually the best. I appreciate this discussion and this forum; I learn something every day.