it engaged with sufficient force to maintain the stem latched against telescoping upwardly thereof when the workman grasps the cradle 15 to bodily lift the jack stand and carry it from place to place in operation it will be appreciated that the jack stand may be positioned under an elevated automobile axle and the handle 52 grasped with one hand to rotate the pawl counterclockwise as viewed in fig3 to move the tip 61 and latch surface 63 out of the path of the teeth 51 to free the stem 13 for elevation thereof to the desired height for the cradle 15 release of the handle 52 will then free the pawl 21 to be biased into its locking and latching position shown in fig3 to thus lock the stem 13 against lowering thereof the jack not shown may then be lowered to lower the weight of the axle onto the cradle 15 when the repair job is completed and it is desirable to lower the vehicle axis the jack may again be operated to raise the axle and free the cradle 15 the handle 52 may then be rotated counterclockwise to rotate the pawl 21 clear of the teeth 51 to thereby free the stem 13 for lowering relative to the base the jack stand will then be available for moving to another location for either storage or use in another automobile repair job such movement to.