[Bicycle Bob]

I didn't want to buy expensive, heavy-duty jack stands, but I also didn't want to die, so I made some tripods from 2 X 4 studs. They are working fine. Lifting is done in stages so that a power drill can do the work on a scissors jack.
YouTube has many clips about making ramps, mostly wasting a lot of wood, but the featured improvement is hinging the thin ends so they can swing out and not restrict access. It occurs to me that one could make a whole series of sloping blocks and drive a foot at a time, adding bigger blocks in front of each tire and moving shorter ones to the following tire.
I got over a year out of a plain fiberglass bandage on the exhaust pipe, and the problem is probably new holes. "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without."