Question Re: Jackstands
 

Dumb question time, guys. :D

I want to get my car on jackstands all around. I have the necessary floor jacks and stands. I know where to lift the car. My question is, in what order do you lift the car to safely, easily get all corners up on stands?

I'm scratching my head a bit as I don't want to accidentally damage the car in the process of doing so. I want to get the oil changed this weekend and sadly I can't use my ramps. :P Thanks in advance for your assistance.

Alternate jack points. This link shows one approach, involving the use of a modified ice hockey puck:

http://boxsters.addr.com/jacking.htm

Lots of people have had good luck with that technique. I had some left over lengths of 4x4 (used for fence posts) and like working with wood, so did a variant:

http://986forum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22250&highlight=jack+stand

It has worked well for me. The most bothersome part (and it's not really all that bothersome) is that I have to drive onto short pieces of 2x10 to elevate the car a little so I can get the jack + the piece of 4x4 under the jack point. I like having them around anyway, and now have 4 of them---I drive the car up onto the four when I'm doing a detailing (or even just washing it). That little bit of additional height makes it easier to work on the lower parts of the exterior.

As I said in my thread, I first jack up at the rear on one side, place the jack stand on the actual jack point, then move to the opposite rear and repeat. Then I do the fronts in a similar manner.

BTW, why can't you use your ramps for the oil change? I do it all the time.

I lift mine from the rear jacking point on one side and put the first stand under the front point at the lowest setting. Next, I lift the other side from the rear jacking point and put a stand under the front point at the height I want to have the car. Next, I lift the other side from the rear jacking point again to get that side's front stand to the same height.

Once I have the front end up, I lift the rear in the center by the support beam that runs between the engine and transmission and place the other two stands under the rear jacking points so it's nice and level. Been doing it this way for 7 years and it has always been stable for me.

I place the jack a few inches past the rear side jack point and lift entire side of car at one time, place both front and rear jack stands under then lower and repeat on other side.

Also use the hockey puck with my low profile racing jack, works like a charm and never an issue.

I use the rear jack point to raise one side of the car and then place a jack stand under the front jack point and another on the rear diagonal brace under the rear axle support.

Repeat on the other side.

I've got this down to 2 or 3 minutes. I have been doing it this way since 2001 with no issues.

I'm going to say it dose not mater, and if someone says otherwise I would'nt believe them.

I mostly did it the way Paul describes, except that once the front stands were under it, I'd switch the jack to the rear center point (under the tranny link) and lift it, then place stands under the rear jack points.

Related... If you haven't gotten a good set of jackstands, Esco makes a really nice flat top stand. Spendy, but an investment in your tools.

I got a pair for xmas from the Mrs. and they work really well : ESCO Flat-top Jackstands

She got them on a sale $50, so keep an eye out for specials.

Cheers!

frodo, just an fyi, I have four of those mini wiener jacks too, now mine are a different brand, from wallymart. I want you to know two of the four failed, they allowed slow leakage and therefore could lower a car on someone. I don't use them anymore unless it's to put a jack stand in. Now I already know we don't work under jacks without stands, (knew a guy who got crushed and lived when a jack failed) so I would never be under a jack but I'd still be pissed if I was doing say brake work and my mini jack collapsed. I replaced the mini's with an aluminum unit from harbor freight, it's never let me of the car down.

Figured that it'd have to be on the level due to the central, flat drain plug since being on the ramps would cause some of the oil to not drain out. But I guess I'm wrong? :)

Thanks for all of the insight and help, guys. Muchly appreciated!

Eights---Thanks for the warning, but I already was aware. (It already will---ever so slowly---allow the car to descend.) My kid, a natural born cheapskate at heart, bought that one for his mechanic endeavors on his car. Neither one of us get under any car supported just by the jack. (I guess in a way, having a jack like that has driven home the important lesson: use the stands.) :cheers:

Actually, it should be level. I should have explained: We have a sloped driveway. I drive a little up the slope, then (with somebody on the outside directing me) I back onto the ramps. If I do it right, the car IS level.

Wayne's 101 book has a jacking method as well. As I recall, he uses rear suspension mount points to lift and get under the rear jacking points with stands. The front is done by a point on the under body. It would be nice to know which method proceedure is considered to be the best

how do they avoid a lawsuit with that kind of failure rate? Clearly it's not an isolated incident.

Quote:

"how do they avoid a lawsuit with that kind of failure rate? Clearly it's not an isolated incident."

Originally Posted by eightsandaces

Well, for one thing I'd wager pretty good money that the instructions say something about NOT working under a car supported solely by the jack. Whether that would be entirely protective in court, I don't know...but it sure would likely help their case quite a lot.

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...t/P1150001.jpg

Have to agree with that.

Paul, can you get at everything underneath with that set up? I assume you can do a clutch job with it up like you have it.

Frodo, I get your point but I would think any judge worth his salt would bring up the fact that the most important chore of these mini jacks is secure lifting which is clearly unreliable. Sure us gearheads know how to protect ourselves but I can imagine a guy doing brakes with no stand having his brake shields crushed by a fallen jack at the least; with damage severity and repair cost escalating from there. God forbid the poor soul's foot is under a rotor, I can see a trimaleolar fracture in that nightmare scenario.

Trimaleolar fracture...that just sounds painful, doesn't it?

I hear what you're saying, but my kid's jack never does anything that you could characterize as a "fall". It's REALLY slow...you'd have
to be taking a nap under the car to get caught by it. Still, you're right---it shouldn't be that way.

Yes yes I was referring to putting the box on jack stands. What lift is this and can I get one? I have seen a few like this...not sure which one has been found to be the best.

Yes, I'm using it to drop the motor in my 01.

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...t/P2130003.jpg

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...t/P2130006.jpg