Safe use of jacks

[Bellow]

When you guys are working on regular height cars, where do you place the axle stands - under suspension components or chassis? Where do you place the jack to get the required height for the axle stands - under crossmember at front?, diff at rear?, where at the rear on a FWD car? Anyone use bottle jacks? Does the requirement for a trolley jack to move on its wheels to compensate for the arc the lifting pad traverses during ascent/descent cause difficulty? Any particular difficulty that you'd like solved re jacking for axle stands?

As an example, a constant difficulty I encounter is finding a jack lifting point close enough to where the axle stand(s) will be placed without the two fighting for the same space and/or the vehicle be destabilised when lowered onto the axle stand when too far apart.

 

[SpikyMikey]

When you guys are working on regular height cars, where do you place the axle stands - under suspension components or chassis? Where do you place the jack to get the required height for the axle stands - under crossmember at front?, diff at rear?, where at the rear on a FWD car? Anyone use bottle jacks? Does the requirement for a trolley jack to move on its wheels to compensate for the arc the lifting pad traverses during ascent/descent cause difficulty? Any particular difficulty that you'd like solved re jacking for axle stands?

As an example, a constant difficulty I encounter is finding a jack lifting point close enough to where the axle stand(s) will be placed without the two fighting for the same space and/or the vehicle be destabilised when lowered onto the axle stand when too far apart.

The biggest issue for me is that on most vehicles the logical place to put stands is the same place you lift it with the jack.That said, our Leon Estate also has a set of hard points hidden by plastic covers which are apparently where the bodyshells are attached to the jig during construction and are what the dealership uses for the 4 post lift arms.Handy when you know about it.
The BMW has a central jack point under the front, but it's set too far back and the car sits low. I can just about limbo my low profile trolley jack under, but it doesn't have the reach.

 

[Bellow]

The biggest issue for me is that on most vehicles the logical place to put stands is the same place you lift it with the jack.

Yep, same observation here.
Would something like the combined jack and stand below be of use? Raise the vehicle with a centrally positioned (eg, under diff) trolley jack just high enough to get the jack/stands in place then continue the lifting with them until required height is achieved then lock the stand and relax the hydraulics?

 

[SpikyMikey]

Yep, same observation here.
Would something like the combined jack and stand below be of use? Raise the vehicle with a centrally positioned (eg, under diff) trolley jack just high enough to get the jack/stands in place then continue the lifting with them until required height is achieved then lock the stand and relax the hydraulics?

View attachment 158752

That's a neat piece of kit and certainly takes away the worry of using stands on suspension components ; especially on the BMW which uses a fair amount of aluminium parts.

 

[Bellow]

When you guys jack under the sills are you jacking directly onto the so called 'pinch welds'? If so, do you place anything between the jack and the sill. eg. hockey puck?
Same question as above but for axle stands.
When/if using axle stands under the sills, where do you jack to get to stand height?

 

[Bellow]

Jacksh!t. | Parts, Maintenance & Servicing

'Build it and they will come' is one expression. 'Give the people what they want' another. But if the people won't say what they want.... I've been asking questions on the tail end of this thread >> Safe use of jacks | General Discussion with little response hence a new separate thread for some...

forums.mbclub.co.uk

 

[ALFAitalia]

Just another warning about safe jack and axle stand use......Last weekend the husband of a friend of my wife stupidly worked under his car just on the factory jack.....it collapsed on him causing internal and head injuries....He's been getting better all week.....but yesterday he took a turn for the worse and passed away. Probable brain bleed. Now just for clarity I never met the man so no condolences required...... just use it as a warning to you all. NEVER.... EVER....go under a car that's not supported on axle stands or ramps.... not just the jack no matter how expensive it might be.

 

[SpikyMikey]

Just another warning about safe jack and axle stand use......Last weekend the husband of a friend of my wife stupidly worked under his car just on the factory jack.....it collapsed on him causing internal and head injuries....He's been getting better all week.....but yesterday he took a turn for the worse and passed away. Probable brain bleed. Now just for clarity I never met the man so no condolences required...... just use it as a warning to you all. NEVER.... EVER....go under a car that's not supported on axle stands or ramps.... not just the jack no matter how expensive it might be.

That's awful.
I have to admit that when I've got a car in the air, even on stands I still keep the jack under it and also generally shove the spare wheel under a sill; just in case......

 

[Bellow]

That (ALFAitalia's post) is a horrible thing to have happened - and needless too.
My 'car' is a high built SUV and I can do all work underneath (eg, remove/refit engine and transmission pans) that doesn't involve wheel removal without having to raise the vehicle. With other cars that require raising no matter how safe I make it there's always that anxiety of 'what if'. It took working on my Suburban for me to realise that.

 

[sidehustleveteran]

A very important message which I nearly missed, so hopefully this will keep it "bumped"

 

[Pontoneer]

Yep, same observation here.
Would something like the combined jack and stand below be of use? Raise the vehicle with a centrally positioned (eg, under diff) trolley jack just high enough to get the jack/stands in place then continue the lifting with them until required height is achieved then lock the stand and relax the hydraulics?

View attachment 158752

Nice bit of kit !

I'm slightly wary of lifting at the rear by the diff , just because the diff isn't designed to bear the weight of the car , and some MB subframes are not unknown to develop cracks etc , however I have done it more than a few times , but I have reservations . What I do if lifting my cars at the rear , is I quite often lift it under the towbar , which is always braced across structural parts of the car , and up to the job , most of my cars have towbars , so it is quite a handy way of doing it .

My other approach for lifting the rear is to put the trolley jack under the lower wishbone , as near to the wheel as I can get it , and then lift the car far enough to get an axle stand under the jacking point ( or vice versa , depending on the job to be tackled and lift by the jacking point then axle stand under the wishbone ) doing one side at a time .

I also just bought a new pair of ramps , with platforms which have a bottle jack underneath , so that once the car is on , I can then jack each side further up ( and not forgetting to put the lock pins in ! ) . They work fine at the front end , but at the rear the overhang catches the ramps , so I now need to get a pair of ramp extensions which allow the car not to catch on the ramps .

 

[m80]

so I now need to get a pair of ramp extensions which allow the car not to catch on the ramps .

I've used some 18mm ply resting on the lower rung/s, to create an earlier, gentle lift.

Another tip is to tie some webbing around the lower rung.
That is led full length of the car to be driven over by the far wheel on the other axle. As the car stats to climb, the webbing has the weight of the other wheel on it, and so prevents the ramps skating out again.

Once the pins are in, is it possible to lower the jack? To save the ram from the weather and rusting.

 

[Pontoneer]

I've used some 18mm ply resting on the lower rung/s, to create an earlier, gentle lift.

Another tip is to tie some webbing around the lower rung.
That is led full length of the car to be driven over by the far wheel on the other axle. As the car stats to climb, the webbing has the weight of the other wheel on it, and so prevents the ramps skating out again.

Once the pins are in, is it possible to lower the jack? To save the ram from the weather and rusting.

Hi yes , you could drop the jack , although I wouldn't normally leave my car up on them for any length of time . Although the ramps lie outside , I keep the bottle jacks indoors .

I've looked up ramp extensions and they aren't expensive , so next time I'm in machine mart I will pick some up . I have used bits of ply in the past , usually with a brick placed halfway along for support , but I just treated myself to a new set of ramps as the old ones were looking very rusty - my pal accepted them gratefully all the same , after I'd pointed out the rust !

It's just that the bottom edge of the back bumper catches the ramps before the wheels are even on them .

 

[StMarks]

MJ posted a pic of an old Daimler he had spotted on one of his global excursions.
He chose to post it in our "interesting cars,,," thread, but for anyone interested in this particular topic it may be worth a peek.: Have You Seen Any Interesting Cars On The Road Lately? | General Discussion