Jacking up the Tourer car

[Jim Jamieson]

I would be very wary of placing axle stands under the sill jacking points as they could damage the sills.

Personally although I have two sets of axle stands I rarely use them.

My driveway has a slight slope on it so I block the wheels front and rear on the opposite side I'm jacking up then I use a trolley jack with a small wooden block under the sill jacking point to prevent damage and jack the car up.

I then use large wooden blocks, they're actually cut offs from roof joists and build them up under the suspension mounts to attain the required height.

I then release the jack slowly, lowering the car onto the blocks.

I've had several cars, some with all four wheels off and supported in this manner and they will not budge at all.

I've had previous experience when using axle stands when the car slid slightly when working under it.
Also the axle stand tend to dig into the asphalt on the driveway.

[clf]

this is the jack at the highest point. the chassis is that stiff, the rear lifts! the chock by the way is on what looks like the same side, however I was just about to raise the other side

I was trying to lift it enough to raise the axle stands to the first pin hole, but it is about half an inch short

[Dragrad]

Thread moved to a more appropriate forum. Re-direct left in old. This may be the better forum as threads get ‘lost’ very quickly in the General Forum

[MSS]

I use a high-lift jack to lift at the front or rear central jaking points.

Although I use axle stands under the sill jacking points, the sills are protected by 30mmx50mmx300mm softwood blocks on top of the stands.

One of my best investments for lifting the car was a 2.4m lengths of 250mm by 125mm softwood sleeper which has been cut into 400mm long blocks and a 4.8m length of 200mm by 50mm plank cut into similar lengths. These are used for added security whilst under the car, with the 50mm thickness used to get the height correct.

When using the fornt and rear jacking points, I tend to lift the car in 4-5 stages, adding the wooden blocks underneath so that if it does slip off the jack, the fall will be no more than 50mm to 100mm.

[HarryM1BYT]

I have 4x axle stands, I drilled extra holes in their posts, to give extra choice on pin positioning. I have a small jack which I have never used, a large garage style high lift jack which gets used all of the time. I keep lots of bits of timber and a pile of cut down railway sleepers which can be stacked up.

Aside from the damage, I don't like to have steel on steel - it can slip. I have some soft wood in the cup of my garage jack, I wrap rags around the V of my axle stands.

My latest addition last year, was this....



It is a purpose made mains powered hydraulic car lift. Using its fork, it can lift a tyre/ wheel, using its adaptor plate it can lift at the sill, or under the rear jack point. All to a height of 1M. The adaptor plate has a nice soft, none slip permanent cushion on top.

It makes working under the car almost effortless, just push a button and up it goes. No need for anything else, you just put a pin in and it is then perfectly safe to work under it.

[Daveluck]

Harry, have you got more details on the post lift? Any photos of it in operation and where did you get it!?

It looks like it would fit perfectly in my workshop...

[jonno12]

I would also be interested in that, a nice bit of kit

[HarryM1BYT]

Originally Posted by Daveluck

Harry, have you got more details on the post lift? Any photos of it in operation and where did you get it!?

It looks like it would fit perfectly in my workshop...

It was a one off sale, via ebay, the only one they had. There are others on there too and Machine Mart, plus various others sell them. I have no photos with the car in the air on it, but I'm pretty sure - that if I raised a front wheel up 1M it would topple the car. If I lift a rear wheel the weight distribution means it lifts the entire rear end of the car - the limit is the front bumper hitting the ground. Other than that, it feels really solid and secure with the car raised up - it makes working under it so very easy.

Its only limitation is that it's fork is too short to reach the mid jacking point under the front subframe, so it is one side or the other lifted. I did intend to see if I could modify it to reach it, but not looked seriously at it yet.

A couple more photos...

The carpet square is something I added, to avoid it scratching the wheels.

[Daveluck]

Originally Posted by HarryM1BYT

It was a one off sale, via ebay, the only one they had. There are others on there too and Machine Mart, plus various others sell them. I have no photos with the car in the air on it, but I'm pretty sure - that if I raised a front wheel up 1M it would topple the car. If I lift a rear wheel the weight distribution means it lifts the entire rear end of the car - the limit is the front bumper hitting the ground. Other than that, it feels really solid and secure with the car raised up - it makes working under it so very easy.

Its only limitation is that it's fork is too short to reach the mid jacking point under the front subframe, so it is one side or the other lifted. I did intend to see if I could modify it to reach it, but not looked seriously at it yet.

A couple more photos...

The carpet square is something I added, to avoid it scratching the wheels.

Thank you Harry,

I don't have the roof height to lift 1m! But 50 or 60 cms would be nice.

I wonder it you could knock up some sort of sleeve to fit over the fork and have a slightly extended single centre arm. It would move the c of g I suppose.

Would it reach the front lift without the bumper on Harry? I've got to the point where I can whip that sucker off in under 20 mins. Obviously depending on what I'm working on that wouldn't be too much of a hardship.

[HarryM1BYT]

Originally Posted by Daveluck

Thank you Harry,

I don't have the roof height to lift 1m! But 50 or 60 cms would be nice.

I wonder it you could knock up some sort of sleeve to fit over the fork and have a slightly extended single centre arm. It would move the c of g I suppose.

Would it reach the front lift without the bumper on Harry? I've got to the point where I can whip that sucker off in under 20 mins. Obviously depending on what I'm working on that wouldn't be too much of a hardship.

The reach from rear face/ where the protective carpet is, to the end of the fork - is 13". The front wheel centre pivots are another 1.5" further forward of that point.

You could maybe extend beyond the pivots of the wheels, because the lift is very heavy at the rear and more weight could be added to the rear on the flat platform behind the motor.