Hi, I was wondering what you guys are doing for jack spots underneath your car? The sides of mine, as well as many others are damaged. I already have some ideas, but mine seem pretty risky and I don’t want to die… today
Thanks
Mike
rear diff is one
rear diff for both wheels off the ground.
front subframe to get it both fronts off the ground.
front and rear tow hooks.
any parts of the front and rear subframe are fine.
all depends on what part of the car u need in the air. If you will be under there for a while, my suggestion is some jacks with 2x4’s or something similar so it doesnt rip right through your frame rails.
thanks for the info
are the 2x4’s really nessary? Are the rails that weak? How bout just some stands on the rails?
I personally do it as a precaution. My rails are strong, but some others are not. You really can’t tell. If it’s for a short period of time like an hour or two, It doesn’t matter, but overnight or something, I personally would leave SOMETHING inbetween to distribute the weight more evenly then on 2 little dingdongs of metal.
use a hockey puck when jacking from the diff or front cross member,
If you NEED to use the frame,
like dan said,
use a 2x4 or something,
small japanese cars have small japense frames… & ive seen over 10x frames crunch from jacks.
my frame rail started crushing in when i lifted from there with a floor jack…but i always lift from either the rear diff or the front crossmember now…never anywhere else
i lift from the sides because my 240 isnt rusted but on my old s13 i had same problems rustyness but i managed to find a good enough spot to lift on the sides.
i once jacked my car by the “Factory” jack lip on the side fender… just as i was getting on my back to crawl underneith the jack ripped through the rocker and the car was on the ground again…i count my luky stars i wasent under when it went(i had to go back into my house to grab a peice of cardboard to lay on was the only thing that saved my ass…)
now i ONLY jack from the subframe and rear diff and put jackstands dirrectly on the axels and drop it slowly till the weight is held. (ive seen hydrolic jacks give out before…) when i need the axle free i put 2 jack stands under the frame on either side and put a 4X4 right across for the frame to rest on.
You should never even consider going under your car without a jack stand under something solid you know won’t give out. Like CrypticNissan said, hydraulic jacks let go all the time… It’s one thing to jack it up and be working beside it without a jack stand, another thing to be risking your life under it.