Technical Jacking

[Ziggy122]

never jack on wishbones
or floor
if they are teaching you rubbish like this then get out now

Thats when there is nothing left
Gotta remember these cars are taken apart and put together way to much, Hell i owt to get a picture to show you what i mean

F.e. Jacked car up on sub - Loud clatter and bang as the front wheel falls off...
When you look, the swivel hub fell off the suspension, ripping ARB out and magically not destroying the flexi pipe....

I much prefer subframe

Ziggy

 

[fingers99]

If in doubt, a scaffolding board works wonders!

 

[FiatPuntoMad]

I trust my brother on my rather rusty X reg punto. Jacked it up on rear sill BEHIND the marked jacking point and the full thing just collapsed in, surprise surprise it was a fail on its MOT and had to welded up. Along with the floors . . . front inner sills . . . front seat belt points . . . basically its a shed

Although the sills are still strong at the marked jacking points.

 

[atom0007]

I trust my brother on my rather rusty X reg punto. Jacked it up on rear sill BEHIND the marked jacking point and the full thing just collapsed in, surprise surprise it was a fail on its MOT and had to welded up. Along with the floors . . . front inner sills . . . front seat belt points . . . basically its a shed

Although the sills are still strong at the marked jacking points.

The markings indicate the points where it *should* be strong enough to jack.

As you discovered, it's no guarantee.

Better to discover it's weak when your jack goes through it rather than when you are T boned on the road and you look down as a ghost....

 

[Col Max Pyatnitski]

Where to place the jack exactly.

I presume under these points?

View attachment 115972

First of all, apologies for resurrecting an old thread, but I've tried to find the most recent. I want to do my brakes, but I'm seriously nervous about jacking the car up on the wrong place.

This pic should help, but I'm a bit unsure what I'm looking at there (without it attached to the car). Here are two pics I took. First shows where the second pic is zoomed. Is this a reasonable area to support the car? Would you then centre the jack on point 1, 2 or with a block of wood on 3?

Am I looking at the wrong place entirely? I very gingerly tried with a block of wood here and heard a "ping" that I didn't like, so let it down. Don't see anything off (and nothing had left the ground, so hopefully no harm done if I was doing the wrong thing).

sorry for such a noob question

 

[rc822]

Yep that's where I jack the car. You should be ok there

 

[dave]

if trolley jack point 1,

if scissor jack none of them. scissor jack is for an emergency wheel change only

 

[Sweex]

Where do you all put axle stands then? I jack on the proper jacking point then axle stand on lower arms

 

[dave]

Where do you all put axle stands then? I jack on the proper jacking point then axle stand on lower arms

jack on bolt 1 then put stands on the wheel changing jack marks on bottom of sills, make sure stand isn't too deep a seat or it will pop sill.

 

[Sweex]

I'd rather not pop the sill hahaha

 

[dave]

I'd rather not pop the sill hahaha

dodgy too deep


nearly flat should be safe

 

[Sweex]

And you put these where the scissor jacks go?
Does it not risk bending the metal? Seen a lot of bent sills in my time :| and thats not long...

 

[Col Max Pyatnitski]

Cheers, big-time, for the help...

To clarify, yes, absolutely I'm only talking about jacking with the trolley jack in this case (sill edge is a little bit chewed up from previous owner, I'll put stand under it for security).

If using point 1 (the bolt closer to the sill), would you put the cup of the trolley jack around/covering/over it (which will transfer load to the black metal) or would you put a piece of timber (I've 8mm thick pine off-cut) in between which would transfer load to the head of the bolt that is showing there? (or even drill a hole in the timber to accommodate bolt, again putting load onto the black metal but avoiding metal-to-metal contact)

My axle stands look more like the blue ones (they're pretty flat, slightly cupped) so I've to do something with timber to accommodate the edge/seam I guess.

Is there anywhere to get a diagram with things like "subframe" and lower-arms marked out? I had searched the forums and found guides on jacking, but none with pictures and my knowledge of terminology let me down a bit.

 

[dave]

And you put these where the scissor jacks go?
Does it not risk bending the metal? Seen a lot of bent sills in my time :| and thats not long...

no it don't bend, bending is normally done by trolley jacks on sills, kwikfit style

 

[Col Max Pyatnitski]

Actually, might try with something like a thin book/paperback in between? More "give" than timber, but still protecting the metal surfaces

 

[jon1612]

Thanks for the replies, hmm I was thinking to just park half of the car on a kerb?

always the safest way to gain access to underneath. unless you have some ramps like i have, best £20 i spent in a long time

 

[Ziggy122]

Dont park the car half on the kerb - half not

Then jack it up - you'll just rip the sills apart

Personally i like to jack the front up from
A - where the subframe bolts to the floor
B - where the subframe and wishbone meet

And the rear - i jack up on the rear beam axle, usually in the middle to beat jacking twice

Axle stands go normally where point B is for me
And the rear on the rear axle, as normally i'm not doing suspension work
You could do shock - but not springs on the rear

Ziggy

 

[Sweex]

Dont park the car half on the kerb - half not

Then jack it up - you'll just rip the sills apart

Personally i like to jack the front up from
A - where the subframe bolts to the floor
B - where the subframe and wishbone meet

And the rear - i jack up on the rear beam axle, usually in the middle to beat jacking twice

Axle stands go normally where point B is for me
And the rear on the rear axle, as normally i'm not doing suspension work
You could do shock - but not springs on the rear

Ziggy

Rear axle is a twist beam on most cars?!?!?!?!
You could bend it! Not even worth the risk!

 

[Col Max Pyatnitski]

Dont park the car half on the kerb - half not

Then jack it up - you'll just rip the sills apart

Personally i like to jack the front up from
A - where the subframe bolts to the floor
B - where the subframe and wishbone meet

Are either of those spots where I highlighted (if it is, I'd guess I referred to B)

How do I identify these points A and B?
(my knowledge of terminology and under-car geography lets me down!)

 

[Ziggy122]

Rear axle is a twist beam on most cars?!?!?!?!
You could bend it! Not even worth the risk!

Nope the mk2 / 2b is a solid rear beam axle

Never had problems jacking on it

Ziggy