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Front & Rear center jacking points

134K views 16 replies 11 participants last post by  CNY_Dave 
#1 ·
Where are the front center points that I can place my floor jack that would lift both front wheels at the same time? I need to know for the rears also. My car is 01 OBW, 4 cyl, manual tranny.
 
#2 ·
Hi. Check your owner's manual to be sure, but typically for soobs for the front it is the front jack up plate:



And for the rear, it is under the rear diff (usually I put a block of scrap wood there under the jack):


And of course it goes without saying never get under the vehicle supported only by a jack. I always use ramps, jackstands, etc., usually some combination of the two so that if any single device fails it will not allow the vehicle to drop. Since it can easily be fatal if the vehicle drops on you, and it does happen, I figure can't be too careful here.

 
#5 ·
Yes. Safety is verrryyy important. Some people put the jackstands at a 90 deg angle to what I have shown, so that the indent catches the pinch weld. I have not tried it that way.

The air over hydraulic jack I got from www.tooldiscounter.com However I do not suggest ordering from them unless you are willing to wait at least a month for your order and have to call them several times to find out when your order is coming. They do have low prices though, and I always get my stuff, but sometimes it takes months. It is a sturdy jack, works very well (but needs at least 120psig air). It was shipped to me ups ground which is very convenient. I think it is around 100 lbs.
 
#6 ·
porcupine73 said:
Yes. Safety is verrryyy important. Some people put the jackstands at a 90 deg angle to what I have shown, so that the indent catches the pinch weld. I have not tried it that way.
Where do you put the jackstands? Any close up pictures? It looks like where I usually put mine, but I've always been pretty skteched out putting it there, so I usually put it on round part of the suspension lower control arm.

Jeff
 
#7 ·
This is the closest close up I have of how I do it anyway. I put it where the factory 'pantograph' jack goes. This area I believe is a little more reinforced. If you have more than one pair of jackstands (and why not, they're not that expensive), then I put another set under there too.

 
#9 ·
Great write-up porcupine73!

I am all for jack stands too for two reasons I am a chicken of this type of thing and when I worked for the ambulance service I came across a guy who had a car drop on him.

I also work with my cell phone in an easy to reach location while under the car, as it is amazing how quickly something can go wrong with a slip of a spanner or a whatever under a car. I know as I have done one myself.
 
#10 ·
Jack Point Safety

I work for New Flyer of America and build city buses. When working on the underbodies, depending on the destination city - we usually paint the jack points Safety Yellow. If you ever needed to lift the coach - the proper place is quickly and easily spotted. A great idea for the those into easy mods.

BTW, when not using the huge jacks to lift a coach 8' off the ground, I regularly scoot under them and protect myself by pushing a floor jack along the framework as I go. It is mandatory.

A couple years ago, in my shop, an airline popped off and the coach fell to it's axles crushing a man who was underneath. The axles provided 8 inches of room for him, we raced a forklift to the scene and several people had to stand on the back of it to give it enough counterbalance to lift that section of the bus. He was unconcious, not breathing, eyes full of blood and rolledback in his head. He is lucky he lived. I work with this guy every day.

Our janitor just came back from 2 month medical leave after is GrandAm fell on him - his jack slipped with no stands.

Also - I wear safety glasses when underneath- dirt/debris seems to always be falling into my face. I know to keep my mouth closed when under the car.

It doesn't just happen to someone else. Be overly careful when lifting anything.


Later,
Phil
 
#11 ·
i do the pinchweld method, it will put some pressure on the plastic body because my indent is deep enough, but it does no bend it, all of the weight rests on the pinchweld once lowered
 
#13 ·
I've been jacking up the front jack plate and the rear diff pretty much exclusively, using rubber jack pads with slits for buffering the pinch welds before I let it rest down on the jack stands.

I use jack stands (and wheel chocks on the pair of wheels still touching the ground). I have been known to throw a tire under the side I'm working on as well. Added insurance. Thinking about a second pair of stands. I really don't want a fenderwell coming down on the back of my head when I am staring down at the knuckle et al.

I have ramps but haven't had a situation where they wouldn't be in the way since I'm always taking the wheels off. I have seen people run one side of the car up on ramps them jack the other end and support it on stands. I'm curious what people think about this. I definitely wouldn't jack a car all the way up in the air on 4 jack stands, the first pair would move and tilt sideways while jacking the car up at the other end. I guess the ramp is a little more forgiving but still seems risky. Should I rely on my ramps at all or always back them up with stands?
 
#14 ·
I have ramps but haven't had a situation where they wouldn't be in the way since I'm always taking the wheels off. I have seen people run one side of the car up on ramps them jack the other end and support it on stands. I'm curious what people think about this. I definitely wouldn't jack a car all the way up in the air on 4 jack stands, the first pair would move and tilt sideways while jacking the car up at the other end. I guess the ramp is a little more forgiving but still seems risky. Should I rely on my ramps at all or always back them up with stands?
Mixed ramps and jackstands would seem safer, as the tipover risk is less with the ramps.

You seem to be pretty safety conscious and don't take this situation lightly. Redundancy is good, of course, especially when wheels are removed. Me, I know first and second hand of too many accidents with cars on stands. So last year I bought a set of these things - advised by another member on this forum - and stopped worrying about it:

https://www.quickjack.com/car-lift-systems.html
 
#16 ·
That's great for you 1%'ers!
Not.

I just find that having the right tools at hand, along with the proper space to work on things, does wonders for (1) doing the job right, (2) motivating me to attack the job in the first place, and (3) feeling safe when he task has some potential danger (i.e. under a car with no wheels on).

My tools have paid for themselves many times over. When I'm at a point were I don't need such things in my life, I'll sell them for a price that's likely a significant part of my purchase price.

Good tools are like that.
 
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