laserjet

You would think that having both a Haynes manual and a Chilton manual I wouldn't have to ask this, but...
Where do you guys place jackstands when raising the front end? I can't find anything in Haynes, and my hydraulic jack can't raise the car high enough to put my jackstands under the body rails as Chilton recommends. Should I just buy a larger hydraulic jack?

Matt93SE

iTrader: (44)

usually, I'll jack up the car using the crossmember under the engine.. that will get it up just high enough to stick jack stands under the frame rails.
if that doesn't work, you can jack it up on the control arms, and get more height out of one side at a time.

John van de Pol

The engine cross member is NOT a jacking point. There is a little hump next to it (more to the center) close to the bumber that IS a jacking point.

Before I had a large jack, I used my smaller hydraulic jack to lift one side of the car at the time, at the body seam jacking point, and put the jack stand stand under the frame rail. Then lowerd the jack, and repeated the same at the other side. Worked every time.

John

Bman

This probably sounds dumb, but shouldn't it tell you in the owner's manual? It should tell you to put the emergency jack somewhere a few inches back from the front wheel well right below the rocker panel. Just look for a part that looks reinforced on this lip (I think this is the body seam John was referring to). At least that's the way it works on my (cough) current car. I jack it up on the crossmember (if the car has a "hump" near the middle use it!) and then support the front at the reinforced points on the side.

BTW, make sure you line up the stands properly on the reinforced point and don't miss it, otherwise it might go right through the rocker, forcing you to try and cover it up by saying it's rust-through damage..... don't ask.