I'm having headaches trying to get my front jack stands to position correctly under the elongated oval bump that is next to the flange where the front oem side jack points sit for my 2003 maxima.

First I tried some Harbor Freight jack stands, but the flat they have is too narrow. I have some other jack stands with wider flats and tried those but am finding when the bump gets contacted they kick the stand sideways or something. I don't recall having this issue with my '96 max.

Part of it is my Harbor Freight alloy hydraulic jack (the best they sell) does not lift as high as my old steel hyrdaulic jack so I'm unable to pull the jack stand rachet high to mate with the underside.

 

My jacks stands all have a recess in them that allow me to rest the cars side slots in to them.....

 

Found this: http://g35driver.com/forums/picture-...ml#post4170810

But the guy is no longer making them.

 

Or rest the jacks under where the LCA bolts to the framing adapter.....

 

Could you please be more specific and maybe reference the picture that is at the bottom of this post:

http://forums.maxima.org/4th-generat...otographs.html

 

Per this: http://revlimiter.net/blog/2010/07/m...stand-review-1
clearly the Esco stands are the best, but at $68 a stand (http://www.asedeals.com/flat-top-jack-stands.html) they better be.

I see the harbor freight stands used perpendicular to the seam weld on the miata in the review, so they probably may work on the maxima, but it depends where the top of the U shaped saddle hits the frame, especially on the outer rocker panel side. I compared mine to the stock oem scissors jack and it appeared to me that the saddle may be too wide. I did not have time to try it today.

 

Use the spots that are labeled "Ben's stand points'>

 

That's where I place my stands.

 

Ok, so I guess I can put the stands on the A arm to body mount in the front, though I don't feel comfortable that Nissan hasn't blessed this in writing somewhere.

My other issue is this harbor freight aluminum floor jack I have only has a 17.5 inch vertical lift and I need to raise the body more to get underneath to loosen the bolt for the power steering pump to change the belts.

I have an old sears steel floor jack that weighs a ton that will lift higher, but I stopped using that because hauling it from the basement can kill my back.

 

I've been raising both my cars at that point for nearly 500,000 miles and no problems.

You could try putting the jack up on some boards or something similar to raise the effective height.

But you really shouldn't need to get all that high - just enough to take the wheel off. Then you can take off the shield and have easy access to the bolt from the wheel well.

 

Unfortunately it is a lot more messy than that. To change the PS belt you have to release a pivot bolt on the back of the PS pump buried underneath the car. I remember changing the belt on my former 96 Max and it was a g*awful b*tch, see here:

http://maxima.theowensfamily.com/udp.asp

 

place the jack stands under the LCA strut rod (4 bolts)

 

I use the same points....

 

yea personally I use "Ben's" rear points and the "safety" points for the front. Never heard of a problem with jack stands before.....

 

Here is the story of a father whose son apparently died because of craftsman jackstands:

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...3#post21657813




The 21-year-old died Friday after a BMW he was working on collapsed on him in the family garage. Fred Klorczyk said that a floor jack likely failed while his son (Christian) was under the car changing the oil."

Jeff Johnson did a great job on the article on our son, brother and friend and I thank him for that. Jeff was a true gentleman who talked to us for hours in our darkest times to get an accurate depiction of our son and family. However, and unfortunately we do not have it on tape, nor is Jeff a "gearhead" and doesn't really understand jacks, jackstands and multiple layers of safety. I never said, nor is it accurate to say "that a floor jack likely failed..."

Christian is an experienced mechanic who started working on cars and following Formula 1 when he was a small child. He and our whole family witnessed Ayrton "Magic" Senna die at Tamburello 15 years ago. Yes, Christian was only six at the time and he would wake all of us up at 6:30AM to watch the pre-race show in Italy on satellite.

Christian is a true car guy as are his brothers and friends. My business is in the most safety conscious market in the world - nuclear boats, nuclear ships and nuclear power plants. That mentality is my life - has been since I was a kid engineer out of school. Ask any of my employees how I feel about safety. They have the right to stop any job and call me at anytime as no one is to ever get injured on our jobsites. This naturally carried over to my homelife. By the way, my father was a large machine mechanic by trade and a "gearhead" by avocation. No one would use the wrong tools - we have them all and all are of quality. No one in my garage or driveway would ever go under a car with only a jack of any kind holding it up. The jack elevates the car, jackstands support at proper points while working underneath and the jack is removed to improve accessibility. Period. Block the wheels if necessary. Emergency brake on. Car in gear. A lift would be better but we just were not at that point in our lives yet.

Christian had the right front tire off so that he could shine his double halogen lights on the work area and see clearly. He also had that tire/wheel under the right front rotor as an extra measure of safety as is a habit of ours when possible. He had four ton Craftsman jackstands in use. Two were just bought at Christmas when I sent him to buy a new jack since ours is getting to be five years old. Hydraulic cylinders and seals degrade over time. He didn't buy the jack since he felt what Sears, etc., had were junk so he bought more four ton stands but without safety pins. I did not realize there were redundant safety stands until... it was too late.


Christian was using my father's creeper for the first time. He found the creeper when cleaning the garage over Christmas. When he applied torque to the ratchet handle to break the plug loose, he experienced the law of physics of "equal and opposite reaction". As the plug broke loose, the creeper did also in a direction opposite to the torque vector Christian applied. Some part of Christian's body, some part of the creeper, the mallet beside him, something - we have no video, just supposition and theory... tripped the right front jackstand lever inadvertantly from the underside and a ton of the BMW E46 3 series xi crushed his chest and his right cheekbone. He never took, or could even attempt to take a second breath. Death was immediate and painless. If I were beside him at the time this occurred I could have done nothing to save him. This has been verified by five friends of mine who are doctors. I used the floorjack Christian used to elevate the car to get the car off of him. It was parallel to the car just as he would place it when he removed it from the jackpoint. I had to engage the cylinder with clockwise rotation which tells me Christian removed it per proper procedure. I had the jack underneath and car off him in seconds. Jackstands were under before I crawled from under the valance while Lynne called 911. Lynne came under with me from the wheelwell and had a pulse on his neck. She said he it was strong. I was doing chest compressions and trying to get a verbal response until the EMTs got there. When I heard LIFESTAR waved off over the EMT radios I had a sick, sick feeling.


A critical factor, in my professional engineering opinion, is that the creeper raised his body 3.5" higher than it would have been if he would have been working on the concrete as he was used to. It also raised his head 4.5" higher as there is a foam pillow headrest. Both creeper caster wheels at the head position were sheared from the creeper. I can only wonder that if Christian did not use the creeper would he have had the jackstands that high, would the energy at 9.8 m/sec squared have been decreased to a minimum so that if the freak accident happened he would have been injured less, would the extra measure of the tire under the rotor have saved his life without the extra creeper height, would he be alive today? Only God knows.


Christian is a fine, fine man who was known for his smile, intelligence, passion and willingness to help anyone at anytime... just like all of his brothers and "adopted brothers". The five of them and myself were his pall bearers. He would have it no other way. We were that close.


Also, to my fellow "carguys" and "gearheads", please learn from this tragedy. Scrap your cheapo jackstands... do your research, find the best jackstands there are, use the secondary and tertiary safety factors, do not fall to the temptation of human nature and operator error - use the extra safety factors! It may save your life, or maybe the life of you son. Had I would have known such Christian would be with us today.


Lastly, if you want to drive fast please do not do it on the road. Racetracks are readily available for that adrenaline rush we all crave. Track days with instructors are cheap and you are protected far more than


Godspeed Christian! May you be driving God's Veyron for him.


Please feel free to cut and past this article anywhere you think it may prove valuable to fellow "carguys". I pray that none of you ever suffer such a tragedy. May God Bless you all.




Frederick J. Klorczyk, Jr.
Waterford, CT
fjk143@aol.com

 

Let me revise my statement. I have never heard of a problem with GOOD jackstands. Sorry but if you cheap out on a lifesaving device then there is something wrong with your financial philosophy. That is a terrible story though.

 

It looks like I have to jack and jackstand both front and back of the car to keep it high enough to creep underneath.

The last time I did my belts on my old 96 maxima, I think I backed the car onto ramps, then jacked the front up and put in jackstands.

But I'm not going to try the ramps with this car.

 

Ramps are certainly easier to work under. I like them for oil changes and bottom end work

 

It appears that most rachet jackstands are cast with poor quality chinese slag iron or something, even the more expensive rachet ones.

The kid in the article was using high quality craftsman jackstands.

But actually, I was more worried about finding a stable place in the underbody for the jackstands. I'm not sure i trust a conventional jackstand 'U' or trough shape top for the "Ben's stand points"

I ordered a pair of esco flat tops, but I guess I really need 4 of them. My wallet is bleeding already....

http://www.asedeals.com/flat-top-jack-stands.html

 

In this case, I have to have the pass front wheel off in order to change the belts, so I can't drive the front of the car on jackstands. I wish I could.

 

The underbody picture we have is not precisely accurate for a 5th generation.

I was just looking under the car at the front and there is a silver arm with 4 huge bolts bolted to the underbody, then there is a space where you can see black metal with a rusted seam in between, then there is a silver 'U' shaped collar with huge bolts that holds the other part of the arm. Where exactly are you placing the jack stand???