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My new 2000 Maxima is the first "frameless" car I've owned in quite a few years. Is there a guide online anywhere that shows all the jacking points? I don't mean the four little tabs for the factory jack, but locations where I can use a floor jack and jackstands. I typically like to lift the entire front or rear of a car to work on it, but that means I need three jacking locations - one near the middle for the floor jack, and two on the sides for the jackstands. Not sure how to do this on a car with no frame, especially without covering up the areas I need access to for the work I'm doing. Any help with this will be appreciated!
Yeah, I figured this question might have been asked once or twice. I did crawl around under it the other day, just wasn't obvious to me where to lift. Sorry if I've offended your sensibilities, I gotta start somewhere.
You can jack up one corner by using the scissor jack positions that are referred to as safety stand points in the diagram. Just have something with a slot in it so you don't crush the lip.
You can jack up on the lower control arms (a-frames). You can jack up on the spot where the LCA's bolt on to the body.
Thanks Dennis, and yes, I will get a SM. Darn, not a lot of options on the jacking points there. Good to know about the front point, wasn't obvious from under the car. I did consider the control arms and attachment points, but probably can't use those if I'm pulling an axle (which is the first thing I need to do). So, it looks like the crux of this issue is being able to use the side points. My jackstands don't have slots - what does everyone else do about that? I do have an extra Japanese scissor jack that I bought a couple years ago for my T-bucket. Do you think it's safe to use a slotted scissor jack on both sides of the car with a floor jack in the middle (at the front jacking point or rear beam axle)? I'm talking about lifting one end of the car that way, not the entire vehicle. Also, is it safe to lift the front using a block of wood under the transmission? Will that damage the drivetrain or mounts?
JFC, I guess I'm going to have to go take pics of where to put jack stands on a goddamn car.
Why don't you just explain it, or maybe answer the few simple questions I asked? I'm not a freakin' idiot. A lot of "frame members" under unibody cars are as thin as beer cans.
Why don't you just explain it, or maybe answer the few simple questions I asked? I'm not a freakin' idiot. A lot of "frame members" under unibody cars are as thin as beer cans.
what kind of jack stands do you have? i've used ones with pretty much no slotted connection similar to these pictured below with no issue. i place them at the safety stand points in the picture dennis posted
i would probably stay away from using a scissor jack as a stand. i also dont think you need to jack from the trans as it's so easy to go from the crossmember
Why don't you just explain it, or maybe answer the few simple questions I asked? I'm not a freakin' idiot. A lot of "frame members" under unibody cars are as thin as beer cans.
B/c if you didn't see the obvious points, then I think you're going to need pics?
See the cups near the control arm bushing? You can use those for stands or put it directly under the bushing. Crossmember is a good point jack point, but don't use the front of it if your lower support is rusting (jack it from as far back as possible, at least the middle). You can use the beam to jack, but it won't sit flat on stands since it's really tilted. I use the factory lift points that are very obvious in front of the rear tires. You can jack on the unibody (with a piece of wood) in the front where it curves up. It's extra thick there.
Last edited by Child_uv_KoRn; Nov 2, 2016 at 07:37 PM.
Most of the time I jack the car up using the bottom of the rocker panels. I made a "tool" to go on my floor jack. Then I put the safety stand on the LCA rear bushing.
Great pics, thanks Dennis! I won't have time to make adapters like that before the work on Saturday, but I see now how to get this done. I'm going to drive it up on ramps first, then jack up one side, remove that ramp and pull the wheel. I'll use a jack stand at the front garage point and a floor jack under the LCA bushing. That will give me plenty of room to work and slide around underneath if I need to.
Darn, I didn't realize until now that these are free PDFs. I just assumed you were linking a vendor that sells manuals. The car I just sold cost me $200 just for the books. This is great, thanks again Dennis!
I wouldn't use the front jack point to jack the whole front end up at once. Your raditor support probably isn't in great shape and lifting your car up by it won't help it any. If you want to jack the whole front up at once try the subframe. It isn't easily accessible in the middle so you might not be able to use it. It really depends on your floor jack or more specifically the size of the lifting dish. Even if you can get to it, you won't be dead center on it because of your exhaust so lift with caution.
I wouldn't use the front jack point to jack the whole front end up at once. Your raditor support probably isn't in great shape and lifting your car up by it won't help it any.
You know, I was wondering about that after reading posts here about rusted supports. The condition of the support is an unknown at this point, so I've decided to do things a little differently. I can use scissors jacks on the sills at both sides to hold the front end up. Then I'll slide the floor jack under the front and raise it to touch either the jack point or the subframe (just for backup).
At some point I need to make adapters so I can use my stands instead of scissors jacks. The stands are the older tripod style, but they've worked well under much heavier vehicles than this Maxima. I should be able to mill a couple slotted caps out of aluminum to fit over the pillars.
I'm aware of where the rear jacking point is, but is there any chance of it rusting out and me just jacking up into the car? Because I tried it before and it didn't really move the car up all that much.
I'm aware of where the rear jacking point is, but is there any chance of it rusting out and me just jacking up into the car? Because I tried it before and it didn't really move the car up all that much.
if your rear beam is rusted through you'll have much much bigger problems
The op lives in Texas. If the car has been in the south all its life, there is nothing wrong with the lower radiator support.
If he were in the panhandle... (I assume they use salt, they get more snow than I do). There's some big *** blizzard out there.
Originally Posted by cornholio
if your rear beam is rusted through you'll have much much bigger problems
I assume he means the spot in front of the rear tires. If that's rusted out, then he might as well drive it till the car collapses, b/c she's way far gone lol.
My car is from Dallas, bought it in Austin a couple weeks ago with 45K miles on the odo. The radiator support looks like new, there are just a few spots of surface rust on the front undercarriage from the PO driving over parking stops or speed bumps. I've got the routine down now for getting it in the air quickly... drive it up on a pair of ramps, insert a floor jack from behind the front wheel and jack the LCR/sub frame attachment point, then add a scissor jack on the sill at that side. This gives me two support points and plenty of room to pull the wheel and get under the car. I do the rear by jacking one side of the axle with a floor jack from behind the car and placing the scissor jack on the sill at that side. Takes about two minutes to raise any corner of the car this way.
Once you get a system going, you will get it done pretty quick. Because I made an adapter for my floor jack, I jack up from the side and put the jack stands under the lca bushing. It is an equally quick process.
If you are using a scissor jack like Nissan puts with the spare tire, I would be afraid to get under the car. If the car rolls just a little bit - you're a pancake.
Once you get a system going, you will get it done pretty quick. Because I made an adapter for my floor jack, I jack up from the side and put the jack stands under the lca bushing. It is an equally quick process.
If you are using a scissor jack like Nissan puts with the spare tire, I would be afraid to get under the car. If the car rolls just a little bit - you're a pancake.
My new 2000 Maxima is the first "frameless" car I've owned in quite a few years. Is there a guide online anywhere that shows all the jacking points? I don't mean the four little tabs for the factory jack, but locations where I can use a floor jack and jackstands. I typically like to lift the entire front or rear of a car to work on it, but that means I need three jacking locations - one near the middle for the floor jack, and two on the sides for the jackstands. Not sure how to do this on a car with no frame, especially without covering up the areas I need access to for the work I'm doing. Any help with this will be appreciated!
For what it's worth - I considered Nissan's jacking points initially but realized that if you had slotted adapters one side the inner would have to be higher than the other + the lip or ridge has screws through it.
What I did was set the jack inboard a bit behind the front wheel where it flattens out and wedge thick foam between the support and car. Always let the car down real easy so not to dent the underbody.
I ran out of foam and began stacking corrugated cardboard . I got maybe one extremely small dent from letting it down a bit to quickly one time but that shouldn't push anything out of alignment ?
The main thing is I would just make sure it's up safe then make sure you put foam to create a soft cushion for the car to sit on so you don't damage the underbody. Just try to find the flattest place by Nissan's jacking points inboard a bit behind the front wheel where the extra layer of steel isRight?
But I guess if your taking off the wheel always slide it under the engine so in case something gives out right
Last edited by maximatech12; Nov 17, 2016 at 04:43 AM.
This is a good post because it's probably best to devise some type of support with foam to place along the sill under the doors.
These cars are HEAVY ! It's a BIG job putting one up!
For what it's worth - I considered Nissan's jacking points initially but realized that if you had slotted adapters one side the inner would have to be higher than the other + the lip or ridge has screws through it.
What I did was set the jack inboard a bit behind the front wheel where it flattens out and wedge thick foam between the support and car. Always let the car down real easy so not to dent the underbody.
I ran out of foam and began stacking corrugated cardboard . I got maybe one extremely small dent from letting it down a bit to quickly one time but that shouldn't push anything out of alignment ?
The main thing is I would just make sure it's up safe then make sure you put foam to create a soft cushion for the car to sit on so you don't damage the underbody. Just try to find the flattest place by Nissan's jacking points inboard a bit behind the front wheel where the extra layer of steel isRight?
But I guess if your taking off the wheel always slide it under the engine so in case something gives out right
This is horrible advice. Don't jack it anywhere on the underbody and never jack it up by the "motor". Just use the jacking points. You don't need any adapters or anything.
If you want to put jackstands on the jacking points then jack it by the center cradle mount in the front or suspension mounts/axle in the rear.
For what it's worth - I considered Nissan's jacking points initially but realized that if you had slotted adapters one side the inner would have to be higher than the other + the lip or ridge has screws through it.
If you are talking about the side of the car were Nissan had you place the scissor jack, there may be a slight difference in height, but the Nissan jack has a straight across top. If the Nissan engineers decided that a straight topped jack is OK, then you are being overly concerned.
However, you said that "the lip or ridge has screws through it." That is not factory. Some shadetree mechanic made their own modifications. Could the car have sustained body damage in that area? And just how unlevel are the surfaces?
For what it's worth - I considered Nissan's jacking points initially but realized that if you had slotted adapters one side the inner would have to be higher than the other + the lip or ridge has screws through it.
What I did was set the jack inboard a bit behind the front wheel where it flattens out and wedge thick foam between the support and car. Always let the car down real easy so not to dent the underbody.
I ran out of foam and began stacking corrugated cardboard . I got maybe one extremely small dent from letting it down a bit to quickly one time but that shouldn't push anything out of alignment ?
The main thing is I would just make sure it's up safe then make sure you put foam to create a soft cushion for the car to sit on so you don't damage the underbody. Just try to find the flattest place by Nissan's jacking points inboard a bit behind the front wheel where the extra layer of steel isRight?
But I guess if your taking off the wheel always slide it under the engine so in case something gives out right
Your posts are always formatted in a rather... interesting... way. I love the "questions" in random places that may, or may not even be questions.
This is horrible advice. Don't jack it anywhere on the underbody and never jack it up by the "motor". Just use the jacking points. You don't need any adapters or anything.
If you want to put jackstands on the jacking points then jack it by the center cradle mount in the front or suspension mounts/axle in the rear.
So dual sissor jacks as stands instead of the typical jack stand design to fit within the "ridge"?
Dude NEVER use a sh^tty scissor jack as a stand