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What is the proper way to use a floor jack?

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Old Mar 12, 2001 | 08:03 PM
  #1  
josh95se's Avatar
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I tried doing a search but that feature doesn't seem to be working...

Where are the proper points on the front and back to use a floor jack? I want to lift it to put on 4 jack stands to paint my calipers. Can you just put it in the center of the rear beam for the back?

Thanks.
Josh
Old Mar 12, 2001 | 08:06 PM
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Ack, no! If you want to life the whole car up, you need 4 jacks and or jack stands. the jack points are along the side of the car. The front ones are just behind the front wheels, you'll see a spot on the lower body panel where there are two notches cut out. The jack goes there with the lip of the jack going into the slots. I think on the rear there is a similar slot too, just in front of the rear wheels. There is also a little cup more inside the car underneath the body where you can set the floor jack. Don't put it anywhere else, you could put a nice bending load on a rather important part of your car, which could be bad...
Old Mar 12, 2001 | 08:16 PM
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I've seen pics on guy's sites where they have the whole front or back up at once...so there isn't a safe or proper way to do this?
Old Mar 12, 2001 | 08:20 PM
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Originally posted by josh95se
I've seen pics on guy's sites where they have the whole front or back up at once...so there isn't a safe or proper way to do this?
You can do it just fine, you just have to jack up both sides. If you want to lift the rear up, you need to jack up the left and right sides on the rear jack points. We had mine all up in the air to paint the calipers, you just need at least 1 jack and 3 jack stands. And be careful, when you have the right side propped up and you jack up the left side, the right side stand has a tendency to start to tip over...
Old Mar 12, 2001 | 08:23 PM
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You can jack it up by the rear beam. Put the jack under the middle of the beam and jack up the back and then put your jack stands on the sides of the body then jack up the front by that crossmember that goes under the engine, etc...
Old Mar 13, 2001 | 06:35 AM
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Originally posted by mzmtg
You can jack it up by the rear beam. Put the jack under the middle of the beam and jack up the back and then put your jack stands on the sides of the body then jack up the front by that crossmember that goes under the engine, etc...
Can you clarify "Put the jack under the MIDDLE of the beam..."? When looking at it there is a solid? round metal pipe that goes accross the rear and a hollow sorta rectangular housing with the bottom face open around this pipe. Where is the jack point...on the round metal pipe or on the lip of this housing cause my jack point isn't big enough to cover the whole width of the pipe housing and the pipe seems to flex if i use it for jacking. I've been using the edge of the metal housing.
Old Mar 13, 2001 | 06:54 AM
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I had the same problem. What I did was put a piece of wood on top of the jack and then that covered the whole bottom of the beam. Also, I just meant the middle left-to-right. Another point. With the jackstands, put them right inside the little lip on the sides of the lower body.
Old Mar 13, 2001 | 06:57 AM
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Do a search on this. Our own Daniel B. Martin answered this question a few weeks ago. You can safely lift the entire front or rear of the car...
Old Mar 13, 2001 | 11:27 AM
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Originally posted by kratz74
Do a search on this. Our own Daniel B. Martin answered this question a few weeks ago. You can safely lift the entire front or rear of the car...
Yup did a search and saw his posts too but non of them specifically tell which part of the rear axle beam to place the jack...just a bit confused on what u call the round metal pipe and the housing around it...are both combined called axle beam or just the pipe?
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