Jacking Up

[Anonymous]

Guys

I am about to paint my brake capliars, and I'm going to use the car jack for the first time.

Where is the best place to jack the car up? The manual is a bit fuzzy on it.

Cheers
Mark

[Slacey]

Look at the very sill edge and you will see two notches at either end of the car, place the head of the jack between these marks.

[Anonymous]

See here for a diagram of lift points...

So you have a choice - you can lift the car up by the ends (i.e. painting the front then the back callipers), or by the sides (i.e. painting the off-side callipers then the nearside).

I'd recommend doing one side then the other, for the simple reason that you will still have a rear wheel on the ground so you can use the hand brake and put the car in gear.

You should always chock your wheels when doing this (to stop the car rolling away), and if your only supporting the car by the jack then put the wheels you've removed under raised sill of the car (encase your jack fails - so you won't get crushed!  s:shock: :shock: s:shock:  ), although supporting the car on axle stands is really a must – they can be had for as little as £10.

When I painted my callipers I think I raised the car between the jacking points and then put an axel stand under either jacking point on the sill and lowered the car on to them...

I hope this helps!  s8) s8)

[Anonymous]

Cheers!

[roger]

I think I raised the car between the jacking points

OOOOOOO! Definitely NOT recommended, especially considering all the previous good work in your post.   s:shock: :shock: s:shock:  

Presumably there is some strength there, but whether its enough to hold the weight of the car...who knows?

[richbay]

with standard wheels is there not enough room to paint through the wheels? a bit cow boy i know but, is it possible?
also what paint are you using?

[roger]

with standard wheels is there not enough room to paint through the wheels? a bit cow boy i know but, is it possible?
also what paint are you using?

Of course its possible, but the effort of moving the vehicle backwards and forwards, and the inability to paint the sides of the calipers makes me wonder if its worth it.

Come on...your pride and joy and you are thinking along these lines

Plenty of caliper paint around, all accessory shops sell it. I don't think anybody has actually said any particular brand is cr*p.

[Anonymous]

There are all kinds of warnings about supporting your car with a jack. To sum them all up - don't. It's very risky and the Spyder's jack is intended for emergency service only.

A standard floor jack runs about $30, and stands go for around $10 a pair. I painted my calipers with a specialized binary paint (you mix two bottles together) that quickly hardens, so once the paint was mixed I really had to move.

Used the front center and rear center jack points to get four stands under the car, then pulled all four wheels. This allowed me to let the paint fully cure before putting the wheels on. Also, if you want to paint the calipers while they're on the car (like I did), then you need to be able to crawl around a bit under the car and having it securely raised is a good thing.

Get the right tools for the job - besides, you'll be needing a good jack and a set of stands for other mods, too. As for painting the calipers through the spokes, well, we don't need to discuss that.

[aaronjb]

There are all kinds of warnings about supporting your car with a jack. To sum them all up - don't. It's very risky and the Spyder's jack is intended for emergency service only.

Seconded - especially having killed a few scissor jacks just by using them, and had the odd car fall off one (when changing tyres).

Get a nice trolley jack - all of £40 down Halfords, and four axle stands, then use the front & rear crossmember jacking points and bingo - you've jacked it up in half the time it'd take you to use the scissor jack.

The '2 may be light, but you still don't want it landing on your chest..

[Anonymous]

I think I raised the car between the jacking points

OOOOOOO! Definitely NOT recommended, especially considering all the previous good work in your post.   s:shock: :shock: s:shock:  

Presumably there is some strength there, but whether its enough to hold the weight of the car...who knows?

Sorry - I don't think I made myself very clear here!

I didn't put the jack exactly between the jacking points, but to just one side of them (think I jacked the car up around the rear jacking point, being the heavier end!) so that the axel stands could go on the jacking points.  s8) s8)  

As you said - who knows how strong the middle of the sill is!  s:shock: :shock: s:shock:

[Anonymous]

The front is easy, use a proper 2 / 2.5ton trolley jack and jack up on the inner of the lower arms (wishbone) this is the Black Y- shaped thick steel part which has 2 inner bushes, use the front bust point its totally solid.

You can use a pair of axle stands on these points too, then you can do both front at once.

The rear is a barsteward, take off the plastic lower covers, and you will see some substantial places for a jack.

DO NOT use the sills, these are just emergency points.


Good luck   s:D s:D

[markiii]

The front is easy, use a proper 2 / 2.5ton trolley jack and jack up on the inner of the lower arms (wishbone) this is the Black Y- shaped thick steel part which has 2 inner bushes, use the front bust point its totally solid.

You can use a pair of axle stands on these points too, then you can do both front at once.

The rear is a barsteward, take off the plastic lower covers, and you will see some substantial places for a jack.

DO NOT use the sills, these are just emergency points.


Good luck   s:D s:D

we don't have wishbones?

[Slacey]

DO NOT use the sills, these are just emergency points.

They aren't emergency only points, they can be used with four-point lifts also - as demonstrated by the diagram below...

[Anonymous]

I said wishbones because most techies call them that, as for the jacking points, the Toyota sills are so flimsy id never use them unless i was desperate (puncture etc).

[Anonymous]

They're not that flimsy: I've had my car up on them loads of times and I've not damaged them in any way.   s:? :? s:?  

As long as you're careful and always put the jack in the right place I don't see why they'd ever get damaged.

[markiii]

no offence mate, but since they definately aren't wishbones these techies aren't very technical now are they?  :-) :-) :-)

[markiii]

They're not that flimsy: I've had my car up on them loads of times and I've not damaged them in any way.   s:? :? s:?  

As long as you're careful and always put the jack in the right place I don't see why they'd ever get damaged.

and thats the key. Lloyd is right in that the sills have lkittle strength, however since these points are designed as jacking points they eveidently have far more strength than the rest of the sill.

As evidenced by the way things bend if you lift in teh wrong place.

[Anonymous]

I agree techies are lacking knowledge nowadays, terminology is so difficult in my daily job, RPM sensor? Crank sensor? Engine speed sensor? Flywheel sensor? TDC sensor? they are all the same part.

Lower arms get call wishbones, track control arm, all sorts....

As for the sills, i suppose because my last convertable was an old Golf Gti with sills made from RSJ`s i look at the baked bean can sils on my 2 and think.. no way am using them!

[Anonymous]

The diagram shows stands with a kind of grooved top to fit on the sill.  My stands are normal halfords ones with a kind of open 'U' shaped top.  Can I use these safely or do I need to make something to go on the top??

Cheers

David

[Anonymous]

You can use the standard stands and place them under the indicated points without fear. To avoid marring the finish, fold a shop cloth several times to form a pad and place that on the top of each stand before lowering. I do this with the saddle of the floor jack as well.

[Anonymous]

You can use the standard stands and place them under the indicated points without fear. To avoid marring the finish, fold a shop cloth several times to form a pad and place that on the top of each stand before lowering. I do this with the saddle of the floor jack as well.

Thanks for the reassurance!  It's the girlfriends car and it would be more than my life's worth to damage it!

Thanks

David

[filcee]

Sorry to dredge up an old thread, but I wanted to check some details on the jacking points as I'm about to order some new tyres.

In the picture above (Slacey's post) can you use the jack points on the sills with a trolley jack?  If so, does it need to have some special piece inserted to fit the cut outs on the sill?

Secondly, does the rear jack point require the nappy to be removed?

FWIW, I am using a tyre place I have used before.  Last time I was in there (with my 2001 model) I insisted they used the jack from the car's own toolkit, rather than damage the body work (this latter being Mr T's preferred approach on two previous occasions).  Of course, they thought I was bonkers, but did as I asked anyway, getting the correct result of no damage to the sills.

Thanks,
Phil

[filcee]

Sorry to dredge up an old thread, but I wanted to check some details on the jacking points as I'm about to order some new tyres.

In the picture above (Slacey's post) can you use the jack points on the sills with a trolley jack?  If so, does it need to have some special piece inserted to fit the cut outs on the sill?

Secondly, does the rear jack point require the nappy to be removed?

FWIW, I am using a tyre place I have used before.  Last time I was in there (with my 2001 model) I insisted they used the jack from the car's own toolkit, rather than damage the body work (this latter being Mr T's preferred approach on two previous occasions).  Of course, they thought I was bonkers, but did as I asked anyway, getting the correct result of no damage to the sills.

Thanks,
Phil