The right way to jack up a car...
 

I know this Post is going to sound like "how to use a screwdriver" or something but I am constantly amused to hear stories of cars being jacked up and disintegrating. Sometimes, as I drive by and see some people working on cars, I grimace in horror.
I once saw a kid under a car with nothing but the jack holding it up. Other times I have seen the car resting on 4 cinderblocks, with each tire on a block. And the worst thing I heard was how an experienced local mechanic was killed in his garage, underneath a car.
It doesnt mean I dont make mistakes. I know when i am very very tired, or its 95 degrees outside, I myself, and everyone starts to lose good judgement,and most of us smart, its the judgement that gets us when we are fatigued.
Thats what happened last night. I jacked my car up off balance to one side, which is not a crime unless that one side is one foot from a garage wall. When I went to put the jackstand in place, I actually entered that one foot zone...figuring that if the car teetered, i could pop out of thre like a jack rabbit..in retrospect, I would have become part of the drywall instantly.
I think everyone has "dropped" a car at least once...
I know there are a lot more experts than me on this, but this is what I do:
(1) never use the jacking points for changing a tire. They just are not that strong.
(2) Always use the center pad of the center beam under the engine to support the jack. Place your floorpad jack there with a rubber pad or a thick manual there to protect the frame member. you can always add a Phonebook safely ( I mean this) for extra reach if you dont want the arm of the jack to over extend..
(3) Your jack will do funny things if you leave your transmission in P and your emergency brake on. If there's a crack in the driveway, and the jack can not roll, your car might slip off.
(4) If supporting the car in the front, use frame members. Place an old phone book on top of each jackstand tip so you dont mar the frame undercoating.
(5) In the rear, either use the axles for support and the pumpkin to jack...
I hope someone can embellish on this. I don take it lightly, I mean I am no pro, but I have removed and replaced at least 23 engines solo in my career...

if your jacking points are not that strong because they are rusted like mine, I agree. personally, I prefer pieces of 2 x 4, and 2 x 6 to set atop the jack. There's no chance of slippage between pages that way. Also, I always have 1 REDUNDANT support point. For example, I usually have front supported by strong jackstands on frame rail just inside of front jacking points. Then I put the floorjack back under and support lightly under a control arm or one of the center frame members, or concievably the oil pan (with wood between of course) Only if one of the jacks was to fail to hold would the floor jack bear more weight. But this could save my life.

When I was a kid, my uncle (who, in his 70's STILL works on cars for $)dragged me out from under a car supported solely by old barn wood and then to the kitchen where in front of my mother he told about his friends in the trade 2 of which he witnessed personally DIE instantly while wrenching. Only once since that I can remember have I been under a car without proper safety. :sun_smile

My teachable moment came at an early age (6 or 7 maybe) when a neighbor down the street from my parent's house dropped a car on his head. I never saw the body but the blood stain was on that driveway for months.

Message received.

Teach me here
 

Ok. I need to be taught. If I am going to jack up my Mercedes 300sd, 1982 w126 in the future - how do I go about it?

I know where the jack pole holes sit. There are flat rubber pads underneath. I just bought a 7000lb floor jack. I have 2 jack stands.

If I want to rotate the tires on one side for instance - where do I lift the car with the jack and where do I put the stands?

I tried to get one under the frame right behind the jack pole hole the other day on the front of the car, but it would not fit. Stand was too tall or car was not lifted high enough.
Got any pictures?

I also want to change my differential mount. Would I put the jack under the pumpkin of the differential and then the stands under each end of the differential to hold it up?

Never trust cement blocks..............I have had them shatter for no reason.....luckily while working above the car not under it.

A few pieces of 4X4 are far safer.........

with a front tire lifted up just a few inches off the floor, put a jackstand beneath the frame member that is about 6" inboard from jack hole where it has that little "dip" in it. If your jackstand does not fit, get another pair of jackstands. I have 2 sets, the big ones (5 ton) are for the truck. The "little" ones (3 ton) are for the car and minivan. The service jack IMHO is just fine if all you are going to do is rotate tires, because you are never underneath it. You WILL NOT go under the car supported solely by service jack. I have 2 service jacks so I can use both for tires.

I guess I am lucky with my 202; I rotated my tires the other day and discovered the car has a rubber "half-ball" at each corner. It fit my floor jack perfectly. The hard part about this car is finding a place for a jackstand once you have it in the air.

To Willit rev--for cars wih a low undercarriage..
 

Get some wood planks--like 3 x6's and drive the car on top of them. This should give you the additional clearnce to slip the jack under.
I dont know what your car looks like. If its like mine those rubber pads are very close to the jackpoints and those pads and jackpoints are designed to be used with the Jack in your trunk.
However I wouldnt use that area for anything, if I could avoid it. My car has the same arrangement, but if you use the trunk jack in that area too much, eventually you will crack the paint or undercoating and mess up the metal in that area and it will rust. I think those points are for emergency use only, please dont use them for everyday jacking.
Jack the car up using the frame member underneath the engine. Put the car up on 3X6 boards to get that additional clearance. Look for the Heavy Frame Rails to place your Jackstands underneath as forward as possible. Slip rubber pad there to protect the frame rails.

For a while, I had the Greatest solution, welded Steel Ramps and Platforms that were too heavy too move to my house.

To WILLIT REV--for the rear, you are correct....
 

thats the right way too do it..

I have supported my '84 300D with jackstands right under the front jackpoints. The load was distributed with a 12" piece of 2X3 with a triangular shaped piece of 3/4" ply to fit the area nailed to it. The idea here was to spread the load. The jackstands would have been in my way if they were on the unibody frame sections. It worked well. I have found 6-8" lengths of 2X3 fit perfectly on top of the U-shaped cup in my jackstands to spread the load and keep from marring the underside. I have always jacked from the side, one side at a time allowing the jack to roll under the car as it raises it. Never had a problem. The last thing I do before going under a supported car is give it a good shake to make sure its not going anywhere. Grab the bumper and give it a good push-pull to make sure the car is fully seated on the stands. If I don't have to remove a wheel and the weather is good so I can either be outside or have the garage door open I prefer to use ramps. RT

I got the impression that these were just plugs for part of the drain system. I popped one out once and there was a hollow cavity behind it. This is on a W201, mind you. I would NOT use that for jacking (at least on my chassis type).

I have also been told that jacking under the pumpkin can damage the mounts. Dunno about that, but there are very few other places to jack a W201, so I must admit I HAVE jacked using the pumpkin (once) to get at both back wheels at once.

I generally try to find solid frame metal to jack with, and use a piece of wood between the jack and underbody. On the 201, though, it's nearly impossible to tell what's frame and what's floor/rocker/etc... it's all finished the same. I need to get a diagram of the frame and figure that out!

Chris

Ooops... I should add that my car's rocker panels have been treated for rust, and some fiberglass was used in the process. So I never use the factory jacking points or rockers in any way, as I'm afraid I'd crack that fiberglass.

My daughter came home for Christmas, and thought that it would be a good time to con her dad into an oil change. She has a Lexus ES300. So I have a set-up where my steel ramps fit my wifes Grand Cherokee. I thought that they may be be spaced a bit too wide for her Lexus, but they were actually just a bit too narrow. But I decided to put it on them anyway. Then for some dumb reason I got the floor jack and started jacking up the left rear so I could place a concrete pier under the tire. She noticed that the right front tire looked like it was squishing off the ramp and got all excited. I told her "don't worry" and she reminded me of a few other "don't worries" I've had in the past. I kept on jacking and it wasn't long until the front end began slipping sliding or whatever right down the ramps. I thought that with it being a front wheel drive and in park, and with the hand brake on, that it would stay in place. Well the left end of the rear bumper probably traveled almost two feet back on a 45 degree angle. It was stopped by the door jamb of the shop. I had to sink an anchor in the shop floor for a place to tie off the come-along. And then it took about an hour to get it away from the door enough to let it down plus get it off the ramps. Luckly it only got some white paint from the doorway on the bumper and no real damage. I put it back on the ramps and changed the oil. It was at the perfect heigth to get under and a good angle for draining the oil, I have no idea why I thought I needed to get the rear end up in the air. You can't be to careful, you have to think it out before you start out and then you still have to be careful when you get under the car.

good thread here....

now, my car is sitting on 3 ton jackstands at each of the rubber pads in the front...this is no good? here i am thinking thats what they were designed for...where do i need to place my jackstands to make sure its safe? i spent about an hour under there tonight just poking around while i drained the transmission fluid....if one thing scares me, its thinking the car could fall and crush me while im under it...i also need to get it higher than it is now, i hardly have any room at all to work on it where it is....my jackstands can go higher, but the floor jack i have doesnt...i actually used the stock jack to get it up a little bit further....and im not using wood or anything, just the jackstands....somebody point me in the right direction here....being a stain on the driveway doesnt appeal to me much at all

You can stick a phonebook on top of the jack to get more Reach...
 

to get 3 inches of extension. I wouldnt over do it and use more than one phonebook. Also ,I am serious, turn the phonebook so the spine is parallel with the length of the car, so the phonebook ( I use the Heavy Paper Tech Manuals they throw away at work) wont "shear" and collapse..I've done this safely for 15 years....