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Eric,
I have recently rotated tires on a 2006 Lexus RX400h, replaced brakes on the rear drums of a 1998 Mercury Mystique, and replaced brake pads all around a 1994 Honda Del Sol. The common theme here is that I work in my driveway, not extremely level, and use floor jacks and jack stands. I have noticed that I am bending pinch welds because I have some “old school” jack stands. I am reading that others use plywood with a notch, other wood with a notch, and I have just “upgraded” to some Harbor Freight Jack stands that have the deep valleys with rubberized caps to avoid destroying the paint on the body underside.I have searched the net and see varied approaches to the following:
Where should I place the floor jack when jacking up one end of the car? Some seem to be anal about any jack point that is not specifically called out in the owner’s manual.
The jack stands are obviously placed at the pinch weld “jack” points on the frame: how best to protect the underside of the frame? Would you recommend the “modern” jack stands, with the ruberized pads? Any downsides with this approach?
I have folded over a pinch weld on the Lexus (bummer!) but corrected the faux pas by bending back the pinch weld with the common Crescent wrench. Less severe damage was done to the Merc with similar correction. And the Honda seems to have withstood my “old school” jack stands. So I think the issue is “levelness” of my driveway (it is sloped for drainage)and weight of the vehicle.
Since the internet suggestions are all over the place, I think that an experience recommendation is certainly in order here. Since you have yet to use a lift in your shop, your experience with the floor jack / jack stand approach would be helpful from a mechanical and safety perspective.
I think that this would make a most useful topic of discussion for the “backyard mechanic” followers like myself.
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This is a difficult question to answer. Personally I wouldn’t trust a block of wood to hold the weight of the vehicle. If it splits and breaks the vehicle could come down on you. Honesty my best suggestion is to find level ground. You really shouldn’t be lifting vehicles on a slope like that because you don’t have the vehicle center of gravity properly placed on the jacks. That’s the reason the pinch welds bend. I would strongly urge you to move to a level location to do any work under your vehicle. It’s not tools that are going to help you here, it’s a change of venue.
Thanks for asking this question. I have had some of the same concerns (bent a pinch weld). I don’t have a great central jacking point for jacking up the front or the rear of my Saturn (but my Honda does, thanks Honda!)So I am still trying to decide how I will do my tire rotation.
California is nice this time of the year. Rather than divorcing the wife of 40 years and moving to Ohio, I might opt to just increase the height on the RH jack stands one notch (not that much of a slope in the driveway, I live in San Jose, not San Francisco). I guess the question is really about selecting floor jack points in general for cars of various makes, and using the designated jack points with pinch welds for the jack stands?
Also, I would be interested in your opinion of various Harbor Freight floor jacks. They seem to be a real good value. Comments on low profile, tonnage, maximum height and realiability would be helpful to your followers I would think.
im in a similar position i try to avoid using the pinch welds i try and go for the control arms or frame in the front but the rear you dont really have much of a choice but to use the pinch welds.
I usually avoid pinch welds unless it has those two notches that indicate a jack point.. People like to jack up F-Body cars by the front pinch weld in back of the front tire, but that bends the fender mount and pushes the front fender out. If you try to straighten it back out it breaks the front fender mount. :angry:
I was just out in the garage to jack up my car but had to stop. I have been using the frame as my jacking point since I bent my pinch weld but I noticed that it (frame) seems to be weakening. The problem is, I need to go through the wheel well to access my crank bolt. Trying to do my leak down test 🙁 Its either access through the wheel well or unbolt my power steering pump so I can move it…idk.
Added: I might have to opt for trying to access the crank bolt from the top again which means the power steering pump must move (which would mean removing the serpentine belt). I thought of removing the upper motor mount (of course with a jack and block of wood under the oil pan), but that won’t give me much additional clearance.
It is true that you should use a box end wrench (and not the crescent end) for turning the engine manually at the crank bolt, correct?Anyone have any ideas?
Try to avoid using a crescent if you can. Do you mean the open end of the wrench? A box end grabs the fastener more effectively. It also depends on who makes the wrench (Yes it does.)
Depending on what kind of work your doing, you might be able to use car ramps. I use them when doing oil changes. Seem faster then pulling out my jack, and jack stands. Been thinking of trying the new plastic ones. Mine are old steal ones. Little heavy, but not to bad.
[quote=”cb7ftw” post=94179]Depending on what kind of work your doing, you might be able to use car ramps. I use them when doing oil changes. Seem faster then pulling out my jack, and jack stands. Been thinking of trying the new plastic ones. Mine are old steal ones. Little heavy, but not to bad.[/quote]
That’s a good idea. Thanks. I might try it. It seems safer and I might feel more comfortable working under the car if I had ramps.
As for the work I was doing the day of my post: I was accessing the crank bolt through the wheel well to find TDC prior to doing my leak down test. Couldn’t reach the crank bolt with the tools I had on hand (from up top). After a little research, I found that I could just buy a 22 mm offset box end wrench (My current one just wasn’t quite cutting it).
I did finally get my car up in the air. I used a piece of wood between the jack head and the frame to distribute the weight over a larger area.
I don’t like using the pinch weld either. My experience is that there is usually a place at the front door front pillar (A pillar) right behind the fender well that is reenforced enough to to take a jack stand no problem. Every car will differ but I would look there.
The nice think about having the stands this far back is they are out of the way of anything you are doing under the engine compartment.
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