Safe way to put car on jack stands

[Cory]

I’ve done this several times on my Honda, but that car had two jacking points with arrows pointing towards theme, and Honda also mentioned the points in the owners manual. Alongside those, there was also the 4 jack points between the wheels.

Now that I sold the Honda and purchased a Chrysler…

I just want to make sure I’m safe.

• Chrysler 200 V6 – its somewhat heavy
• As with most cars, it has the front and rear jacking locations

• This picture is too small (from Alldata), and I don’t know what those points are.

I was thinking placing my jack stands at those factory jack points; near those spots, a little inboard, there is a flat area under the car. I was pondering lifting my car at these flat spots, but then I would have to lift each corner individually which could cause instability?

I don’t know, I’m trying to find info from similar cars: Dodge Avenger, maybe even the 300. Alldata isn’t any help.

Topic

[dave]

I believe that jacking a car is an acquired skill and that you should at some point be able to look under the car, evaluate the situation and determine the best method to jack the vehicle. Here are just some general suggestions in descending order of importance:

• manufacturer recommended jack points (owner’s manual)
• steel frame rails, full body or step frame.
• engine/cradle mounts
• solid axle
• front transaxle
• differential case
• trailer hitch
• pinch welds

do not use:

• suspension (it’ll just move up and your car will remain at the same height)
• radiator or radiator housing
• plastic bumper or fender

In all cases, the vehicle should be in ‘Park’ and wheels should be chocked. On FWD vehicles, the parking brake should be on if the front end is up in the air (unless there is reason to believe the e-brake will freeze up from never being used.) Jack the vehicle level even if you are on uneven terrain. Jack points should be “longitudinally symetrical;” if you draw an imaginary line down the center length of the vehicle, the left side should be a mirror image of the right side.

[exceptionalchris]

Its funny sometimes how something so simple (like jacking up a car) and go terribly wrong in seconds. I have seen someone jack at what they thought as a safe point (front of vehicle). However they ended up bending the a/c condenser and having the all the oil and freon projected in to there face.

[Author]

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