Hey, Just wondering where you guys jack your cars up at...

I normally do it right behind the front wheel and then place a jack stand on the frame rail and then go to the other side. The only problem i'm finding is that the rail is to wide for the back and it ends up only sitting on the 2 I things that stick up.. Is this alright? I was lower it onto the jack stand the other day and it ended up putting all the pressure on one of these I thinks and it put a nice little indent in the rail...

By I thinks i meant the things on the top of that jack stand that look like
--> l-___-l <--

Just wondering how ya'll do yalls. Because my floor jack tends to leave marks all over the place and sometimes small dents on the frame rails. Do most of yall just put a peice of wood inbetween the frame and the jack?

 

My floor jack has a rubber jackpad on it. It leaves no marks.

I jack it up on the plastic jack pads located behind the front wheels, then I use a stand on the k-member just next to the lower suspension arms.

In the rear I jack it up by the pumpkin and place the stnde on the axle housing.

 

There is a spot that says "Do not jack here".

I understand that is actually the spot that is supposed to be jacked on...........the warning is refering to the body next to it.......strange.

 

Eastwood Company sells a rubber pad for floor jacks. It really helps limit the damage. They also sell a pad with a groove down the middle, so you can jack on the same spots/notches the factory scissor jack fits into, with the sheet metal seam sitting in the groove, so it doesn't get damaged.

 

Be careful jacking up on those plastic pads... Previous owner jacked up by jacking that and both my fenders have cracks. I usually drive up one wheel on a rhino ramp, and then jack under the kmember and throw 2 jack stands on the frame rails.

I only jacked up the rear a few times but i understand you are supposed to jack up by the axle housing and then i put the stands undereath the frame rails and let the axle down a little bit.

 

I have since built a ramping system out of 2by10's to get the front up.......I no longer jack the car.

 

So its not a good idea to jack one side and then place the floor jack on that side and then go at it on the other side? Because normally when i do that it sits in even (all the weight on one side) on the jack till the other side it raised.

I wouldnt use jacks to raise it but i have to raise it high enough for my headers..

 

Jacking side to side on a unibody is not good because you can't lift in the middle of the car. You should be jacking under the K member in front, under the pumpkin in the rear. Every other way causes twisting.
If you drive up onto 6 inch long 2x4s, a floor jack will get under the K member. Remember to lower it onto those 2x4s so you can get the jack out. An old buffing pad will prevent most marks if you're on a budget.
Side to side can work in small doses. Like if you're trying to get the car higher, and only moving 1 or 2 clicks on the jackstand. Relying on ramps for service is not realistic. Later

 

I did notice that it may be a bad thing to do sides and do agree. IT seems to bend your car un naturally when you jack one side up because only that side goes up and the other 3 tires stay planted.

 

Not if you have a good set of SFC's.... the entire side of the car comes up no matter where you jack it between the wheels .

But I have noticed that even with the SFC's integrated into a 6-point roll bar, there is still some twisting in the chassis if the wheels aren't supported evenly. One day with the front of the car on 10" ramps, I noticed the pin would not go back into the swingout side bar. Turned out one of the front skinnies had lost enough air so the rim was almost touching the ramp. Put air back in the tire, and the pin slipped right into the swingout.

 

If a factory makes it so you can jack in a specific place on your car it doesn't necessarily make it the best place. They used to put notches in the front and rear steel bumpers for jacking a car up in an emergency situation (take a 73 Fury III for insytance, lol)...yet then the notch rusted soon after, the notch deformed, the chrome flaked and the bumper and it's bracket was permanently bent upwards where you jacked it.

regarding those plastic waffle looking pads behind the rear wheels, it isn't the best place to jack (you can see the fender bend out of proportion as you jack) I would use that in an emergency, but that's it.

 

I've been jacking my car side to side for years when i place it on jackstands for winter storage never had a problem.