Jacking

[Lucky]

Maybe a stupid question here (just for a change ) but where do you guys use to jack the car up from? The sills on mine where it's been jacked in the past are more bendy and distorted than the Amazing Rubber Stretch Armstrong lol and I fear for just having them go completely flat or rotting through. Can you jack on the like chassis rail bits... or the front crossmember/ diff at the rear? I also don't wanna stick the jack up through the floor or strain any structure that isn't going to put up with the stress

[Steve-A]

I normally use the bottom of the diff at the back, seems to work quite well. The rear of the chassis rails or the lower radius arm mounts also seem plenty strong enough for jacking / axel stands.

I've jacked the front on the cross member before. The jack looked like it wanted to dig in a little, so I used a plank of wood to spread the load and it seemed fine. Likewise the front of the chassis rails seems fine for axel stands if lowered carefully.

If you 'drop' the car on to axels stands under the chassis rails you can damage them, so lower if carefully and it'll be fine. One more thing to watch with the chassis rails is that the centre section is nowhere near as strong as the ends. There's a fairly obvious join in the rails, a few inches towards the middle of the car from where the sill jacking points are, so make sure to put stands towards the end of the car from that point.

[codge]

Trolley Jack is best but previously I've used hydraulic bottle jacks for years.
Jack on the front X member under the engine with a wood packer and also on the diff (with a trolley) or you can just wiggle the bottle jack onto the axle tube behind each brake.

As always Axle Stands are a must......but just placed to the sides of the bottle jack positions above.
No jacking on chassis at all for me now.

[Marc S]

I jack up on the diff, or front cross member...I'd never ever jack up on sills - not since I had an old 323 on my shoulder (in the wheel arch) after the jack went through the rusty sill...

[ian65]

chassis rails are very easy to crush on these cars once you get under the floor pan. I jack under the diff or if I'm working on 1 side only and want a bit more stability, I jack under the rear lower radius arm mount. Front crossmember up the front end for me too. The worst culprit for crushing the chassis rails is the standard factory jack... it's designed to go under the sill on the jacking points but careless owners have used them on the rails in the past and the low surface area of the jack crushes the rail.

[Lucky]

Yeah, I'd be using a big ol trolley jack with a rubber insert (ooooh, matron) but even so I don't want to muller anything worse than it already is.

Trouble is, it's not just where to jack it, it's where to support it too. If I want to change the suspension (which I do) I obviously can't put axle stands under the actual rear axle beam like Dave suggested cos then I can't get the springs out (presumably). So it looks like the chassis rails right at the veyr end are the best bet? Or these radius arm mounts, whatever the hell they are

[ian65]

here's the lower rear radius arm mount... that's the best place to put your axle stands...






chock the front wheels, jack it up under the diff, slide the axle stands into position and then release the jack... as long as the ground is ok, the car should be very stable and safe to work on.

[Lucky]

Perfect, thanks Ian. A picture speaks a thousand words

[codge]

Yeh, sorry, I didn't think about the axle actually coming off the car.

[Arcolithe]

Anyone use the lower control arm where it connects to the body? My sills are also rusty amd wouldnt put it there