Guide; Jacking and Support

[Niall]

Damn, seems that everything I try to do is extremely dangerous lol! If only the sill jacking point was longer we wouldn't have these problems. Good advice on the rear mounting bolt, I will try that but I think the "cup" of my stands might be too deep and it might just end up resting on the edges of the stand cup which would also be dangerous Edit: That stand was not intended to be a "middle" stand, I didn't realise it would hold the whole front of the car up.

It would be a lot safer than it is in that photo. You want to spread the weight as evenly as possible and if that means the subframe sitting on the two top parts of the cup, thats fine. its designed for that. Where you have it at the moment is stressing one side of the cup and potentially putting it off balance.
Obviously all this has to be done on flat, solid ground. if you have to do it on a slight incline, make sure the rear wheels are chocked after jacking very well!

[Seb_Ryan]

Niall, fair enough if its weak already.. but ive always used chassis legs.. there supposed to be strong lol and im a qualified mechanic and been playing with cars for years :/

[Niall]

Niall, fair enough if its weak already.. but ive always used chassis legs.. there supposed to be strong lol and im a qualified mechanic and been playing with cars for years :/

Think this is the problem. Most are f*cked there because garages have jacked them up there. It does look like a perfect place but ive seen far too many be jacked up there, split the welds then rust big time under the underseal.

[Piggy]

As I said before, chassis legs on a monocoque chassis are NOT designed for jacking up and resting on....they are no as strong as you think, especially after 10years of salt/water/flexing!

Puggy, the second pick you have is good, but you want another one in the same place on the other side of the subframe to make it all nice and safe

[Poodle]

What he said. ^^^

Jack the car up by the subframe, that way the sills are free for the stands.

[Seb_Ryan]

I never jack by chassis legs unless its a transit etc.. thats what jacking points are for lol.. im just on about the stands. College tought that way aswell (useless but still)

[Mattcheese31]

What he said. ^^^

Jack the car up by the subframe, that way the sills are free for the stands.

this is how i also do it . . .

[Piggy]

I never jack by chassis legs unless its a transit etc.. thats what jacking points are for lol.. im just on about the stands. College tought that way aswell (useless but still)

the only thing college taught me was what a waste if time college is

[Seb_Ryan]

I never jack by chassis legs unless its a transit etc.. thats what jacking points are for lol.. im just on about the stands. College tought that way aswell (useless but still)

the only thing college taught me was what a waste if time college is

Well yeah.. but you need the papers to say you know f*ck all.. haha

[bigtone0777]

I was taught to jack / support under the chassis legs but after seeing how much underseal I've scraped off over the years and some nasty rot caused because of it decided this is definately not the way to go. I always always jack under the jacking points and support under the subframe mounting bolts or jack under the subframe and support under the jacking points if I need better access under the car. As for the back I've always supported under the shock..........rightly or wrongly

[Davey1000]

I'm trying to replace the rear axle beam on my year 2001, 306 HDi estate. The problem now is getting the reconditioned axle beam back into place. These beams weigh about 40 kilos but they don't like to sit on top of a trolley jack as their balance point is somewhere else (the weight of the suspension arms makes them tip over) What these beams just lurv to do is jump off the jacks and try to smash the mechanic in the face! Of course if one has a couple of helpers its probably fairly easy. Plan B is to make a special U shaped crutch for the jack, one that won't let let the beam slip off. I can see why they have so many strikes in car factories!

Some Pug beams are much easier to fit than the HDi as they just plug in. The HDi is more tricky.