Soon I'll be jacking up my car for the first time. First to change my winter wheels over to my summer wheels, and then later to install CS front fascia/GT500 rear fascia.

Anybody jack theirs up yet to put on jack stands? Where's a good point (in the front and rear) to jack it? I've never jacked up a car to use jackstands before; whenever I've jacked a car in the past it was to change a single flat tire, so I used the jack point on the side of the car.

I know you're supposed to avoid the differential at the back, so where is a good point?

 

This depends on the jack. Standard jack that came with the car - use the jacking points. If you've got a floor jack your options are pretty open. The diff works fine as long as you're centered and seated directly under it. If not it can slide off and you have trouble. I pick my Saleen up in the front using a spreader block of hardwood on the floor jack under the sway bar. The Saleen bar is solid vs the hollow stock bar, but using a block of wood the extends out a couple of inches over the jack pad has always worked for me - and my car is up in the air a lot.

A word of caution with jack stands - if jacking from each side be careful not to get one side up and then pull it off when doing the other side. You need to think of the arc involved as the car goes up.

 

I'd be using a floor jack, so was thinking about jacking from rear (when changing rear wheels/rear fascia) and putting the jack stands near the jacking points built onto the car?

(And vice versa when doing something to the front?)

 

I could not find the jack in the trunk only this can of green ooze and a baby air compressor !! LOL J/K i have no jack in my car just being a SA i used a floor jack and did the front off a solid part near the wheels and the rear i just did it off the pumpkin and slid the jackstands under and out to the edge of the axel tube as you know be careful and i had noraml jack stands and it was not very high if you want to crawl under he car but was fine for doing the rear valence and mufflers. went it gets warm i think a jack will be fine for a quick tire swap but it never hurts to be safe. When i put the front chin spoiler on i ended up taking the bumper cover off it was too cold for the tape to set in my garage i did that without jacking but it was fun !! now the skip shift that was a whole nother matter LOL
enjoy

 

Rear, I go under the Differential in the rear with a 2X4 Block and place the jack stands on the frame running back to where the Gas tank straps mount.
Front I go under the motor on the crossmember , still using the 2X4, place the jack stands on a 2X4 where it says to use the Low profile jack

 

i jack my cars up all the time. one bit of advise. i would put a set of 3" or 4" ramps down and drive the front up on them to access the jack points. it raises the rear of the car enough that a jack will not hit the lower side facia. been doing this since 2006 so it works pretty well for me. i use 4 jack stands from sears, craftsman, each w/ a load of 2,000lbs so i know the car doesnt weigh that much. takes me about 30 mins to get the car totally up by myself. hope this helps.

 

edit. the car does weigh more than 2,000lbs but each stand can hold 2,000lbs so it brings the total weight to 8,000 which the car does not weigh.

 

Awesome pic thanks a lot! Nothing beats a pic like that!!


So I'd put ramps by the front tires (like Rhino ramps) and then drive up on them? But how would that raise the rear of the car; wouldn't it raise the front of the car?

 

BTW, I also park the car on 4 pieces of 2X12 before I jack, nice starting off with it an inch and a half more off the ground when you start

 

If I need to jack my whole car up (like I did installing my x pipe) I drive the front up on ramps and then jack each side of the rear and put jackstands under the lower control arm mounts (chassis side), it's a solid point.

 

real simple I added catbacks myself...
3.5t hydraulick jack in the middle of door...on the pinch rail...
jack the 1 side up.
put the stands just inside (inboard) of the pinch rail
now go and do the other side.
your'e car should be in the air by now.

this is how they do it when testing the boss 302 at Laguna Seca.
I watched the special on speed vision.

 

Here's an option also.

http://www.purems.com/products/product.php/II=833

Steeda sell a pair of em for a lot more.

http://www.steeda.com/store/steeda-h...d-mustang.html

Or you could always take a hack saw and cut a deep trench into a hockey puck

 

Wouldn't recommend the rear diff or axle... The suspension will just compress.... and be careful w/ the side skirt.... You may hear some cracking and popping... =[

But, it's doable!

 

Forgive my stupidity (I'm new to auto DIY), but where are the lower control arm mounts and pinch rails? Can I see them on the picture that Siber Express posted?

 

lower control arm is what connects the axle to the chassis. There's one right behind each rear tire attached to the axle. The ones in the picture is black.

pinch weld runs along the entire underside of the car right where the very bottom of the body work is under the door. all the little square openings with the screws up along the top of that picture, that ridge is the pinch weld.

 

something like this... (Note, this isn't a very safe way of using jack stands) The longer red "bar' is the panhard bar... Blue is a rear sway bar... the rest of the red are the LCAs

 

Whoa, that looks bad, waiting for it to topple.

I've done a ton of work under my car, on the concrete (man I want a lift: http://www.maxjaxusa.com/) and agree with most of above.

BUT, I jack under the differential all the time, it doesn't seem to compress the suspension at all, cause actually it's already compressed (gravity tends to do that). It DOES, though, leave the suspension compressed, and if you jackstand the axle tubes (I do all the time, though have heard they're not welded to the pumpkin/differential, so may not be the best idea), you still have a fully compressed suspension. If you want it uncompressed, jackstand at somewhere around the forward LCA mounts (there's several spots). With the stands on the axle tubes, they're at max length to get the car up so I can slide under (no creeper room). On the body, the stands can be used much shorter, or the car raised higher.

I bought some RaceRamps, and recently used just the front half (two piece models) to drive up on, so I can still get my huge floor jack under the front, then jack up on the engine subassembly frame; I jackstand on where that assembly attaches to the body, right next to the bolts.

The pinchweld areas are fine, too, but tend to get more in the way, and I like the stands as far apart from each other as they can be for stability.

One problem mentioned above is if you jack one end up, the other end is much harder to get a jack under as it's tilted closer to the ground; the short ramps under the front wheels avoid this (can still get the jack under the pumpkin).

 

These are the LCA front mounts circled in red...

 

I jacked the whole front with a floor jack under the center of the K member (red box). Seemed fine.

The owner's manual says NOT to jack the rear under the diff. Not sure if they're worried it'll slip off or if something would be damaged. I've jacked my '05 under the diff, but I have a really annoying vibe in that car (probably not related, but who knows).

 

Well I can tell you this. I had tried to jack my car up from the rear diff and it did slip off and fall The tires barely cleared the ground so as soon a it beared "real" weight it slipped. I was trying to do something quick and didn't use wood.

I think its cause the smaller jacks dont have a big saddle and also not a long handle making the user have to reach too far under....