mdpalmer

After a whole lot of searching with a lot of irrelavant (and some useful) stuff, I'm making this post.
I just purchased a Harbor Freight Aluminum Racing Jack http://www.harborfreight.com/c...91039 and a pair or 2 ton jackstands http://store.yahoo.com/joeztools/2tonjacstan.html in order to start some routine maintenance on my hatch-integra. My car is down about 2" from stock height. Tire diamter is within 1/4" of stock.

When I got the stuff, I ran out and

1. jacked my car up from the front jacking point (the one on the longitudinal centerline of the car). noticed that the floor jack was working pretty well, until the last 1/3 of maximum height. the floor jack was lifting off of the ground, directly under the pumping lever (right where the floor jack's wheels sit on the ground). I continued to pump to full height and the floor jack shifted a bit so the wheels were touching the ground again. Is this normal?
2. then tried to fit the jack stands, which were set at the lowest setting, under the front support points (the ones directly behind the front wheels).
3. screamed out "fwck!!" when I discovered that they didn't quite make it. I measured the clearance, and I think that I need about another 1/2" shorter stands or 1/2" higher lift.
4. jacked up the car from the rear tow hook. noticed that the padding on the liftpad of the floor jack was starting to slip off! lowered car and tried again, after shifting the pad slightly toward the front of the car (trying to keep the towhook from slipping off of the liftpad). same thing happened. I got the floor jack to about 3/4 max height and stopped. at that point, the tow hook almost looked like it was going to slip off the liftpad.
5. tried to fit stands under rear support points. "fwck!!" way too short--need at least another inch or so.

So here are my questions (feel free to add anything to your response that may be helpful):

1. Can you direct me to another resource (so you don't have to waste your breath) which discusses proper lifting/supporting a 2800 lb car?
2. If not 1., then what do you think is the best/easiest way to lift and support the car safely, without the use of auxillary equipment (i.e. ramps, blocks of wood, help from friends, etc.), for
a) front only
b) rear only
c) the front and rear
d) sides only (safe?)
e) one corner (safe on stands?)
3. What the hell is happening with my floor jack? Is it normal for
a) jack lifting off ground when lifting front of car (front lift point)
b) rubber pad sliding off liftpad when lifting rear of car (tow hook)
4. Is it safe for the car and my health to lift one side of the car at a time?
a) if so, where can I lift from (besides the recommended lift/support points)?somewhere between the support points, like under the doors? or perhaps on suspension components?
b) can I set the car on one jack stand at a time (say, jack up one side of car and place stands; jack up other side of car and place stands; or jack up one corner of the car, place stand and jack up other corner and place 2nd stand)? it appears that my floor jack fits right under my car on the side of the car, so this may be a solution.
5. can you elaborate on "blocking the wheels not being lifted"? block both front AND rear of wheels not being lifted? what do you use to do this? (wheel chocks, 2x4s, etc.)

Sorry for the redundant post, as I know people have written a lot about this in the past. Thanks again.




Modified by mdpalmer at 11:43 PM 9/16/2004

Code Blue

if you look under the car from right behind the front wheels, you can see a recessed area in the shape of a cup, i've used that one before. for jacking up the front and/or back, i've used the jacking point under the radiator support and put the jackstands underneith the two front tow hooks.for the rear i actually put the jackstands underneith the rear frame support, in between the two lower control arms

sys3rror

you wasted your $$$ buying a 2 ton jack. even the 2 1/2 ton jacks are a waste.

spend the $$ right the first time and you will avoid headaches like this.
the smaller jacks never get the car high enough and also if you have your car slammed, it won't fit under. the 3 ton jacks are more creeper style so it fits under.

$78.88 for a Craftsman 3 ton jack and a pair of 3 ton jack stands
http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...id=00950134000

$19.99 for an extra set of 3 ton jack stands
http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...id=00950159000

mdpalmer

The jack is not 2 ton. It's 3000 lbf or 1.5 ton (USA short ton). The reason I bought the floor jack was due to its low clearance; it fits right under my car with no problems whatsoever. But any other higher capacity floor jack--that I'm aware of--will not fit under the front or sides of the car.

Regarding research: Many of the posts I read on this issue have had people claiming no problems with the same combo of equipment I have, with the only fuzzy information being how they lifted the car. Some talk about using wood blocks and other items to increase clearance; others mentioned placing the floor jack at different parts on the frame. I even bothered to measure out the clearance/lift dimensions to ensure the stands would fit by jacking in the recommended spots. By my measurements the manner in which my jack is behaving is limiting the height by the lesser part of an inch--which is what I need to get the stands under the front support points, when jacking from the front centerline support.

Trusting my measurements and having good faith I bought the equipment. So maybe I wasted my money, but how about a solution to the problem given my situation and tools? There's a lot of resourceful and expereinced people on this board, and hopefully someone has a way of dealing with this.

PatrickGSR94

iTrader: (1)

the link to the harbor freight jack isn't correct, can you post it again so I can see what it looks like? If the lifting pad is between the centerline of the front and rear wheels, it should never lift off the ground while jacking up a car, in fact it would be physically impossible for it to do so.

SonicBlueTeg

simple solution.. how about placing a small block of wood or other dense hard material(staring at the plastic cutting board in the kitchen) on the lifting pad..

mdpalmer

I fixed the link. check it out and tell me what you think. If you don't believe me, I'll take pictures later and post them up. You may even get a good laugh out of them!

mdpalmer

Have you tried this? Sounds like a good idea...

mdpalmer

I went out there to try again, and checked the rolling resistance of the roller (the one that sits under the lift pad). The freaking thing wouldn't really budge--at all. I loosened both of the roller wheel axle nuts which fasten to the housing on the jack and jacked away, as before. Voila! Not any problems at all. Did the same thing on the front and rear of the car. My stands barely fit underneath, but at least I got it working. Unfortunately, upon putting the nuts back on, the damn thing locks up again. I'm going to go back to HF and have a talk with them.

PatrickGSR94

iTrader: (1)

oh yeah hehe the wheels have to be able to roll when jacking up a car, since the horizontal length from handle to pad gets shorter as the arm/pad pivots up.