2 tonne trolley jack

Shadow Dancer

Was just wondeing about the positioning of a small trolley jack. The part that comes into contact with the car is usually small and has a kind of edge. So, you can't really jack up the car underneath the sill on the normal jacking point, without I imagine damaging the sill or the paint.

What's the best method when using these?

Thanks!

slimjimmc

On some cars there's a solid member running tranversely under the engine which can be jacked in the center if you brace with a sturdy lump of timber.

I use a strong point such as where the front subframe is bolted to the body. I usually slide the jack in from the side behind the wheel in such a way that I can slip an axle stand under the normal jacking point, drop the car onto the stand, pull the jack and repeat on the other side.

My yoke has trailing arm suspension so I either jack the rear under the rear springs or by spanning the rear mountings with a 100mm x 100mm timber then jack it up from the centreline. If you've got rear wishbones you can jack under those mountings.

Put a piece of wood about 25mm thick on the pad of the jack to cushion the interface. Make sure the grain of the wood is running horizonally not vertically otherwise the pad will just split the wood along the grain. Don't be too alarmed if you hear the wood crunching a little bit, that's usually just the pad or an under body protrusion digging into the wood and is a sign that the wood is cushioning the pressure, but keep an eye on it anyway just in case the jack isn't secure.

Take the usual precautions : make sure you jack under a strong point. Always place an axle stand under the official jacking points nearest to where the car is jacked and only jack with the car on a flat solid base. Always keep two wheels on the ground and chocked (handbrake on if possible).

Tigger

under a wishbone or some thing i suppose