Safe chassis area to place on a 2 post lift or axle stands

Our car's going in tomorrow to have the Alloys refurbished and will be placed on axle stands.I've had a look on the forum but couldn't find anything concrete as to where on the chassis is the correct place to do this? Does anyone have a factory manual that shows this in a diagram and or photos? It always worries me this type of thing as so many cars get abused by the so called professionals through lack of knowledge or due care shown resulting in expensive damage.Any help appreciated. Cheers Mark.
 
Yes,

Many tyre fitters etc. try jacking it up on the underfloor boxes and cause a lot of damage.

I always use the mechanical structure of the suspension components and never on the chassis / floor.

Steve B
 
same here for the jack, there are some fairly obvious chassis section just to the rear of the front wheels where you can place a piece of wood or rubber and then support on an axle stand, this is handy as you can then use the jack to lift the rear of the car. I had mine on 4 axle stands for a couple of week in the summer while I re-furbed the alloys
 
same here for the jack, there are some fairly obvious chassis section just to the rear of the front wheels where you can place a piece of wood or rubber and then support on an axle stand, this is handy as you can then use the jack to lift the rear of the car. I had mine on 4 axle stands for a couple of week in the summer while I re-furbed the alloys

An old post but just what I was looking for.

I assume from the amount of diy many of you do there is a lot of experience on the best and safest ways to raise the A2

My plan was to put the axle stands on the little metal lips behind the front wheels and jack the rear up using the two jacking point holes (I have two jacks - thanks A2 Steve) but the front arrangement seems a bit flimsy and I've had cars topple on rear jacks before due to poor handbrake grip.

I always put the removed tyre under the sides of the car just in case but can someone who has experience of safely working under the A2 send me a photo of where they would locate axle stands?

Thanks - safety first!

Ps. Does anyone actually put them on the axle/stub? That doesn't look safe to me!


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I'm guessing from the lack of reply that everyone in this section either has ramps or an inspection pit at home and doesn't want me to feel bad about my pitiful resources!


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I would not rely on the standard Jacks for anything other than a wheel change.

They are fine and strong enough but I have seen them twist on uneven ground or when the "foot" is not positioned correctly.

I use the solid metal (not aluminium) front suspension parts when jacking up the front and under the spring cups on the rear axle.

I am not saying that this is the right way, but I feel safe enough like this.

I totally agree with pushing a spare wheel under, just in case.

Last year my niece came home and parked in the car park at the rear of the houses and found a guy pinned under a car that had fallen off the jack. He died!!!

So please do expect the worst when jacking cars up and use whatever you can to make it as safe as you can.

Steve B
 
I would not rely on the standard Jacks for anything other than a wheel change.

They are fine and strong enough but I have seen them twist on uneven ground or when the "foot" is not positioned correctly.

I use the solid metal (not aluminium) front suspension parts when jacking up the front and under the spring cups on the rear axle.

I am not saying that this is the right way, but I feel safe enough like this.

I totally agree with pushing a spare wheel under, just in case.

Last year my niece came home and parked in the car park at the rear of the houses and found a guy pinned under a car that had fallen off the jack. He died!!!

So please do expect the worst when jacking cars up and use whatever you can to make it as safe as you can.

Steve B

Thanks Steve,

Not a nice story there but an important safety point. It's not something I want to recreate!

I take it from your post that you use a couple of trolley jacks if you are lifting the car?

Do you only ever lift one end and chock the other or do you do a four-point lift with axle stands?

Trolley jacks are a bit pricey and take up a lot of room though and bottle jacks seem less safe than the standard jack!

Thanks for the tips on placement.


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I have got a set of ice hockey pucks from eBay that have been machined to fit the top of the axle stands & were only around
£9.00 if I remember correctly.
eBay
272700360615 as example

Keith.


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I have got a set of ice hockey pucks from eBay that have been machined to fit the top of the axle stands & were only around
£9.00 if I remember correctly.
eBay
272700360615 as example

Keith.


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Brilliant! I had been looking at pads with a groove but my axle stands have a 'v' at the top. Went for rubber blocks with woven core - looks like someone just cut up a tyre!


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Ok, it's not easy getting a photo of the bottom of an A2, so forgive the following image, which is a fairly well known picture of an unfortunate A2 accident, where the car flipped on its side - nobody hurt and I believe the car was repaired, so all ended well.

Screen Shot 2017-11-03 at 11.05.12.jpg

The yellow arrows show the official jacking points - in a garage situation, the plastic bungs are removed and then the arms of the lift will locate into the holes, no matter whether it's a 2 post or 4 post lift. You can safely use these points with a standard workshop jack (not the one included in the A2 tool kit) - if you can fit the proper "top hat" adapter, even better.

The blue arrows then show safe places to put axel stands for safe working.

Areas shaded in red and not safe at all - these are only very thin (1mm) aluminium panels and any attempt to jack in these places will see the jack punch through with no resistance at all. Same goes for all the areas that are black - these are the engine under tray, side sills, fuel tank and boot tray. All are made from plastic and all are totally non-load-bearing. I've seen plenty of A2s with cracked sills from garages who put jacks in this area - there is metal underneath that will support the car, but there's a gap between the plastic sill and the metal, so the plastic squashes and cracks.
 
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Thanks Mike.

That’s actually really helpful to see it clearly like that. Also good to see where the heat shields should be too!

Sorry to whoever this was but at least some good will come from it.




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I don't know if this is advisable or not, but when I remove a wheel I place a car ramp under the wheel hub and then lower the jack so the ramp takes some of the load. The hubs fit into a gap between the ramps slats so provide some lateral stability. Obviously cannot use this technique to work on the hubs (e.g. brake pad changes) so then I lower onto the blue arrows in Mike's photo. Also chock the wheels that are on the ground.

Don't have axle stands as I'm always worried a slight movement of the car will cause them to topple.

PS Had the ramps for donkey's years and I can drive the rear of the car up the ramps but not the front due to the lack of clearance under the bumper. They do though cause indentations in the tarmac drive.
 
Ok, it's not easy getting a photo of the bottom of an A2, so forgive the following image, which is a fairly well known picture of an unfortunate A2 accident, where the car flipped on its side - nobody hurt and I believe the car was repaired, so all ended well.

View attachment 32111

The yellow arrows show the official jacking points - in a garage situation, the plastic bungs are removed and then the arms of the lift will locate into the holes, no matter whether it's a 2 post or 4 post lift. You can safely use these points with a standard workshop jack (not the one included in the A2 tool kit) - if you can fit the proper "top hat" adapter, even better.

The blue arrows then show safe places to put axel stands for safe working.

Areas shaded in red and not safe at all - these are only very thin (1mm) aluminium panels and any attempt to jack in these places will see the jack punch through with no resistance at all. Same goes for all the areas that are black - these are the engine under tray, side sills, fuel tank and boot tray. All are made from plastic and all are totally non-load-bearing. I've seen plenty of A2s with cracked sills from garages who put jacks in this area - there is metal underneath that will support the car, but there's a gap between the plastic sill and the metal, so the plastic squashes and cracks.

That's exactly the sort of information i was looking for. Many thanks for that!! :)
 
So...for the rear axel stands points marked as blue how are people attaching here? After a fairly scary incident earlier I used stands on the beam using a flat piece of wood only for one of the stands to let go. Brown trousers time.

Should I have used a longer piece of wood? Just conscious the beam slopes so not really sure to I get good solid contact here.

Sorry if the question seems a little obvious or simple but I'm now questioning my whole approach given what happened earlier.

Am I right to try and even move the whole car onto stands rather than just a single axel?
 
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I had a very hard time getting mine onto four stands - the angle you lift at for number three (rear) if you use a single jack, and the loss of the handbraked tyres, meant that the other stands settled pretty crazily and i was pooing myself I must say. Last time I used the tyre change jacks - one on each rear side - and jacked them up relatively level, a bit at a time, but one still squirmed and toppled!

Now I’ve been sticking with driving it onto ramps at the rear, chocking the tyres, jacking up with a large trolley jack as centrally as I could, I think it was a 4x4 on the length of the crossmember I used, putting the axle stands under the cast iron wheel bits on rubber pads and letting the jack down (but leaving it in contact with the car just in case) and putting a spare wheel under each side sill in the middle too.

I think Depronmans Ramps with an integrated jackable platform look amazing but mine are just plastic. They certainly feel a LOT more secure than the four stands did.


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OMG a2 jack flew out of the jacking point with a loud pop when I tried to remove axel stand. Suspect I didn't have it tucked in far enough under the body of the car so effectively it was forced out.

Another axel stand took the brunt as it clattered back down on top - its also bent!

Its going to be a while before I get the bottle to jack the car up again!

Anywhere i can buy a puck / pad / top hat adapter for a trolley jack that goes "into" the lifting points?
 
OMG a2 jack flew out of the jacking point with a loud pop when I tried to remove axel stand. Suspect I didn't have it tucked in far enough under the body of the car so effectively it was forced out.

Another axel stand took the brunt as it clattered back down on top - its also bent!

Its going to be a while before I get the bottle to jack the car up again!

Anywhere i can buy a puck / pad / top hat adapter for a trolley jack that goes "into" the lifting points?

Glad you are okay! What are you trying to do?!?


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OMG a2 jack flew out of the jacking point with a loud pop when I tried to remove axel stand. Suspect I didn't have it tucked in far enough under the body of the car so effectively it was forced out.

Another axel stand took the brunt as it clattered back down on top - its also bent!

Its going to be a while before I get the bottle to jack the car up again!

Anywhere i can buy a puck / pad / top hat adapter for a trolley jack that goes "into" the lifting points?

Glad you are okay! What are you trying to do?!?


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