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i just recieved my first car jack and jack stands yesterday and i was wondering if you guys could help me with where to put the car jack and stands to safely lift my car. idk if eric did a video on this or not. also, the jack and stands are 2 ton.(4000 pounds)
my moms fan is just at 4300 pounds. would it still be safe to life her van with this set? ive seen jacks and stands that have a range they can handle. like a 2 ton with a range up to 2.5 tons. just a questions guys and thanks for your help.
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each vehicle is different where the jack points are specifically. Look it up for your particular vehicle. they might have a diagram labeled already near the spare tire.
However, usually you cant go wrong jacking up from under an A Arm, or a cross member under the engine. most cars and even trucks ive worked on had a lift point at the corners just in front of the doors behind the front wheels, and behind the back doors or in front of the rear axle.
take care when doing this. a car is heavy and can injure you if it falls. go slowly. As for the jack stands they should be fine if they are rated 2 tons each. you wont be putting the full weight of the car on them, and if you lift all 4 you will have 4 stands for 8k capacity.
Many cars have small triangular snippets cut out if you follow where the body is spot welded at the bottom of the car. Many cars use these as indicators for lift points and you lift here as they are reinforced from factory. I’ve seen (and done) people lift directly on these pinch welds which is not recommended. You can get a rubber adapter for your jack which has a slid in it for the body ridge. If you lift on the thin weld you run the risk of bending something as the car shifts sideways when jacked. After hearing loud cracks on my new car the first time it was on a lift using those pinch point, but no adapter, I am reluctant to use them (wasn’t me, went to a mom and pap shop). I think you run the risk of breaking the galvanization on the inside creating premature corrosion.
The shop usually lifts on the frame using special pegs that go into the frame or by the normal discs you see on a jack.
Safe lifting points are the frame and load carrying things as they normally carry the weight of the car. The frame usually looks like a H made of roughly 2×2″ square steel tubes. Not a native English speaker so I don’t know the correct terms of the lift points at the wheels of the top of my head sry.
BTW. remember to block the tires with something (wood, large rocks or whatever you have) and engage p-brake and gear depending on what you are doing.
thank you guys for the help. and that is a good point on not lifting the entire cars weight. its good to know i can work on my moms car as well with this set. as for lifting points i will have to look up where they are. i dont know where those parts are on the car that Lord Ihcalam was talking about. im still a rookie to all of this,
Let me help you out
On the first picture you can see a BMW with lift points where it is pinch welded. There is no real access to the frame. I found it on a BMW forum with lift point put in.
On the second picture you can see a car with exposed frame. You can lift on the square steel tubes or at the (x) if there is a solid ball joint. The (x) is vehicle specific and I wouldn’t do on the car in the picture as it looks too flimsy and the frame is easily accessible.
Hope it helps.
BTW, if you let us known the year an model of the car it would help a lot 🙂
If you have an owner manual, it would most likely say there.
Also be considerate of the weight capacity of your floor jack versus the weight of the vehicle.
You should be able to lift up the Kia Spectra with your 2 ton floor jack, but I’m not sure of the Dodge Grand Caravan.Diagram
Although it’s a Dodge Charger.
From the diagram, it looks like the floor jack has to be done on opposite sides from “2-Floor Jack” as labeled.Frame
You may(or may not) see something like this, but it’s a safe spot for floor jacking.
I wouldn’t prefer having the jack contact that nut/bolt though but that’s just me and it is possible that it is safe to do so.np.. let us know if you need more help. If you cant seem to figure it out take some picture of the bottom and the bottom side of the car. It would be easy to put some arrows on then.
The jack points are listed in the owners manual. This is where you would put the jack stands. As for where you would jack it up look for the points where the lower control arm meets the frame, these are usually solid points that you can use to jack the vehicle up. Once it’s jacked up you can position the jack stands and lower the vehicle onto them.
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