damage going to jackstands

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JHZR2

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Hello,

I can see the need to prop a car up on jackstands, but can foresee it being very bad for the body to flex when two or three wheels are up in the air. How big a concern is this? What damage can be done?

Thanks!
 
Put the jackstands on structural pieces of the car and you won't have an issue.. no further explanation required :P

Only thing I don't like doing is putting my jack on the body pinch welds. I always try to use a control arm, or rear axle if there is one, etc.
 
When driven over normal or rough roads, the body of the car experiences FAR greater stresses than simply propping it up on stands. Just backing out of a sloping driveway at an angle puts a lot of bending moment on the body.
 
Not nearly as bad as driving up and over your ramps with a 1993 Nissan Sentra like I did years ago.

Joel
 
Originally Posted By: JTK
Not nearly as bad as driving up and over your ramps with a 1993 Nissan Sentra like I did years ago.

Joel


Lol I did that with my Civic.
 
lol. I see the possibility to be an issue when three are one way and one is another, but if it is no big deal, then that solves that...

Thanks!
 
Be careful using the jackstands on the control arms, parallel link/radius rod area of suspension. These parts typically cannot sustain the weight of the car, and service manuals will specify not to jack up the car or support it at these points.

Now, if there is a welded bracket to the chassis that the rear radius rod goes into, that's another story, as that is the jackstand point on my car. You just don't want it really on the arms. And be careful for example on the front transverse link bushing brackets for example - if you set your jackstand on those big M14 bolt heads, it could stress the weld anchor in the chassis and potentially break it or weaken it.

The service manual will usually have jackstand points to support the car, and well as lift points. I personally beleive that supporting it on those body weld parts are BAD as [censored], if I look at my maxima, the rust that appears is mainly in the area where the garage sets the 2 pole lift arms into the car.

The garage will usually use these points on all cars. I suspect the crunching on that specific spots creates stress cracks and over time salt and rust developed in those stressed areas. Just a hypothesis.
 
Just don't do this!

epic-fail-tire-change-fail.jpg
 
Other than having to properly locate the jackstands open the drivers side door before jacking the car up in case there is lots of body flex.
 
On unibody FWD cars there's usually a humungous bolt head near the firewall where the subframe attaches. Usually a great lift point. I like having my pinch weld/ rocker panel wide open for the stands, no jack in the way...

I have a pair of jacks for tire rotations etc, give one a few pumps then move to the other.
 
Originally Posted By: asiancivicmaniac
Originally Posted By: JTK
Not nearly as bad as driving up and over your ramps with a 1993 Nissan Sentra like I did years ago.

Joel


Lol I did that with my Civic.



LOL I did that with a '77 LTD. Didn't phase it a bit.
 
I dislike the standard jack points on most new cars. They are on the skinny rails on the side of the car.
They often collapse or bend, and then rust.
A good manual or close inspection will show better jacking points under the car, but the factory jack won't work.
 
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