Jacking/lifting on crontrol arm.

[shDK]

Good evening all.

So I am about to help a nabour putting on his winter tyres. Unfortunately the jacking points down by the panel are rusted out and too soft to lift at.

At the front I can lift at the subframe. At the rear the only place I can see is the lower control arm under the spring/spring bowl.

Will it be okay to jack up the car on the lower controlarms under the spring on the rear axle, or will it hurt/bend anything ?

Thanks in advance all.

Søren

 

[maxdustington]

Originally Posted by shDK
Good evening all.

So I am about to help a nabour putting on his winter tyres. Unfortunately the jacking points down by the panel are rusted out and too soft to lift at.

At the front I can lift at the subframe. At the rear the only place I can see is the lower control arm under the spring/spring bowl.

Will it be okay to jack up the car on the lower controlarms under the spring on the rear axle, or will it hurt/bend anything ?

Thanks in advance all.

Søren
My pinch welds are abused, too. I need them to jack from because my low profile jack is a little dangerous to use. I was thinking about using ramps to get the initial height, then stick a normal jack under there to hit the subframe mount or something solid.

I think it's ok if you are close to the mount, but I still think it is not the greatest idea to jack from there. I've done it, but I devised methods to avoid jacking there. Be sure you have some sort of pad on the jack so you don't catch an edge and bend something.

Just watch it while it takes more and more weight, if it distorts then you probably shouldn't be jacking there (obviously). Then again, it's not your car so as long as you are safe you are good.

 

[shDK]

Originally Posted by maxdustington
Originally Posted by shDK
Good evening all.

So I am about to help a nabour putting on his winter tyres. Unfortunately the jacking points down by the panel are rusted out and too soft to lift at.

At the front I can lift at the subframe. At the rear the only place I can see is the lower control arm under the spring/spring bowl.

Will it be okay to jack up the car on the lower controlarms under the spring on the rear axle, or will it hurt/bend anything ?

Thanks in advance all.

Søren
My pinch welds are abused, too. I need them to jack from because my low profile jack is a little dangerous to use. I was thinking about using ramps to get the initial height, then stick a normal jack under there to hit the subframe mount or something solid.

I think it's ok if you are close to the mount, but I still think it is not the greatest idea to jack from there. I've done it, but I devised methods to avoid jacking there. Be sure you have some sort of pad on the jack so you don't catch an edge and bend something.

Just watch it while it takes more and more weight, if it distorts then you probably shouldn't be jacking there (obviously). Then again, it's not your car so as long as you are safe you are good.


In what way close to the mount ? I was planning on lifting just under the spring right next to the real wheel. It is not a stiff axle but a controllarm that travels up and down with the wheel/suspension

 

[92saturnsl2]

I don't see an issue raising the wheel from there, as long as it's a surface where the load will be somewhat evenly distributed. In other words, if the jack is only going to contact one small edge, it's a bad location, but if it covers a larger area, you're good to go.

The only time you don't want to use any part of the suspension to lift a wheel is if you're replacing anything in the suspension. I made this mistake once and it wasn't pretty!

 

[eljefino]

If the spring meets the lower control arm (typical of RWD setups) you can jack under that point, sure.

If it's a macpherson strut setup, I would NOT do this, barring approval in the owner's manual.

 

[maxdustington]

You're good, I think. I thought you were talking about jacking on the actual control arm between the mount and spring. Just try to avoid any weak points, like isolating a weak part of the control arm. Putting a quarter of the weight of the car on a quarter of the rear suspension should not be a big issue, as long as the suspension is taking the weight.

EDIT:
Originally Posted by eljefino
If the spring meets the lower control arm (typical of RWD setups) you can jack under that point, sure.

If it's a macpherson strut setup, I would NOT do this, barring approval in the owner's manual.
Jacking under the spring cup enough to get the wheel off the ground on a solid rear axle Macpherson strut car should not do any damage. Jacking it high enough to get a jack stand under the axle might not be the best idea.

 

[shDK]

Originally Posted by eljefino
If the spring meets the lower control arm (typical of RWD setups) you can jack under that point, sure.

If it's a macpherson strut setup, I would NOT do this, barring approval in the owner's manual.


The suspension looks like this. It is FWD

 

[maxdustington]

I would jack it where the control arm meets the subframe above the F. It's going to be plenty beefy there.

 

[shDK]

Originally Posted by maxdustington
I would jack it where the control arm meets the subframe above the F. It's going to be plenty beefy there.


My thought was that the closer to the wheel I lift the more stable it would be

 

[92saturnsl2]

You're fine lifting it in the location under the spring in that picture. Just get as much of the top of the jack to contact as much metal as possible. There's absolutely plenty of beef there to hold a quarter of the car for a short time.

 

[CR94]

You also need to keep in mind that if you lift under the spring (for example), the control arm will tilt down at the outer end, which could cause the jack to slip off the arm if you don't plan for that factor.

 

[shDK]

Originally Posted by CR94
You also need to keep in mind that if you lift under the spring (for example), the control arm will tilt down at the outer end, which could cause the jack to slip off the arm if you don't plan for that factor.


I am aware off that. My main concern was if I could damage the suspension or put it out of alignment

 

[Linctex]

use a piece of softwood between the jack pad and the suspension to spread the load across an area, and no localized stress

 

[dlundblad]

I wouldn't be a fan of jacking it from that spring bowl.. It's at an angle and the jack could slip. Aside from what possibly happening, I don't seen an issue.

As mentioned above, right below the F where the control arm is mounted to the body is what I would lift from. If you're worried about stability, just jack of 1 rear corner at a time.

 

[eljefino]

If you jack under the spring it'll go quicker as the tire will immediately lift off the ground.

Jack somewhere else and the suspension will have to travel to its stop before lifting the wheel.

Can we zoom out? It looks like the rear suspension subframe might have a central jacking point. That would get this job done twice as fast.

 

[Hall]

Originally Posted by dlundblad
I wouldn't be a fan of jacking it from that spring bowl.. It's at an angle and the jack could slip..

That was the first thing I thought too

 

[Oildudeny]

Sure you could lift from under the spring or a control arm. You only need to get the tire 1.5" or so off the ground

 

[CR94]

Originally Posted by eljefino
If you jack under the spring it'll go quicker as the tire will immediately lift off the ground.
Jack somewhere else and the suspension will have to travel to its stop before lifting the wheel. ...
Correction: If you jack anywhere on the arm except at the outer end, including under the spring, the suspension will travel at least part-way to its stop before the tire clears the ground.