Trolley Jack for General Servicing?

Caffeine · Postby **Caffeine** » Thu May 24, 2012 2:30 pm

snshami wrote:Thats apparently the wrong place to lift from. You risk damage to the chassis rails. The correct lifting points are the diff and the front cross member.

Apparently according to whom? That point is specified in the owners manual, and it's the point where the scissor jack that comes with the car, is used to raise the car.

Jeo · Postby **Jeo** » Thu May 24, 2012 2:36 pm

Both points are fine.

snshami · Postby **snshami** » Thu May 24, 2012 3:08 pm

Caffeine wrote:
snshami wrote:Thats apparently the wrong place to lift from. You risk damage to the chassis rails. The correct lifting points are the diff and the front cross member.

Apparently according to whom? That point is specified in the owners manual, and it's the point where the scissor jack that comes with the car, is used to raise the car.

According to several guides on the MX-5 including the car's owner's manual, Haynes and the Enthusiasts Guide as well as most online sources. Knowing that the side rails are very very thin and optimised for small size as well as low weight makes me understand why. There are only four jacking points on the side of the car for stands and four spots for using the supplied scissor jack and they are very close. This rules out using a trolley jack to place a stand. Also your video shows you placing the jack under the weld flange. This will bend the flange and distort the rail.
Here is a great guide to safely raising an MX-5:
[url]http://billswebspace.com/Raise_Your_Miata.pdf
[/url]

Caffeine · Postby **Caffeine** » Thu May 24, 2012 3:26 pm

snshami wrote: This rules out using a trolley jack to place a stand. Also your video shows you placing the jack under the weld flange. This will bend the flange and distort the rail.

You'll find that every workshop you visit that uses a hoist, places rubber pads (not unlike the ones on the lifting surface of the jack) at the exact point shown in my video to raise the car.

Not one bit of damage has occurred after 11 years of me raising my car from this spot. The chassis rails are inboard of this point and are nowhere near the jack. In fact one of my chassis rails is crushed slightly from someone jacking it there while attempting to steal my wheels.

I lift the car at the point shown in the video, then place stands as mentioned, at the ends of the front crossmember,inboard of the suspension pivots. That gives me more room to access the underside of the car than if I put the stands as shown in the PDF to which you linked.

Postby **NitroDann** » Thu May 24, 2012 3:30 pm

+1

Dann

olboy · Postby **olboy** » Thu May 24, 2012 3:44 pm

If you have ever tried to straighten a bent chassis rail you will know that they are very strong
While it is probably not desirable to jack under the centre I'm sure it's fine at the ends

olboy

snshami · Postby **snshami** » Thu May 24, 2012 6:20 pm

That's new information for me. Thanks. Its good to learn something new everyday. And you are sure that the weld flange on your car is still straight and pointing down and not bent sideways ?

Caffeine · Postby **Caffeine** » Fri May 25, 2012 9:35 am

snshami wrote:That's new information for me. Thanks. Its good to learn something new everyday. And you are sure that the weld flange on your car is still straight and pointing down and not bent sideways ?

Of course.

Caffeine wrote:Not one bit of damage has occurred after 11 years of me raising my car from this spot.

There's plenty more damage to the underside of my car from excessive height speedhumps, the toothed speedhumps they once installed at Sydney airport, and various ridiculously large potholes that seem to plague the innner city.

Silvia · Postby **Silvia** » Mon May 28, 2012 2:04 pm

I use the Supercheap jack and stands , no worries and never needed oil top-ups so maybe better these days. I made wooden ramps to drive the front up on then diff. jack the back up and place stands on side rails at rear so the car is level and clear to work on underneath.

kenson · Postby **kenson** » Mon Dec 30, 2013 11:28 am

Old thread, but why start a new one. Thought I'd post up an alternative
I've been using the Arcan jack for a few years now but can't fit it under our low cars. I usually have to jack from the side etc

A quick search on the nets in AU didn't find much, so I jumped on Amazon.

The MX5 is still too low but it works fine with 2 planks of pine.

Shipping is a bit crap from the US but I grabbed some other stuff.
http://www.amazon.com/RhinoGear-11909-RhinoRamps-Vehicle-Capacity/dp/B006EGAIII/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1388363165&sr=8-1&keywords=rhino+ramp

Oil changes will now be quick*!

(* Not for the MX5 - still need an oil filter relocation)