Jack Stands

[zrchris]

So this week I finally put Apollo's 4.0 Whipple on my car and got to try out my new jack stands. They worked perfectly and so I thought I would post what I found. I started with Torin's Aluminum Race Jack Stands (previously sold by Snap On as part of their aluminum race jack kit) but I drilled and tapped on center for a 7/16"-14 allen bolt (which has a ~.650 dia head) to control alignment to the frame support hole locations (much like the GTSaver lift pucks).

I bought the stands from Northern Tool, they are sold in pairs and are in the stores as well as online. Make sure you get the 3-ton racing model T43004, not the cheaper/smaller similar one in the jack kit, these are only sold alone to my knowledge:

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200313386_200313386

For the jack of course there are various options and I'm not addressing that here, but I used a regular 3-ton jack with a hockey puck and 3" tall ramps all around (car is stock height) and jacked on the exposed rectangle along the rear firewall bulkhead (one side at a time of course, with caution).

 

[Lorenzo]

Those look nice, I am looking for something with a wider base. I'm sure it would take quite a jolt but i'm always concerned about them folding over from some one leaning on the car.And of course the higher you have them the greater the risk of this. I am leaning twards the Omega # 32225 from Mac tool.

So how do you like the larger Whipple now?

 

[jim gibson]

Could you show me the jack you used, the ramps and the exact lift point. I don't know where that is.

 

[Shadowman]

They do look nice however IMO the base and the overall weight of these stands create a high risk; be very careful

I use some extremely heavy stands with a robust base because it is not a matter of if but rather when someone will push or fall against a gal and then .........................

Takes care

Shadowman

 

[BlackICE]

I wouldn't use anything like these, since I live within 3 miles of the San Andreas fault line!

 

[Lorenzo]

Could you show me the jack you used, the ramps and the exact lift point. I don't know where that is.

Here is a look at the lift points.You can see the square non painted spots with a hole in the center's, two are just behind the front A- arms and two are straight in from the front of the rear tires. I'm not real good at drawing them in on photo shop but i bet someone will take this photo and run with it so you can see them better

 

[2112]

Doesn't that put a hell of a side load on the driver's side suspension? :confused

 

[Lorenzo]

Doesn't that put a hell of a side load on the driver's side suspension? :confused

LOL Good one. However, that car gets driven. Look at the front spliter.

 

[2112]

LOL Good one. .

Hey I am just asking, You won't be leveraging my car up that way.

 

[tony h]

Hi Guys

This may sound like a daft question but I ask it in all seriousness.....how do you jack the car up and then get the stands underneath?? :confused

Need to work on mime and this would be an ideal solution

Can anyone help.

Tony H

 

[RALPHIE]

I put my floor jack under one frame support location (rear) and raise it to the point to put a stand under the other location. Remove both wheels. Set a temporary stand under the outermost end of the A-Arm; lower the car off the floor jack, Then jack it up under the A-arm close to the temporary stand, remove the temporary stand, and place the permanent final stand under the other frame support location. Repeat this procedure at the front.

 

[tony h]

Thanks for help - didnt want to jack anywhere other than recommended points in case anything got damaged but I guess there is a lot of strength there and should be ok for this purpose. Will put some small wooden blocks there to help spread the load a bit. :thumbsup

Tony H

 

[Shadowman]

Hi Guys

This may sound like a daft question but I ask it in all seriousness.....how do you jack the car up and then get the stands underneath?? :confused

Need to work on mime and this would be an ideal solution

Can anyone help.

Tony H

Hi Tony H

No daft questions.

You can lift one side of the gal at a time and place fixtures/stands.

If you look under the gal in front of the “B” pillar your will see a double row of rivets that go side to side; this is a structural member as such using a floor jack and a piece of rubber to insure no secondary cosmetic damage you can lift one side and place a pair fixtures/stands and then move to the other side and raise her and place the final 2 stands. When lifting her in this manner she will lift nearly perfectly balanced.

Now having shared this I only suggest this practice with quality non racket style broad base fixtures/stands.

With regards to lifting her at the cross member as located under the transaxle; yes this can be a lift point however only if you use a piece of 2x4 to span the entire width of the cross member and then use the floor jack to lift at the center point.

If I can be of any assistance please let me know and if that which I shared is not clear “please” ask

Takes care

Shadowman

 

[zrchris]

Honestly guys they are quite sturdy, I pushed the car around pretty hard with no movement whatsoever. I can appreciate someone feeling the need to for something sturdier, but forklift stands seem overkill to me unless you are someone like Bill that is working on these daily. To each his own, I'm just showing what I did and it worked fine. Whatever stands you use, of course proceed with caution around the car and especially when under it.

Could you show me the jack you used, the ramps and the exact lift point. I don't know where that is.

I just used a typical 3 ton jack with a standard issue hockey puck from a pro shop at an ice rink (the blue ones are for practice but other than color are the same as the regular black ones). The ramps are about 3" high from Discount Ramps.com and I used them front and rear on both sides:

http://www.discountramps.com/plastic_car_ramps.htm

Again these only work with a regular jack if your car isn't lowered (and might be necessary with a low profile jack if your car is lowered). You wouldn't need these if you had a low profile jack that went under far enough, but I wasn't in the mood to buy another jack as they all seem to leak after a few years.

I wouldn't be comfortable jacking the car up the way I do without the centering bolt head mod I did to the stands as that (to me) keeps the frame from sliding off the stands when jacking or lowering the other side. That drove me to search for a stand with a flat top that could be drilled and tapped for the allen bolt.


Anybody thinking of a Whipple vs Pulley & tune, I went straight from 100% stock (after a year of driving) to Whipple 4.0 and I can't imagine doing all this work for anything less, the car is now what it should be to me. The Bridgestone's break loose like the F1 Supercars did stock... When you hit it, you know your going somewhere fast. I suddenly feel the need for bigger brakes... I also added the trans cooler and am surprised at how fast it gets hot - a very necessary mod.

 

[HHGT]

For what its worth, I like them. Well done...

 

[KJRGT]

Hi Tony H

No daft questions.

You can lift one side of the gal at a time and place fixtures/stands.

If you look under the gal in front of the “B” pillar your will see a double row of rivets that go side to side; this is a structural member as such using a floor jack and a piece of rubber to insure no secondary cosmetic damage you can lift one side and place a pair fixtures/stands and then move to the other side and raise her and place the final 2 stands. When lifting her in this manner she will lift nearly perfectly balanced.

Now having shared this I only suggest this practice with quality non racket style broad base fixtures/stands.

With regards to lifting her at the cross member as located under the transaxle; yes this can be a lift point however only if you use a piece of 2x4 to span the entire width of the cross member and then use the floor jack to lift at the center point.

If I can be of any assistance please let me know and if that which I shared is not clear “please” ask

Takes care

Shadowman

I had read of this approach and was not comfortable doing it...until I watched the GT Guys do it when they were in town and serviced my car. Once I confirmed the exact location of the jacking point near the B pillar, now that's my bread and butter. I still jack up at the four corners for certain applications, but the B pillar spot is golden.

 

[tmctguer]

i use the technique described by Shadowman to lift & support my GT. i use a low profile AC Hydraulic Jack on the lift point that runs parallel to the door locks (the line of rivets) and lift both front & rear tires on one side simultaneously. i then carefully place a front & rear jackstand under each lift point (the ones with the holes). i gently lower the car (sometimes tricky with the AC Jack) onto the stands. i repeat on the other side of the car.

i am a bit of a safety freak when it comes to working under a lifted car. so i:

-- purchased some 20 ton wide-base jackstands for the rear (Norco), and use some 5 ton Sears jackstands for the front (the ones with a scallped cradle). i like the Norco (and Omega) units because they are tall enough so that they do not need to be extended to lift the car enough to work underneath. i am not fond of the scalloped cradle front jack stands i use, but they are of sufficient capacity to give me confidence to work under the car with them extended a few inches (maximum).

-- for good measure, i have a hydraulic jack "engaged" on each side of the car along the rivet line.

-- using my heavy duty rubber wheel chocks, i build a sort of "pyramid" with them, and place one on each side of the car near the front.

this wild set up gives me some assurance that if one of my jack stands failed, i would have a chance of keeping the car off of me.

since i live in SoCal, earthquakes are a part of your life so i don't believe you can be TOO safe. in fact, the very first time i had my GT on a hydraulic jack to clean the inside of the rims, an earthquake hit !! i darn near sh*t in my pants waiting for it to end hoping my GT wouldn't end up on the ground.

by the way, i just got 4 of the GT specific jack pads from Cooltech. i am looking forward to using them to see if it changes how i approach jacking up the car.

 

[tony h]

Hi Guys

Many thanks to everyone for help.

Whilst I am fairly technically minded I dont want to hurt the old girl by not jacking at the correct points.

Just for complete avoidance of doubt, are there any drawings or pictures that can be shared to show exactly where to place wood as per shadowmans reply. Thsi seems to be the best option, especially if it lifts the car evenly.

I am a bit slow to catch on but once there I'm away.

Many thanks to all again.

Tony H

 

[Lorenzo]

Tony check this out, Hope it helps.Shadowman is refering to the area straight in from the door locks just past the side skirt, NOT where these yello circles are

 

[Specracer]

As a side note to Newbies (or whoever), also look at all of the green dots. This photo was originally "marked up" (cant remember by who) but the green dots highlight all screws that have to be pulled to get the 2 belly pans off for an oil change.