Things to keep an eye on things when raising or lowering a vehicle with a jack

Jacking may seem simple, but doing so without damaging your car isn’t always so straightforward. Shop pros and DIY veterans alike will chuckle at the often-visible damage some people cause to their own vehicles by putting a jack in the wrong location. Of course we all have to start somewhere, but like anything else in life, a little planning goes a long way. The most common damage usually occurs with the use of what’s known as a floor jack, something a lot more substantial and easier to use than the lightweight toys automaker think should suffice as an emergency jack.

Someone will invariably put the jack’s contact pad against something underneath the body that won’t support its weight without bending or breaking. The first general rule of thumb is to check a vehicle’s owner’s manual to see if it identifies proper jacking points. The problem with using their supplied jack’s instructions for a tire swap is that most of these cheesy scissor jacks have heads designed to engage the ridge where the floor pan and rocker panels meet, often referred to as a pinch weld. These areas are strong and useful enough when a vehicle is young and rust-free, but they’re also the area first attacked and weakened by corrosion.

Secondly, if it looks like it moves, don’t put a jack under it. Many people have damaged drive-shafts, CV axles, steering tie rods, stabilizer bars and more. Catch and break a corner of a cast metal transmission case or engine block, and you’ll be left with some major financial pain.

Most vehicle floor pans have reinforced ridges or frame-rails that can provide safe lift points for a rolling floor jack. If you’re a stickler in not damaging any finishes even on the under-carriage, get a good quality jack with a rubber contact pad and with a sufficient weight rating. A little bit of sacrificial wood between the jack and the vehicle can further help to protect vehicle coatings.

Taking shortcuts by trying to lift the entire front or back of the vehicle with only one jack placement is risky. Yes, there are usually solid lifting spots found at the bottom of the front and rear suspension cradles, but vehicles aren’t balanced down their centre line. Fuel tank placements along with other equipment and components can make one side heavier than the other, and trying to balance all this on a floor jack head only a few inches wide can lead to disaster if the vehicle slips. The safer method is to lift one corner at a time and then safely place a jack stand under the lifted corner before proceeding to the other side. You can use lower control arms as jacking points, staying towards their outer ends.

There’s a reason why good jacks have wheels on them, and it’s not just to make them easy to move around. When lifting a vehicle, the higher it goes the more off-balance the jack can become unless it or the vehicle can move. Most safety-minded techs will block the wheels or use the parking brake to keep the vehicle from moving, so the jack has to shift slightly on its wheels. It’s another good reason to always keep an eye on things when raising or lowering a vehicle with a jack.

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