Jacking Up Aid

[SH20]

Once more I have adapted the jacking plates I made a few years back and so far have used them on 4 cars including the GS450h I have just bought.   As usual the sill flanges on my car  were buckled as I expected, the fronts significantly more than the rear.   The car is 6 years old and as such the effects of swing arm damage was obvious.   This can be down to mis aligning  the swing arms and not getting them centrally on the sill flange.   The huge weight of the car is often just too much to be supported on an area of steel no longer than 4 inches  by only a quarter of an inch thick .    If members use dealers for servicing etc on a regular basis I suggest you have a look at your own car's sill flanges were the car is officially to be jacked up.  If they are folded flat or distorted it will be down to how the car was raised.   I'm guessing a lot of members have their own methods to support the car when working at home, wooden blocks, adaptions to their trolley jacks etc  but when it goes to a dealer and/or a garage the car is at the mercy of  the technician and how careful he/she is.

Four poster drive on car lifts raise the whole car on it's own wheels so no undue load is placed on the car.    I agree it is easier for a technician to work on a car when it is raised on the sill flanges and the wheels are hanging but the manufacturer's simply don't give the right amount of strength to the sill flanges to avoid buckling.  

The jacking plates now fitted on my car are not actually for the benefit of garages, although they always find it easier to raise the car as there is no guesswork where the swing arms should be located.  No, the jacking plates are for me to quickly remove wheels when required, cleaning etc.   The full load of the car in each corner is fully supported and doubly so when a trolley jack is used.    My jacking aid is removable  quickly as the main body of the device is held in place by 2 bolts.  Very similar to how a car is fitted on a body jig during accident damage repairs when the car is held on it's sill flanges.  The bolts pull the bracket against the sill flange as they tighten.   The round foot screws to the bracket.  The blue  tape makes them visible to the technician.      

 

  

 

 

[Britprius]

Very nice. I agree the standard jacking points are fine if the proper slotted lifting blocks are used, but often mechanics just roll a trolley jack under, and lift. This tends to pull the flange outwards because of the arc of the lifting jack, and then pushes the flange upwards.

I use hard rubber hockey pucks slotted on the top of my jack to protect the jacking point, but this does nothing to protect them when having tyres replaced ect.

John.