Bespoke Powder Coated Jacking Plates

[SH20]

As far back as 2013  I designed some bespoke jacking plates for a 2007 Jaguar XK which was quite low to the ground by design and I wanted a better easily accessed jacking arrangement that would help me remove wheels but also make sure a dealer would raise the car on their two post  lift correctly.

A local Engineering shop turned my drawings into reality.  The  aim of this design was to ensure a dealer  would   locate the pads of the swing arms in the correct place and therefore  remove the risk of damaging or bending the car's actual metal body sill pinch seam behind the plastic outer sill cover. I've seen many sill flanges twisted out of shape because of mechanics who couldn't be bothered to get the lift pad directly centred on the sill flange. 

I've been transferring these plates on to all my subsequent cars without any drilling of the sill flange, working on the principle of two sturdy stainless steel bolts that pull the body of the assembly to the sill flange. The circular 12mm thick yellow jacking plate then screws to the main body. 

The main issue I had was having to remove them and refurbish/repaint  them every 6 months due to the harsh road conditions the weather/road salt etc would inflict on them. As they are made of steel and despite using Hammerite  for protecting the surface it was never enough so finally I thought I would have them blasted and then powder coated to see if that helps.  Time will tell if this will be a longer lasting form of protection.  The option to have these parts made from stainless steel was very expensive at the time so I opted for mild steel, something I now regret because of the maintenance I have needed to do so far. 

I carry a small trolley jack in a carry case and use a slightly larger diameter dished 12mm plate firmly secured in the pivot point of the jack.  This allows the yellow plate to sit inside it  as the car is jacked up.  This ensures the car is being lifted with a greater surface area that a scissor jack on a thin sill flange. 

The jacking plates transferred easily to the ES300 and the photos show how the trolley jack makes it easy for me to raise the car when I need to.  The small holes you can see in the yellow plates either side of the centre stud are  for a  spanner  which allows me to tighten the plates securely. It's a spanner that you get with a disc cutter for changing metal or stone cutting discs which I reversed engineered so the two pins in the spanner lined up with two holes I drilled in the plates. A large stainless steel spring washer sits between the black body and the yellow disc to ensure it never backs off. 

 

    

[cdmaskell]

Why?

[PRT68]

Yes, why, unless you carry a spare wheel?

As far as a dealership is concerned, if they damage body work, it's up to them to correct it. 

And to maintain warranty, it has to be serviced by a dealer. 

I just carry a rubber puck purchased from amazon, that I had from when I had a Prius. 

[cdmaskell]

18 minutes ago, PRT68 said:

Yes, why, unless you carry a spare wheel?

As far as a dealership is concerned, if they damage body work, it's up to them to correct it. 

And to maintain warranty, it has to be serviced by a dealer. 

I just carry a rubber puck purchased from Amazon, that I had from when I had a Prius. 

What a very uplifting inflated read from SH20 seems obsessed about having a puncture. Bespoke?  I doubt any ES owners follow this idea. It reads like an article from a 1957 Car Mechanics, how to jack up a Morris Minor. You have a afforded an ES.  Why go to such extremes. Especially the Lexus logo on the jack.

[Herbie]

1 hour ago, cdmaskell said:

Especially the Lexus logo on the jack.

I did indeed have a chuckle at that 

Quote

I doubt any ES owners follow this idea. It reads like an article from a 1957 Car Mechanics, how to jack up a Morris Minor.

Well, speaking as someone who does enjoy pottering about with a spanner and such, I have to say that it did interest me from an engineering point of view, but they do strike me as the answer to a non-existent problem and being way OTT.

But hey, who are we to say owt? 

[Barry14UK]

I think you are being hard on the OP.  You don't have to adopt his idea although some might, particularly as there are situations where it could provide more stability with less chance of slipping.  You don't always get a puncture whilst close to a dealers and the emergency services or garages are not always as careful as they could be in jacking cars.  Maybe the guy changes his pads and discs and/or cleans areas under wheel arches more than you detractors.  Scissor type jacks can slip and also damage cills (happened to me but not on my Lexus), also cills  somewhat weakened by internal corrosion can distort unless pressure spread.  So instead of deriding the idea, he should be thanked even if the idea doesn't appeal to you. Another aspect is such unthoughtful criticism may well deter anybody from posting an innovation that members might find useful.

I use a puck but consider the clamp idea an improvement, so thanks for posting.    

[The-Acre]

I know this may sound a tad easy compared to the detailed info above, but I just put a piece of thick rubber on my trolley jack and it works fine.

[beyond the blue]

53 minutes ago, Barry14UK said:

I think you are being hard on the OP.  You don't have to adopt his idea although some might, particularly as there are situations where it could provide more stability with less chance of slipping.  You don't always get a puncture whilst close to a dealers and the emergency services or garages are not always as careful as they could be in jacking cars.  Maybe the guy changes his pads and discs and/or cleans areas under wheel arches more than you detractors.  Scissor type jacks can slip and also damage cills (happened to me but not on my Lexus), also cills  somewhat weakened by internal corrosion can distort unless pressure spread.  So instead of deriding the idea, he should be thanked even if the idea doesn't appeal to you. Another aspect is such unthoughtful criticism may well deter anybody from posting an innovation that members might find useful.

I use a puck but consider the clamp idea an improvement, so thanks for posting.    

There's nothing like a bit of attention to detail (you are Lexus owners after all). Ok, maybe a bit OTT for most of us but good luck to the guy if that's what makes him happy.

[steve2006]

This happened to my old Celsior during an MOT ( the only times the car was lifted this way) but unfortunately only discovered some time after.

[SH20]

I'll keep this brief.  It only takes one person to feel offended or irritated in some way and before you know it we have "Me Too" on our hands.  I may decide to cancel myself tomorrow on my birthday. Ha Ha.

I am OCD but I think anyone with an Engineering background will always do "Micro Detail".  No real harm after all.   I can assure you that when you beat Cancer there are no words on any forum that can bruise an ego.  

Thank you to members who saw past the OCD and were more supportive of the original idea. Appreciate it.

[F.A.]

Each to their own but I think it’s a great idea @SH20 . I’m very OCD about our cars too, so appreciate the attention to detail and skills shown here.