Can I keep the jack stand there?

[buze]

Ideally I'd love to put it under the bolts, but it's at an angle an I'm worried the jack stand 'prongs' will dig into the metal somehow...

It's really incredible that you can google all you want, you get about 20 answer, and no picture...

 

[buze]

What about this? I think it's correspond to what people talk about with 'cross member', and I can slide a nice fat 6 tons stand there, however, the contact point is one bolt head, I can't move it further because of the arm that is in the way...

 

[buze]

Ok so I turned the stand 90 degrees, so it's on longer held on the bolt head, but on the chassis; *that* looks safe and stable. Anyone disagrees?

 

[t-tony]

I would be more inclined to Jack under that and place the stands under the jacking pads on the sills.

Tony.

 

[Paul Rice]

Nice axle stands.

 

[5harp3y]

if you cant do what tony says then i tend to jack mine up on the lollipop bolts

 

[gookah]

Ideally I'd love to put it under the bolts, but it's at an angle an I'm worried the jack stand 'prongs' will dig into the metal somehow...

It's really incredible that you can google all you want, you get about 20 answer, and no picture...

I would put it under the cross member/box section between the lollipop bolts and the cross brace . That is a fairly heavy section steelwork, hence why those items are bolted to it

 

[buze]

Well I kept them under the end of the cross bolt; these 6 tons ones are very nice, they don't 'wobble' when you raise the other end of the car!

I raised the rear using the diff, however, my jack is completely useless, it's way too small to do it, so it took me a LOT longer than I planned, and I couldn't raise the rear more than for just the stand as is... Luckily, it's also JUST the height allowing removing of the wheels.

 

[Jjim]

Nice shiny car stands and jack

 

[mrscalex]

I don't like the look of where you were originally proposing to do it. I think the car could be unstable at those points.

I jack under the axle carrier at the back and under the engine subframe at the front. Because I do it in one hit in the centre the whole end goes up and that allows me to put the axle stands under the jacking points in one go.

You need to be a little careful to position carefully so the cradle of the axle stand doesn't overshoot onto the floor-pan. And just make sure the cradle on the jack is positioned well on the jacking point - it can move as you lift the car too.

If you can afford it get yourself a more beefy jack too. I know it's a big investment at around £130 but a high lift/quick lift jack is not only easier to use it's safer to use too. When I've gone back and used one of those £30 Halfords things it's like using a toy. But I appreciate not everyone sends their cars up into the air as often as I do so I can justify the cost better.

 

[Sean d]

Its vital that you get those stands in a good strong place if you are going underneath, I spent hours under my Z the last few months and have to say it was with trepidation a lot of the time as I was alone in the shop, as you have done I always put the wheels underneath but iut still worries me, my wife lost a family member a few years ago, he was an experienced mechanic and was doing a job at home, his wife found him under a car, the diff had crushed his head.

 

[buze]

Thanks @mrscalex and @Sean d -- as you might have picked up from my original question, I am *very* paranoid and have no confidence in anything that might risk my life/limb unless I can have multiple redundancy. And I'll still feel wary. It's just not worth it, really.

That's why I picked these 6 tons stands, technically completely unnecessary, but the footprint is MUCH wider than the smaller model, and give me a noch more confidence. And they are 30 quid more or something, so that's cheap insurance! That's why I'd rather find a place to hook these up, than have to use the small wimpy 3 tons ones. The 6 tons ones I dont have to 'extend' at all to raise the car, that's one possible point of failure less.

Mind you I'm *still* incapable of going *under* the car, even with these on -- perhaps if I could get the car on *four* 6 tons one I'd be happier, but I don't know where I'd hook up the other pair. I know I know, I'm a wimp, but I'm an engineer, I hate 'bottleneck' mechanics where I have a 30 quid piece of chinese amazon cast iron in the pipeline

@mrscalex I agree on the jack -- quite frankly I never raised a car before when I got the Z3, and normally I try to pick 'slightly overspec' kit -- in this case, I should have bought the 100 quid one, not the 40 quid one. The small one is just fine if you just want to raise a corner, but completely out of kilter if you want to actually raise one side of the car.

Now that I know I have the motivation, I'm going to upgrade and pick a bigger one!

 

[t-tony]

This is what I need to do to jack a side of mine up (not just to clean the wheels).

First I have to run the front wheel onto a 2" block of wood. This allows me to get my low entry jack under the front jacking point on the sill/floor, JUST. Once I raise the front an inch or so I can get my high lift jack under the rear jacking point, then it's all systems go.
To go back down just reverse the actions including leaving the 2" block under the front wheel, in Park, and Parking brake applied.

Tony.

 

[mrscalex]

As long as you sit the car properly on the stands on the jacking points then there’s no issue with stability. I always give the car a very firm barge to check. There’s no movement. And that’s on 3 ton stands. My only concern would actually be on the 6 ton stands if the saddle was too large for the jacking point.

But let’s be honest. You’ve got to be pretty carefree, confident or just plain stupid to enjoy working underneath a car. I don’t like it. Although that’s mainly because I creak so much at the moment it’s physically painful moving under there.

I also leave the jack just short of the jacking point for extra security. Not quite touching as you don’t want the risk of it lifting it off the stands. But that’s only going to work with bigger jacks.

Better paranoid than dead or disabled from an accident. It would be horrific if the car landed on you. But there are definitely good ways as outlined of doing this to minimise the risk.

 

[hard top]

Over here there are a lot of places that have these and you can hire them per hour.

 

[g8jka]

You can never be too safe when jacking up a car and putting it on axle stands, if you are unsure on where you have placed the axle stands it's not worth going under it. I've been there when it goes wrong and it's not a pleasant experience, I'm extremely lucky I'm here to tell the tale.

 

[t-tony]

Nothing to do with the old man was it Dave?

Tony.

ps. I had my Mini sitting on my the back of my hand years ago when changing disc brakes back to drum brakes on Shirl's Dad's yard, using a scissor jack! I know better now

 

[hard top]

I had my Mini sitting on my the back of my hand years ago

Sure it did not land on yer head Tony?

 

[g8jka]

Nothing to do with the old man was it Dave?

Tony.

ps. I had my Mini sitting on my the back of my hand years ago when changing disc brakes back to drum brakes on Shirl's Dad's yard, using a scissor jack! I know better now

Well, if he had done the job for my brother on the car instead then I wouldn't have been the one under it. So technically it was his fault. I had it on my collar bone, luckily I got my head out the way in time. And I've also had one of the BMW jacks go on me. Now I leave it all to my Dad to do instead as I'm just not safe, well that's the excuse anyway

 

[t-tony]

Well, if he had done the job for my brother on the car instead then I wouldn't have been the one under it. So technically it was his fault. I had it on my collar bone, luckily I got my head out the way in time. And I've also had one of the BMW jacks go on me. Now I leave it all to my Dad to do instead as I'm just not safe, well that's the excuse anyway

Happy you didn't hurt yourself too bad mate.

Tony.