Jacking points...

[chris1972]

A couple of basic questions.

Where do you jack your Chim? I feel a little precarious about jacking on the outriggers.

I was considering a low profile trolley jack and axel stands, so was thinking about jacking on the main chassis itself? Is it possible to do it this way? If so what trolley jack and axel stands do you use? Any preference on ratchet stands or just normal pegged stands?

Thanks in advance

[Twistygit]

outriggers are fine but put a bit of rubber on the jack to protect the coating
ratchet axle stands give more position choices but both do the job, your preference

[BliarOut]

I use the front chassis member and the diff. Some will argue re the diff but I've been doing it for years and never had a problem

[PYNEY]

you will need a very low entry level trolley jack and still hard to see where it is positioned as these cars are so low
what I did is made a low ramp out of wide timbers 9" screwed one on top of the other to say 6" high and drive the car on to this its then much easier to use a standard trolley jack to jack the front up using the front main chassis member and then use axle stands placed either side on the main chassis frame

I use the same method for the rear with the ramps if you just want to get either the front or the rear up , if you want to get the car up front and rear at the same time I use the above method for the front and have to use 2 trolley jacks on the rear outriggers just to get the car up a little to make room to get the trolley jack under the car , i made up a timber support that is the same width as the main chassis rails under the diff approx. 18"wide 4" x 2" sawn with blocks of 4" x 2" on top of this either end to clear the exhaust , you can then put this on your trolley jack under the chassis rails and lift the back of the car in one go use axle stands under the main chassis to support , a lot of work !!!

rubber pads on your trolley jack and axle stands to help protect the chassis paint/waxoyl

when funds allow i'm going to buy a pair of adjustable ramps from cj autos which will make the operation alot quicker

[starmissed]

As above from PYNEY. Front up first using the cross member and onto the axle stands,chocking the rear wheels since the handbrake is pathetic. Then in with the low entry jack in from the side to the tail end of the longitudinal main chassis rail to get the back end up. You need to go in between the rear wheel and boot area bodywork which by this stage is almost touching the floor. Although not exactly in the middle of the car it is enough to get the rear up evenly to get the rear stands in. All if you have room in you garage to access from the side of the car of course.

[chris1972]

I think this is the method I've seen, but the car isn't currently mobile as it has no battery and an apparently duff alternator, so driving it onto ramps at the moment isn't an option. I wanted to replace the battery and the check/ replace the 100amp fuse, before rechecking the alternator, so wanted to get under the car first. I'd rather purchase something that will be useful for several jobs as opposed to the odd one.

How low is your jack? Have you got a snap shot of the blocks you've made to clear the exhaust? I measured the minimum clearance from the side and it's about 5 1/2 inches (14cm), which is a shame because Halfrauds have this on promo at the moment. Tolerances look too close: http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/...

Would it be worth getting one of these to get the clearance underneath and then use a couple of cheap trolley jacks above?
http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/...

Blocks do sound like a good idea for the initial clearance, but it's a huge amount of fiddling!

Edited by chris1972 on Saturday 26th January 14:49

[GTRene]

just buy a good but cheap low lift...
most cheap onces are to high starting at lowest point of 13.5cm or even 14....

all car nuts need NEED a low alu carjack/lift that starts at 8cm those are really great, when you have such you starting to wonder, why didn't I buy one many years ago!
and you use it way more and way easyer...

normally those cost from 90,-gbp but in another post there was someone that found some for under 40,-gbp !!! ass cheap

buy one!

[Twistygit]

that is the jack i have and it's just not quite low enough (the halfords one) i do manage though without driving onto blocks. it is also in a kit i think with axle stands wheel brace and chocks was about 50 earth pounds if i recall correctly

[GTRene]

no halfrouds I guess...

the low 80mm must be good...

cost me some searching on the web but here you go...cheap and low and pretty good value me thinks

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Liftmaster-Profile-Hydrual...

Price: £34.99....<<<CHEAP

Technical Details
Lifting range = 80 to 365mm
Capacity 2 Tonne
Optimal stability
Swivel castors for easy manoeuvring

[Hedgehopper]

I made a lifting beam to save jacking under the diff. The lugs on each end locate in the rearmost wishbone pickup points.

[chris1972]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I'll leave the Halfords one. The one on Amazon looks good, so may pick up a couple of them, cheers René.

The lifting bar looks a good idea. Where did you get the steel from? The should have made the chassis from that stuff!!!

[chris1972]

Found this place too. Looks quite good! Two 2 tonne low profile trolley jacks and four ratchet axel stands delivered for £100... the also do replacement gas struts for TVR.

http://www.sgs-engineering.com/hydraulic-jacks/axl...

Edited by chris1972 on Saturday 26th January 18:53

[Hedgehopper]

The local metal workshop/blacksmith cut me a bit of rectangular tube and two pieces of 2"x 2" tube. Just make sure that on your car 2"x 2" is big enough to clear your exhaust pipes. Can't weld so I nut and bolted it together...works well.
As you say, pity the whole chassis wasn't made of this stuff!

Edited by Hedgehopper on Saturday 26th January 18:58

[chris1972]

Hedgehopper said:

The local metal workshop/blacksmith cut me a bit of rectangular tube and two pieces of 2"x 2" tube. Just make sure that on your car 2"x 2" is big enough to clear your exhaust pipes. Can't weld so I nut and bolted it together...works well.
As you say, pity the whole chassis wasn't made of this stuff!

Edited by Hedgehopper on Saturday 26th January 18:58

I'll have a look around locally for one. It'll give me an additional 2" clearance too and save jacking both sides of the car.