Date: Sat, 2 Sep 2000 16:43:39 EDT
Reply-To: JKrevnov@AOL.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Rico Sapolich <JKrevnov@AOL.COM>
Subject: Re: Where do I place the floor jack ?
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In a message dated 9/2/00 2:16:12 PM, ingalls_mark@HOTMAIL.COM writes:
<< Haynes page REF-5 says to place a block of wood on the floor jack and
lifting under 'the rear axle final drive casing' (which I presume means the
transmission casing section that is inline with the rear axles?) >>
Mark,
What follows is merely anecdotal, not instructive. It is what I have done.
If you are imprudent by nature, reading this is not for you.
NO! NO! NO! This is the same mentality that most "mechanics" employ when
they go to inspect my cars. They have no concept or knowledge of moments of
force, tensile strength, vector algebra, plastic deformation, etc., etc.,
etc., yet they seem to think that any sizable hunk of metal beneath a vehicle
is a suitable purchase for their floor jacks. Now, just visualize the
powertrain of a Vanagon. Is the chassis hung from the engine/transaxle or is
the powertrain hung from the chassis by rubber isolator mounts? You're
right! So, in lifting the van by the transaxle, the least damage that can be
done is that a rubber mount or two may be torn and it could escalate from
there.
With some forethought and care the jacking points do not necessarily have to
be used but, they afford a no brainer and safe (both to personnel and
machinery) way to lift the vehicle. My personal favorite place to apply a
floor jack is under the trailing arm in the rear with the floor jack parallel
to the length of the car. I center the cup of the jack on the axle line and
move the jack as close to the wheel as possible. I use what riggers call a
"softener", which is merely a piece of wood, between the jack and the point
of application. In fact, I bandsawed a piece of 5/4 beech to fit the cup of
my jack which makes it a lot easier to use. The front is done basically the
same, except I apply the jacking force under the control arm as close to the
lower balljoint as possible.
Because I have never been able to justify the expense of a GOOD set of
jackstands, I do not like them. The jackstands I have seen are invariably
made in Taiwan or some other Godforsaken place with its own version of slave
labor. I know I cannot even trust a rubber band which was made in Taiwan so,
I cannot imagine crawling under 2 tons of fine Teutonic steel supported by
their jackstands. Now, that said, just watch someone chime in that they
bought Snap-On jackstands at COSTCO for $99.95 per pair.
Unfortunately, I am not finished. If you are bored, you better bail out here
because I am on a roll.
The reason I prefer to jack at the points I described is that the jack only
has to lift a short distance in order to get the wheels off the ground. And,
whenever possible, I want the van resting on its wheels once it is lifted. I
usually put a couple of 30" long pieces of heavy railroad ties under the
tires. These are not landscape timbers but, instead, red oak measuring a
full 10"X12".
Since Vanagons have a goodly amount of ground clearance, a small amount of
lift is all that is usually needed to have adequate working room. I have foun
d that, for some jobs, simply driving the van on to 3 stacked 2X12 is enough.
One of my favorite ways to lift the van a little, is to lay spare wheels
flat under the vans tires. Lifting the van at ALL corners this way gives
plenty of room for a lot of jobs. The tires bear on the center of the wheel
and seat into its offset making the whole affair very stable. If it does not
interfere with the work, I also like to use wheels with a properly inflated
tire mounted. That hook-up seems to me to be as solid as Gibraltar.
Since I am a chicken, i.e., I have done dumb things that have scared the shit
out of me, I always use a good set of chocks and disconnect the battery.
Rich
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