Floor Jack Placement

[rich95]

I am about to perform my first oil change on my 95. I need to jack the card up and have a good quality floor jack. My question is the jack placement. There is one large frame member at the front of the engine. Will this be a safe place to jack up the front end so I can get jack stands underneath, or should I jack up one side of the car at a time?
rich95

[Wheelie]

Hey Rich!

What I do is jack up the driver side and install a stand just in front of the jack on the frame rail. Then I jack up on the cross member to get a stand on the opposite side. I do it this way 'cause there's no way my jack will fit under the car to the engine crossmember. Don't jack on the 1 1/4" square tube that holds the bumper on.

Did you know if you change the oil on a lift (all 4 wheels in the air, car level) that you leave about a pint of old oil in the pan? If anyone doesn't change their own oil, make sure your shop knows this.

Steve

[warren s]

Rich-

Check out this picture, place the jack under the cross member in the front, the "red lift arm" with the block of wood between the car and lift is where i out the floor jack to do oil changes

[warren s]

actually at only 65k the picture comes out kind of small send me an email if you want me to mail you a better picture.

[Ken]

You'll have no problems with lifting it from the front crossmember Rich, I do it all the time; just yesterday we had it in the air using a floor jack.

Sometimes I'll use the Rhino ramps if I'm just changing the oil or something quick. If I'm gonna have all four wheels off the ground for any length of time, or there is a need to get them all off the ground at one time, I usually put the front up on the ramps first. If I'm not using the ramps I'll drive onto a couple of 2x4s to get the front end high enough to slip a floorjack under the front end and jack both front wheels up at once. Then I place jackstands at each of the front factory lifting points and remove the floor jack.

Be sure to block the wheels when you are lifting either end of your car!

I'll then take the floor jack to the rear where I use the differential housing to lift both rear wheels off the ground, then I'll place jackstands at each of the rear factory lifting points. Voila! All four wheels are then off the ground and you have enough room to crawl around under the car. Some creepers will work in the space you have, but not all.

On the subject of floorjacks, why is it they advertise and sell jacks that are supposedly "low profile" when in actuality the only place on the profile where it is low is at the front where the saddle is? All of them seem to be about the same height in the rear, where lowness is most needed by those of us with Corvettes and other low-slung vehicles. Even the expensive racing jacks you see advertised aren't much lower, but they are lighter than your everyday floorjack from Sears.

Good luck in changing your oil Rich.

_ken

[montanabob]

I use the Rhino ramps, but I have to put a piece of 2X in front of each ramp about 1 foot long so that the edge of the black plastic air dam doesn't scrape on the way up or down. I my opinion they do not leave ehough room for a person on a creeper. I have to pull my head out from under to rotate from one side to the other(maybe my head is just too big). :grin

Also the lip on the front of the rhino ramps works great. You won't drive over it...trust me I had my daughter tell me when to stop last time I pulled her up on the ramps...They just slide when you hit the stop ...kinda like a car on skis.

[rich95]

Well, I got my oil changed today. After trying serveral times to manuever my floor jack around and finding out a could not get anywhere near the main front cross member, I went to the auto parts store. I took the advice of Montanabob and others and purchased a set of Rhino Ramps. I then cut two pieces of 2x8 and placed these in front of the ramps. Car went right up, not problem. Thanks everyone for all you input!
rich95