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How To: Put my car on blocks...PLEASE HELP ASAP

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Old 04-28-04 | 12:43 AM
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WHIPSrx7's Avatar
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How To: Put my car on blocks...PLEASE HELP ASAP

Hi all...I am trying to get my car ready before the Revolution. Anyways, my rims are getting powdercoated tomorrow (Wednesday) and I still need to take them off the car. Please, somebody let me know how to put the car up on blocks. Side to side, front to back, where I should put the blocks (cynderblocks I believe...spelling?), etc. Please let me know all the details if you have done this before. Thank you very much in advance,

Craig

AND yes, I did try to search for some help...I didn't have any idea what to search for when it came to this subject.
Old 04-28-04 | 12:46 AM
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Why not just toss some jack stands underneath the puppy? Just a thought. Good luck!

--Fritz
Old 04-28-04 | 12:54 AM
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LOL Yeah, but what way to lift the car...if it's like Corvettes, you have to lift the driver's side, then the passenger's side. Brother-in-law is a mechanic, but like most people, he knows nothing about the REX.
Old 04-28-04 | 01:01 AM
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Get 3 friends and simultaneously all of you jack the car up in perfect synchronicity! Can't fail! Right!? Right?.....right? lol I dunno sorry I can't be of a real help.

--Fritz
Old 04-28-04 | 01:08 AM
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Get 3 friends and simultaneously all of you jack the car up in perfect synchronicity! Can't fail! Right!? Right?.....right? lol I dunno sorry I can't be of a real help.

--Fritz
Old 04-28-04 | 01:11 AM
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oh my god, just get it off ground, there is no instruction manual on this
Old 04-28-04 | 01:18 AM
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jack the front up by the center of the engine sub-frame. Being careful to NOT dent your oil pan with the jack. Then once in the air. Put a jackstand under each side of the sub frame by the lower control arm mounts. Or other flat suitable surface.

Then go to the rear of the car and put the jack under the rear diff. housing. Jack the car up and put a jack stand under each side using the rear sub-frame. There is a nice flat spot on the front side of the rear wheel.( should be able to see it when you look under. Put a stand under each side and let the car down slowly. Making sure the car sits square on the stands and is not "bending" any of the points you have it held up. The points I mentioned are all VERY strong. If you like give me your email and i'll send you pics of the one I have up on stands in the shop rite now.
Old 04-28-04 | 02:38 AM
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Don't use cinderblocks. Use some real stands.
Old 04-28-04 | 02:42 AM
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Keep to the right.
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Cinderblocks are for El Caminos.
Old 04-28-04 | 05:29 AM
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i can do it with 3 jack stands
Old 04-28-04 | 06:38 AM
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There are a couple of ways. Ideally, you put a jack directly under the car from the front and lift on the black crossmember (behind the plastic belly pan, surrounds the oil pan) and get the front end up. Then insert jackstands. For the rear, straight under the back and lift using the differential pumpkin, and put jackstands under the rear suspension knuckles.

The cheesy way is to use the rail on the sides. The FSM mentions it, but in practice it crushes and bends way too easily. But that's still how I do it since reaching front crossmember requires a very low and long jack, or driving the car up on ramps. So I lift at the front of one rail and lift that wheel until I can put a jackstand in place of the jack. Then I do the same for the other side, and now my front is lifted. Be careful doing this - the car will be on 3 points for a bit when one wheel is lifted.

Also, do a search for jacking points, someone put pics from the FSM in that thread.

Dave

PS: Cinder blocks are a quick way to a slow painful death by crushing, then internal bleeding when the EMTs lift the car off of you.

Last edited by dgeesaman; 04-28-04 at 06:40 AM.
Old 04-28-04 | 06:38 AM
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Rated R1's Avatar
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Yeah well I can do it with one! Just don't touch the car!
Old 04-28-04 | 11:08 AM
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Everyone...thank you very much for your help for all who gave it to me...I obviously know that there's no instruction manual, but some cars have to be jacked up in a certain order and I also wanted some idea of where I should be placing the jack stands in the back. Thanks again,

Craig
Old 04-28-04 | 12:01 PM
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From: Hershey PA
Originally posted by WHIPSrx7
Everyone...thank you very much for your help for all who gave it to me...I obviously know that there's no instruction manual, but some cars have to be jacked up in a certain order and I also wanted some idea of where I should be placing the jack stands in the back. Thanks again,

Craig
Yes, yes there is an instruction manual. It's the Factory Service Manual, downloadable from www.iluvmyrx7.com
and you'll find jacking in the general information section.
Old 04-28-04 | 01:21 PM
  #15  
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haha.......... this is pathetic
Old 04-28-04 | 01:40 PM
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rynberg's Avatar
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Originally posted by Gargamel
haha.......... this is pathetic
How is it pathetic?

Yes, the guy should be a little more resourceful about getting basic info but at least he asked before he f*$ked something up.

This thread is more useful than most, these days.
Old 04-28-04 | 02:00 PM
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If your car is too low to get a jack underneath the front crossmember, get two blocks of wood (preferably something like a 2 x 6, wide enough to support the tires properly) that you can drive the front tires up onto, which will raise the car's front end enough to get the jack underneath the crossmember. Use a decent 1 or 1.5 ton floorjack, not one of those tiny cheap POS.

Don't use the side rails to jack up the car; as others have stated, both it and the floorpan are easily crushed unless you support it with wood blocks on the jack pedestal, and it will be unsteady regardless.
Old 04-28-04 | 02:31 PM
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I bought a 3.5 ton low-profile hydraulic jack from Costco. It was $69.99. It is a really nice jack! I can't get it under the nose of the car without first raising the car a little using my el cheapo jack. Once it's under the front subframe though, it lifts the car nice and smooth. Then I put the jackstands in the spots specified in the factory manual.

Get yourself a nice high quality jack. It is worth every penny.

Sonny
Old 04-28-04 | 02:40 PM
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My car is on jackstands right now. I have them under the side rails at the places indicated for jacking the car.
No denting, no issues.
Old 04-28-04 | 07:14 PM
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okay, thanks...i love it when people rip on someone for asking; first of all, i didn't think any site (including iluvmyrx7.com) would even have anything on it...but whatever, i'm going to do it tonight. I just wasn't sure where to put the actual jackstands, but I'm just going to use the subframes.

Craig
Old 04-28-04 | 08:04 PM
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Originally posted by bajaman
My car is on jackstands right now. I have them under the side rails at the places indicated for jacking the car.
No denting, no issues.
You can use them for support points for jackstands, yes, but jacking the car up from that area without taking extreme care will dent or crush in the rail and floorpan easily.
Old 04-28-04 | 08:54 PM
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I know it seems obvious to some, but this particlar car is a PITA to lift, especially with those damn frame rails.

Are you guys using any special type of jackstand that'll fit the frame rail w/out crushing it, like what's shown in the FSM? I've been using towels to even out the pressure... Seems kind of 1/2-assed.

BTW, that's page GI-2 & 3 on my '95 FSM.

Speaking of which, have a look at turbojeff's lift with the custom frame-rail mounts in his project thread. That's 3/2-assed!
Old 04-29-04 | 12:49 AM
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FWIW,
I use 5 ton stands with a 12" piece of 2x4 at the designated points to spread the load. The larger stands are overkill in terms of weight rating but have a larger base and top. That and the wood seems to help from crushing the hell out of the underside. Level ground, no particular order (as long as it's one end and then the other...not side to side ). My car is lowered, so I use ramps on the front (I like the plastic ones rated to 4k lbs each) and then a floorjack to raise it further.
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