TrackAire

One of the best modifications I added to my previous track Mustang was jacking rails like these:

http://store.kennybrown.com/product/...tang-and-cobra

This allows you to lift the side of the car from one central jacking point (like NASCAR) which I found very convenient and also allows for easy placement of two jack stands. It worked great when needing to get the car off the ground in the paddock.

Is there anyway that a C5 Corvette can be lifted from a single jack point under the door area? I've seen the aluminum rub strip that Elite Engineering sells but I'm not sure you can jack up the car from under the door using that. Any ideas or experience doing this with the C5 chassis?

69autoXr

There are two jacking points at the factory tie-down location on each side of the frame. Jacking at either of these points will lift the entire side of the car, though I tend to use two jacks, one at each location.

waddisme

I do mine a lot from there. If you look under there, there is a metal brace that runs across the body about midway. It has a nice big round flat area for jack to go without having to use jacking pucks. I go from there when switching out pads and rotors for track days, so it doesn't have to be lifted far. HTH.

fatbillybob

Yes and you can weld an insert as part of the rollcage at the door sill tube and lift from there too.

TrackAire

Yup, I understand the two jacking points but if you lift from one then it's just a PIA to put a jackstand under those to jacking points. The other issue that I don't feel comfortable with is when jacking from either the front or rear jacking point with the other side of the car already on jackstands, I worry about the car being pushed off the jackstands due to the side loads from lifting from either the front or rear jacking point 12" high or so. Let me know if I'm understanding your explanation correctly.

I want to be able to lift the entire car from the side with a single floor jack and once that side is in the air I have to perfect spots for the jackstands....then I repeat on the other side.

TrackAire

The is not caged but does have a TC designs welded roll bar....any idea if I can still make this work?

TrackAire

I'll check it out, thanks.....I was worried about the strength without any additional support.

argonaut

+1.

I have jacked the C5 at the point Waddisme indicates at least a hundred times. It works perfect. Jack up drivers side, put stands under the front and rear jack points, let jack down onto the stands. Go to passenger side and repeat. IMO there is no easier car to get up on 4 jack stands than a Vette due to its perimeter frame. Way, way easier than a unibody.

STANG KILLA SS

my Z06 is so stiff, i can jack it from the front or rear jack point with pucks, and it lifts both front and rear tires off that side. its super handy!

my old 2000 SS wouldnt do that, you would see the unibody twist and hear the t-tops pop doing that! and would leave the further wheel on the ground

rocsvette

_BlueZ06_

I did this on my c6z all the time. I did put a piece of wood about a foot long to disperse the load. It should be fine.

Keppler

Maybe I do not understand this post. You are concerned with pushing the jack stands over from lifting the car from the rear when the front is on jack stands but you are not concerned from lifting the car from the side when the other side is on jack stands.

Check out this thread about properly lifting a C5, especially post #82.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ng-pads-5.html

TrackAire

My main concern is at the track in the paddock. The ground is very rarely level and also has dips and rises on the surface. You really don't notice this just looking at the ground from a distance but once you start trying to jack up the car and set jack stands, it becomes very noticeable and the jack stands need to be re-adjusted to compensate for the uneven surface. On my nearly perfectly flat slab at home, I could lift from one of the jacking points like you describe. But at the track with an uneven surface, this would be unsafe in my opinion. Having a very stiff chassis I think makes it even more dangerous because a jack stand pop out if too much "side force" is placed on a metal to metal contact point.

But as others have stated, you can pick up the car from the middle where the center of gravity is probably more favorable and also not "torquing" the chassis forward or backwards on a suspect surface. I just didn't think that center jacking point was strong enough structurally but as others have proven it is. So for me, problem solved and thanks to the others who confirmed this.

Bill Dearborn

Have been doing this on my Corvettes since I owned my 69 roadster back in the early 70s. On the C5, C6 and C7 I use the front shipping slot on each side to lift both wheels on that side of the car off the ground. If you go all the way up on a jack you can get both front wheels and the rear wheel on the side with the jack off the ground.

I don't have any pictures of my C5 up on the jack but I did take some of my C7 which is pretty much the same from this standpoint.



I have another picture showing the right front off the floor as well but it doesn't show it clearly. There is plenty of clearance around the front shipping slot on the C5/C6/C7 so you can get by with out a puck (even the GM C5 Factory Service Manuals only indicate they are required at the rear shipping slots when lifting the car with a 4 point lift). When I first took delivery of my 97 in May 97 I used to use a 6 inch long piece of 2x4 between the jack and the frame, then I went to the metal pucks. I have also used good old hockey pucks which are just as good and at about $6/ea a hell of a lot cheaper than the metal ones but not as cheap as a piece of scrap wood.

As for jacking on the ground the biggest problem I found was the jack pushing down into the dirt Vs lifting the car.

Bill

froggy47

agree, but the car is not "well" balanced. Good enough to swap wheels though.