Hey Guys,

I am planning to get some work down this weekend and following weeks. I need to work on the rear end (removing leaf springs and control arms/rear wheel assemblies) and still plan to do the transmission rebuild. With that in mind, where do I jack the car that it can remain up for a month or two? There are black rails(?) that run the length of the car near where the body comes down and meets the underside, but they have some impressions that looks like it caved under a load when someone prior to my ownership tried to so I have fears to do so. Also, I have jack stands but they have a C like end on them. So I want to make sure I put them somewhere secure.

Procedure I know of:
- disengage (or remove) t-tops
- open doors and re-close but stopping at the first click to keep them from swinging but allow movement
- start jacking...

I have read that the cross members are good places to jack in order to do the whole car at once at one end, but then others say the metal is soft and will bend? If someone has a picture of the underside and can mark where to jack up and where to put the stands, that would be very helpful.

I am still learning all the terminology of the parts under the car so descriptions are always welcome when trying to explain things.

Thanks for the help.

 

From the floor, I use Race Ramps to get the nose up, then jack from the steel rear spring with a Harbor Freight spreader bar (79), or I use two jacks on the side (80). Jackstand the rear, then lift by the front crossmember with a block of wood (or use two jacksunder the lower control arms). I put my front jackstands on the frame extension just ahead of the wheels that the sway bar bolts to.

By using ramps, I minimize pivoting on jackstands.

EDIT: If you are only doing the rear, you may want to consider leaving the front wheels on ramps. Also, you can lay the rear wheels under the frame rails, as a final check against the jackstands. My T-tops have been off for years, and I can open and close doors freely with the car elevated.

 

Well until someone more knowledgeable comes along, I leave my T-tops locked in place and all doors closed and locked. I think you will get less body flexing that way.
Here is AIMs jacking points:





But if you are not working on the front end I would add jack stands on the front supports to help support the engine's weight. I would not use the cross members in any way!!!!. Now if you mean the frame that runs across from one frame rail to the other, that corner with the brace is a good point as well but may interfere with your work.
Never raise the front of the car by the center cross member without first adding some wood to brace it. It will dent and many Vettes have the telltale sign of it. It is a thin metal box that is rigid but dents!!!! Also be careful of removing components and letting them hang, they were not deigned for such loads and watch the diff casing easily cracked!!! Ike

 

Ike, where do the jacks go in the picture above? I see the spots for the front, but not the back. I didn't even know those extensions existed in the front.

I am planning a transmission rebuild. But that is something I would help with so timeing will take longer. But working on the leaf springs and rear wheels I think I can figure out on my own. That is why I wanted to jack it all up.

For future reference, is it bad to jack up one end and not the other. For example, jack up the rear and not the front for a month or so?

 

First take everything I say with "a grain of salt". I am a lightweight compared to the pros here. The cross hatched areas on the frame in the pic is were the jacks go. A corvette has no major framework beyond the front of the rear wheels and thus no jacking points if that is what you mean. So the frame rails right in front of the rear wheels is the last point you can lift and support the car as you head towards the rear.

As for raising the car front or back, i think you are fine as long as you raise it on both sides evenly. Think of it like parking on a hill. Jacking one side over the other, passenger and driver, is a no no. Too much body flexing!!! Again I like to support the weight of the front of the car.

But be careful of raising the front or rear, from a safety point of view!! The car can easily slide off your stands. The front is much heavier than the rear and when you start taking off components you can create a very unstable weight distribution situation. We would not have anything bad happen to the car!!! ( oh and you!!!) Ike

 

This is what I have been doing this winter

I use the quick jack to get it up in the air to work on it, then set it down on the stands for storage since theres no wheeels on it.

When I used jacks I put one under each front A arm at the spring pocket with a block of wood and jacked the front up a couple of inches then set the stands. Then jacked the rear from the differential and set stands. Going back and forth is nerve racking and I dont like pivoting on the stands but its what you have to do to get it in the air. I feel much safer using the Quick jack, its a one man operation and I can use it on my other vehicles, so its worth the money, AND they are on sale at Costco.