You'll need at least 6-ton stands to clear the front monospring to clear the floor.

BTW I'm authentic, a real member, a real person, and it looks like Mr. Stu still can't get over the fact of my existence. I have met many members from the C3, C4, C5, C6. C7, SoCal sections, Corvettes of Carlisle, and the Virginia Beach Corvette Rat-Pack.

The Posse was a phase. We dedicated our existence to address people like Mr. Stu, Hokie, CorvetteMike2004, and Joe Ur*ne Stream.

OP, before you start a new thread regarding the removal of the lower control arm due to the bolt that rubs against the chassis, ensure you try all possible. Play outside the box, it does come out; PULL, ROTATE, PULL, ROTATE. I've done it to four C4's, on reassembly, insert the bolt facing backward.

 

Are you referring to the two flat sided bolts like a carriage bolt? I will probably not start this process until late winter or early spring depending on what our Iowa winter does.
Thanks for the advice, I will make a note of it and put in my manual.
Thanks Hawkeye56

 

Tom...bless you. But, if you haven't tried it ya don't know whatcha don't know, buddy! And, when you're lifting ONLY the front end to, e.g., change oil or whatever, raising both front sides and keeping them level is way easier with two jacks...@ the very least one can lift and set the stands on one side, and run around and lift the other side in turn w/o having to drag the floor jack around back and forth. Imagine how much easier it is to lift and adjust if you have a floor jack on diagonal corners. Trust me!

 

Thanks for the blessing. I totally agree; I haven't tried buying twice as many tools to do the same job...so you're right, I don't know.... Which precisely is why I asked you:
"What does the second jack do for saving time? Or improve convenience?"


Unfortunately, you didn't really answer the questions or explain how it's time saving or more convenient....
Paul, you know I trust you....but what you're saying doesn't make sense:
1. Lifting ONLY the front, I hear you....but it doesn't matter one whit, if you raise it "and keep it level"....or raise it "crooked". Who says you have to "keep it level", while lifting? Because you don't. GM doesn't say to. So this answer neither makes the job faster, nor more convenient. It seems to solve the psychological "problem" of not liking to raise the car "crooked"...but no one has ever shown that to be detrimental to the CAR.
2. You only need to "drag the floor jack around back and forth" ONCE. That takes about...IDK, 10 seconds? Is another $100 jack worth saving 10 seconds? I don't see how; you still have to drag BOTH jacks, from their storage space, out to the car, then stage them BOTH, under each side of the car. You need to run "back and forth" while doing so, then you run "back and forth" in order to jack the car evenly (which is pointless on it's own). So, I HEAR YOU....but I'm not seeing any time savings or convenience here either.
3. I'm sorry, but I don't understand what you're saying, in your last sentence at all. "...Lift and adjust if you have a floor jack on diagonal corners"? One jack front/left the other right/rear? That would be incredibly unstable and unsafe. That can't be what you mean?

To bring a little more objectivity to this, I have my car on stands in >4 minutes. How long does it take you, using twice the number of jacks?

 

First, illustrated guide on side jacking: https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/c4-general-discussion/3929615-how-to-side-jack-a-c4.html

Second, if the car needs to go high, think in steps, so many inches at time, switch to other side. Now, include jack stands. Start with a pair of smaller, 3 ton jacks. Get one side up a bit. Now jack the other side, should be able to get the 6 ton in place, if not another pair of 3 ton a bit higher. Back and forth until height is enough. Keep in mind safety at all times, if it doesn't feel that way, then don't do it. Make sure to check stability when done and don't be soft, better to fall right away then when underneath.

Third, at some point the jack may not reach high enough. DO NOT put a block or two in the jack cup to get that extra height. That screws up the geometry and is unstable. Instead, raise the floor! As in, get some 2x4s, 2x6s etc. and put the jack on a platform of those. The jack moves, give plenty of room and think about where it will go.


Last, if you have Harbor Freight jack stands (Pittsburgh), check the recall notice:
https://images.harborfreight.com/hft...1196_61197.pdf
https://www.harborfreight.com/js-details
I took mine in after having my Lady up on them for nine months. I failed to **** my pants, but I certainly worked hard to not even breathe on the things.

 

I had a set of the bad ones and a set of the ok ones. You could tell the bad ones were not formed correctly. The rectangular area for the notched stand part to fit into, was not rectangular.

One side had a very pronounced arc to it. Poor quality control.

But that is what you get when all the factories here have been outsourced. US factories could make things just as inexpensively and better quality if there were big enough orders and they didn't try to get rich on each and every unit.

 

Yeah? IDK about that. *I* think "that is what you get" when you buy the cheapest stands you can get. Not criticizing...i've done it. But it shouldn't be be a surprise when you pay bottom dollar that they are or can be crappy.

























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When I was younger, I worked at a place making automotive pulleys. Wasn't the best place to work. Dangerous, dirty, had to do with management. But 40 years ago, they were pounding out auto pulleys at an astounding rate. Same with the progressive and single stage dies I built. Once you invest in the tooling (key word invest) you can make parts at a rate you wouldn't believe. Each operation was performed around 1000 per hour. Even if it took 4 or 5 operations, that is not much time.

At another place I built a die set that would stamp out completed electrical terminals, started as a flat ribbon of material blew (air pressure) out complete at the other end at a rate of 10,000 per hour. It doesn't take long to recoup costs at that rate of production. At another I worked on the molds for the toy SpiroGraph. Remember that ? The gears and such came from a mold shop in Stow Ohio. I worked on a lot of things as I bounced around machine, mold, tool & die and defense contractor shop(s) in the Akron, Ohio area.

The problem with Chinese junk is less than spectacular tooling, built by people barely above slave labor.

We could get into Wall Street -vs- Main Street, but given the opportunity, US manufacturing can perform at a quality/price point second to none, but too many in the chain are adding costs.

 

, totally.

 

Try being over 24” at the shoulders and have 20” arms. I have been a hulk for most of life and it never stopped me from doing my own work...ever. I have NEVER taken any of cars/trucks into the shop for anything except tires. I have to turn sideways to get through most doors. Its not fun running into door jams but I love weight lifting. It’s a pain to get in and out of my two C4’s but I love those cars and they aren’t going anywhere. I built solid wood lift blocks so I can at least work under them.

 

If someone wanted to lift the front only, where is the best lift point for the floor jack? The pan between suspension mounts seems too flimsy. I've always lifted left side - right side at the pinch welds and gone straight up with the whole car, but there are times when lifting the front only would be helpful.

 

The point on the rocker rail that says "Jacking Location", that is rear of the front tire, under the side view mirror.

Really, ANY place along the rocker rail is fine, and any place along the rocker rail is going to lift the whole side of the car (as mentioned earlier). That's fine. Lift it, throw a stand under the car at your preffered location, then lower the jack. The rear of the car will come back down to the ground and you can move around to the other side. Jack that side the same as the first....throw a stand under it, lower the jack and your other side rear tire will lower to the ground. Front of car will be up....rear will be down. You're done and you can get to work.

Because the diff between raising front vs. whole car is so small, work wise (throwing jack stands under the rear, or not), I always just throw stands all the way around. It's barely any more work/time, but allows more space and light under the car, and more flexibility should I choose to do more. Also, easier to cruise around under there and look at stuff.

 

I am familiar with the "jacking location" markers on the pinch welds, I use those when lifting the whole car one side at a time.
Are you saying there is no single jacking location at the front of the car that can be used for lifting only the front of the car all at once? Like a crossmember, or something else?

 

No, I'm not saying that. You asked where the BEST jacking point was. That's what I answered.
There is a cross member of course, it is the K member; the part that the front suspension mounts to and the leaf spring runs through. Only problem with jacking from that point is....getting most any typical jack far enough under the car to grab it with the jack pad. I can't do it with my jack. If you can, then by all means....give'r hell!










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Thank you Tom! I'm not sure if my floor jack will fit under the front, but if it does... I suspect the jack handle will hit the air dam when I go to pump it. We will see when I give'r hell!

 

 

Speaking of putting cars on jackstands, sometimes, well most times, it is nice to have a chunk of 8x8 to slide under the car if you have to get under it. If the jackstand(s) fail, the 8x8 will save your life.

 

Or some facsimile thereof. I usually toss the wheels under the car, if they're coming off. Or leave the jack in place w/little or no load. Something. A secondary back up is smart.


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absolutely. I leave the jacks there also.