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Is it safe to jack up by diff? Car is already up on jackstands but just enough to get tires off ground. I wanna get it up higher to do some work. Is it safe to lift by diff center?
IMHO, BAD idea! I'm sure many have done it and gotten away with it, but.....Make an extra trip or two with the jack from side to side and do it properly, some things don't need to be learned the hard way👍
Yes it is safe to lift the C4 by the differential but you need to do it correctly. At one time a company called Gadgetman sold an adapter that worked for lifting C4s by the differential. It allowed you to slip the adapter between the exhaust pipes, thus not damaging the pipes or the rear spring while lifting the car. I do not know if he is still in business but this works perfectly and I have lifted many C4s with the adapter with no ill effects to the car. Here is a photo of the one I have.
I made one of these and use it all the time on my 93. I've never had a problem lifting at this location. Can someone elaborate on what the problem is with lifting this area of the car?
Yes it is safe to lift the C4 by the differential but you need to do it correctly. At one time a company called Gadgetman sold an adapter that worked for lifting C4s by the differential. It allowed you to slip the adapter between the exhaust pipes, thus not damaging the pipes or the rear spring while lifting the car. I do not know if he is still in business but this works perfectly and I have lifted many C4s with the adapter with no ill effects to the car. Here is a photo of the one I have.
I have the Gadgetman adapter and have lifted my Vette several times using it. As mentioned, it slips between the exhaust pipes and under the batwing so it has a solid lifting point.
It came with (IIRC) a screw adapter so you'd take the cup off your floor jack and bolt it on. Happens it wouldn't work with my floor jack so I made about a 3/4" thick piece of steel and just big enough to fit inside the cup of my floor jack. I drilled it and bolted it to the bottom of the jack adapter, so it just a matter of dropping it into the jack cup. Simple, easy and since there's at least a 1/4" lip on the cup it's never moved when inserting or removing it from the car.
If you make your own, note that the Gadgetman unit has a piece of heavy rubber glued to the top. I assume to prevent the piece from slipping under the car rather than protecting the batwing.
Yeah, zero issues jacking by the diff housing if you have a way to get the jack in there, like these various adapter ideas. I was way too lazy for that: it turns out that a spare rear trailing arm frame mounting bracket works great for this purpose!
