jacking a C5 vette
Team Owner
Joined: Nov 2001
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Le Mans Master
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 9,594
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From: Palm Harbor not far from Sebring Florida
St. Jude Donor '11
Oldtimer
You do know about jacking pucks I hope. I said this because you said you want to jack up one corner. I normally jack the front and rear at the cross members. A 2x4 on the jack to contact the cross member and make sure you are not touching the leaf spring.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 2,772
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From: Gastonia NC
St. Jude Donor '10
ya but my new jack is shiny which is way better than wood.In all seriousness I found a combo works for me. I drive up on some wood which allows my low profile jack to reach far enough back to reach the preferred jacking location
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Le Mans Master
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From: If you wanna live life on your own terms, you gotta be willing to crash and burn Florida
Melting Slicks
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From: Whidbey Island WA
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From: Oklahoma City OK
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Le Mans Master
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From: Kelso Washington
St. Jude Donor '09, '13, '15
Yep.....2x12's for me too...and a 2x4 between the jack and sub-frame crossmember too.
Tip: cut the end of the 2x12's at an angle across AND bring it to a tip as well. This allows the tire to get a grip on the tip first and roll on up without it scooting out from under the tire.
Perhaps you can see it here:....the left rear shows best....look closely.
Disregard the old guy....he's nuts....but I still love him...
Oh...and.....for some reason, I would not jack up a corner at a time.....why twist the poor thing? It's no bigger hassle to just jack up the whole rear...or front as needed.
When I first read this thread title I figured the answer was "Stick a gun in the window and tell the driver to get out"
Tip: cut the end of the 2x12's at an angle across AND bring it to a tip as well. This allows the tire to get a grip on the tip first and roll on up without it scooting out from under the tire.
Perhaps you can see it here:....the left rear shows best....look closely.
Disregard the old guy....he's nuts....but I still love him...
Oh...and.....for some reason, I would not jack up a corner at a time.....why twist the poor thing? It's no bigger hassle to just jack up the whole rear...or front as needed.
When I first read this thread title I figured the answer was "Stick a gun in the window and tell the driver to get out"
Last edited by Oh 2 Fun; Apr 20, 2011 at 01:32 AM.
Pro
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 564
Likes: 12
From: Vancouver British Columbia
Has anyone have their car roll back toward you as you lift the rear by the cross member? I had the front of the car driven up onto 56" race ramps and started to jack up the rear by the cross member and as there is no longer braking from the e brakes it started to roll backwards, scary feeling, fortunately it was a slow roll because of the resistance of the metal floor jack wheels. It's a pain having to level the car during oil changes, I now tether the front of the car to an anchor bolted to 2x6 house stud in the garage.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 1,220
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From: Cleburne Texas
I went to Wal Mart and bought a couple of those inexpensive yellow chocks and I place one behind each of the front tires while on the ramps. They will keep the car from rolling backwards when you jack the rear up.
Drifting
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 1,682
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From: Plano Texas
St. Jude Donor '08
So on something like this... what is to stop the car from sliding off the wood where you have the jack stands? It's a flat surface of the wood meeting a flat surface of that cross member. I would think it would be better to have some kind of U shaped or V shaped contact point to where it can't move around. Maybe I'm missing something.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 5,284
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From: Rockledge FL
I stacked 3 pieces of 2x12 with each end cut at an angle. One for each tire. Then all 4 sets bolted together. It gets the car high enough it the air to do most things and still gives me access to the jacking locations if I need to raise a specific corner afterwards.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Oct 2007
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From: Kelso Washington
St. Jude Donor '09, '13, '15
So on something like this... what is to stop the car from sliding off the wood where you have the jack stands? It's a flat surface of the wood meeting a flat surface of that cross member. I would think it would be better to have some kind of U shaped or V shaped contact point to where it can't move around. Maybe I'm missing something.