Ok, i have been reading and searching on the best way to get my C5 up in the air on jackstands to do normal mods/maintenance, etc. Well i am understanding that it is a very damn complicated process and haven't found a straight answer yet..... I have seen diagrams of jacking points but no idea which to use. I have a hydraulic jack and 4 jackstands.... help me get my C5 in the air please! Sounds simple....

 

When I still used Jackstands this is what I did. First I inserted a lift puck in one of the front shipping slots and then jacked the car as high as the jack would lift on that side. Then I would put a jack stand under the front and rear crossmembers on that side and lower the car until it was resting on the jackstands. Then I would move my lift puck and jack over to the other side and do the same on the other side of the car. I only raised the first side of the car about half way until I had the opposite side raised before going back and raising it the rest of the way. If you try to do it all in one step the car will be leaning to far to one side to safely jack. An optional way of doing this is to just insert a jackstand at the front the first time you lift the car. Then when you lower the front of the car it will cantilever and lift the front wheel on the opposite side off the ground so you can insert another jackstand on that side (the C5 has one hell of a stiff body and this works like a champ without hurting the car). It will be a little lower but you can then work back and forth to get them as high as your jack and the stands will go. Then put the jack under the middle of the rear crossmember and jack it up so you can install the rear jackstands. Sounds complicated but it doesn't take long and you will have the car up and solid.

Bill

 

It IS simple if you can make a wood "step-up" ramp to get the front up high enough so that you can slide the floor jack underneath the front cross member. A couple of 2x4s may work for this, but I made a low-profile ramp out of some 6x6 planks and some thin plywood. Before you jack the front, be sure to place wheel chocks behind the back tires. Because my car is lowered on stock bolts, I also made some step-ups for the rear tires so that both the front and rear were elevated when I started jacking the front. The other thing I made was a PVC "puck" to protect the aluminum crossmembers from getting gouged by the jack cradle.

 

That's exactly how I do it except I have BMW pucks in all four lifting points.

 

Just buy a low profile floor jack and put it in the center of the front or rear craddle and jack it up. Very simple

(if the jack won't go under the craddle drive the car on some wood first)

 

thats what i was hoping for. Simply jack up the center of the front and rear crossmember and place it down on jackstands.... but wheres the best place for the jackstands? and should i use a piece of wood on the jack when raising on the crossmember? Thanks!

 

I slide my Motorcycle jack under the middle of the door, jack it up high enough to get my floor jack under the engine crossmember and "AWAY I GO". Jacking up the rear is easy, the jackk will go under the the exhaust easy to the rear crossmember with no issues.

 

^^The cross members are aluminum. Do not directly use the jack on them. Put a piece of wood likle a 2 X4 or 4 X 6 between the jack and the frame.

Also, hopefully you know to use jacking pucks before using the jack stands if you are going to support the car from the jacking points. If you don't you will screw up your rocker panels, which can be very costly to repair.

If you are going to support the car with the jack stands on the cross members be sure to place a piece of wood between them. Also suggest you place a piece of plywood between ground and jack stand.

There have been several posts on the subject, which you might find using the search function. It does not work as well as it used to since they did the upgrade.

 

Here's a link to a good write up with pictures. Recommend reading thru the entire write up and note recommendation on either using a continuous piece of wood, or a additional block so a solid lift point is establish between the floor jack and the crossmember. When lifting make sure the wheels are blocked, it can roll if your not careful.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...ht=wooden+pads

 

If you're going to put your car up on four jackstands, they'd better be oversized stands, as four jackstands aren't very stable. 2 stands and 2 tires on the ground are the most stable.

If you have to get the car on 4 stands, DON'T GET UNDER THE CAR. If you don't believe me, when you get your car on 4 stands, gently nudge the car on one corner. If you can move it at all, think what's going to happen when you're under the car and wrenching on it.

HTH, and have a good one,
Mike

 

OMG You don't need wood between the jack and the craddle. Just put "a man's jack" not a toy jack under the craddle and jack it up. You can put the floor jacks directly under the craddle. Very, Very easy job.

 

It is not difficult

Drive the front two wheels up on to 2"x12"x24" boards.

put a block be hind one rear wheel.

put jack under center of front cradle

loosed lug nuts on front wheels, just loosen a bit

Jack up front end and put on lowest level of jack stands

Remove front wheels

put jack under center of rear cradle ( for get the block of wood) and pump it up just a bit, wheels still on ground

loosen rear lug nuts, Just loose

Jack up rear end and put on jack stands

Remove rear wheels

Jack slightly higher and raise jack stands to desiered height and lower car back onto stands

Go back to front and raise to desided height

Done in 15 min

 

Six ton or greater jackstands when getting all the wheels off of the ground, or two or one. They have a much larger base, and that is key to stability (not the top of the stand). Think of a pyramid, very stable but turn it over and it won’t be.

IMO the placement of the jackstands depends on what your going to do. If your getting one or two wheels off the ground then the cross member points are good choices for the jackstands. Easy to get to and stable for the height.

If your getting 4 wheels off the ground, then put them at the jack points near each wheel, where the slots for the pucks are located. This will help in stability, the wider the stance the better. If you put the jack stands on the front or rear cross member it will not be as stable, the jack stands will be too close together for it to be real stable. Also, the greater the difference in height of the jackstands the less stable it will be, IMO always try to get it level. I also put the rear wheels under the frame in between the jack stands for added safety, when I get it high. For lower heights I have some landscaping timbers I put under the frame/cross member depending on what I'm doing.

Remember to make sure you are working on a smooth, clean and level surface, so the car will be level when jacking. Otherwise, jacks can slip.

Only you can decide if it is stable and safe enough to work under it, but error on the side of safety. The above poster is right in you should test it before working on the car.

 

Had enough responses yet? Here's one more:

1. Drive front tires onto two 2x6's.
2. With floor jack, place in center of front cross member. I put a 3" long piece of 2x4 in jack cradle to not scar up any metal.
3. Raise car and put stands under cross member at both sides of jack - as far from jack as you can get them but still under cross member.

Back end is the same but you don't need any 2x6's. EASY.

 

wooden pads are the way to go...
read this thread from the archives

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...s&forum_id=103

 

does anyone make a metal "U" shaped pice that would wrap around thoes cross members..
There used to be a post that showed how to modify a jack to accept one

 

Got to drive on some wood man!!

 

Frankly, if you are having trouble jacking the car up, you might re-think your mechanical abilities
serious

 

You dont need to make this difficult.

Just slide the jack under the center of the cross beam. That jacking puck or round part is big enough to fit and support both sides.

The challenge with the larger weight capacity jack stands, IIRC is that at the lowest point is still quite high off the ground.

my little yellow k-mart jack stands at 1 1/2 ton each and only ~14" off the ground at the lowest point. so it is not that high.

I have 6 jack stands to use for work under the car. Which is not often

I do change my oil, my transmission and diff fluids, brake pads, rotors routinely. and have changed the a-arms, shocks, springs sway bars, with the car on 6 jack stands.

a very good two post lift is only $2500-$2700 if that. Wont get a four post as most times I need the car in the air to work on brakes

 

Thanks for your help. I just purchased this C5, first vette ever, and after using the search i found there was a lot of confusion, different opinions, and reasons why jackimng up in certain places was bad. I simply wanted to know an easy safe way to do it which i know have. My mechanical abilities are just fine for what i want to do. FWIW, whether you think its mechanical enough, to get my C5 i parted out my twin turbo trans am, which i built up myself on jackstands with a forged 347 that i assembled, built trans, an aps twin turbo kit, etc etc.... all myself. Then i also disassembled it, haha.