Nice!

As someone else mentioned somewhere, this indeed could have been a good business venture... making custom cross beam adapters for Corvettes and selling them for $200 a pair or whatever. Only problem is that now it is known that cheap $29.99 adapters exist AND work on the C6, a good deal of the market is already lost. You'd have to come up with some cool extra features that would make the adapters extra appealing. I have some ideas, but... still don't know if it's worth it.

Another problem... shipping such items. I personally never wanted to get into marketing "heavy" items... usually a big sales damper when a person finds out they have to pay an additional $50+ in shipping for a product. So, I pretty much ruled out the idea of custom cross beam adapters early on.

By the way, NorthernTool.com occasionally has special discounts and free shipping offers. When I bought my cross beam adapters from them, they had been running a "free shipping on orders over $150" sale... so I bought the adapters, a Lincoln grease gun for my Z51 toe link ends, and some other automotive tools I needed... an extra pair of Blackhawk heavy duty 7-ton jack stands as shown in the pics above...etc... so those adapters only cost me $60 total for the pair. I did not do too much research... who knows, you might even be able to get them cheaper from another vendor?

 

I didn't mean to SELL...just one for myself.

I have to admit though...for $30, it's hardly worth the aggravation of DIY. I didn't know they existed...Good post. You probably ruined the prospects of those vendors wanting to collect the Corvette Tax.

 

I did realize that, but I actually HAD thought briefly about trying to capitalize on the idea. After all, look at all the $ being made selling pucks, etc... I wouldn't mind collecting a "Corvette tax" too! Honestly, I'd rather just share the info anyway. But it's always fun to think of marketable ideas.

 

Vet, great method and nice looking jacks.

Some forums have worked out a group purchase from the manufacturer and saved a lot of money on the jacks. Otherwise, you are looking at over $1000 for the 2 jacks and cross-members which is about 1/3 the cost of a basic lift.

 

Well, let's see, cool extra features...how about BADGES!!!

There's always the Corvette crossed-flag logo...Make sure it's the correct C6 logo...No, maybe "CORVETTE" in a block font so you could sell them to the C5ers too...And, then there's the imfamous "Z51" badge you could put on them, or "F55", or "FE1", or maybe "U80", ad nauseum.

But, now...the bad news. If you use any copyrighted trademarks of General Motors (Corvette, Z51, crossed flag logos), you'll have to give half your profits to them or their lawyer army will come after you.

 

Thanks!

Yes, I realize that the tools are expensive if you need to purchase them all at once from scratch. I already had some of the stuff and always wanted to pick up an AC jack anyway, so it wasn't too bad a stretch for me. And the adapters are super cheap. Plus, I assumed that most DIY guys here already have at least one good jack and four good stands, so most are already halfway there.

I had considered some type of pro shop lift, but due to my small garage and the way I need to park in there etc, I could not find a good pro shop lift that would work out well for me. The good thing about using just two rolling jacks and four stands is that you can store the stuff very easily. I keep one jack on one side of the garage, and the other jack on the other side... and the stands in my basement.... everything essentially disappears easily once done working. This is an advantange over having one big giant lift that might otherwise be totally in the way 365 days a year.

Another advantange... if I had to, I could throw the two jacks, stands and adapters in the back of my SUV by myself and transport them if need be. That's not going to happen with a large one piece lift.

Also, I have not yet seen a garage lift for under $1,000 that gets all four wheels off the ground and also leaves loads of room under the car for oil changes etc at the same time.

A scissors lift is great for getting the wheels off the ground, but you cannot access the underside of the car too easily or at all, depending. Other lifts that you drive on are not good if you want to remove the wheels... etc.

Some of the really big four post lifts are nice, but I believe they are considerably more expensive than $1000, need to be installed, and you need to have a fairly big garage and be willing to give up space and convenience inside the garage. Probably not worth it unless you are working on cars at least 50% of the time. I'd love one of these, but just don't have the space.

Again, the two rolling jacks, stands and adapters tuck away easily and quickly, hardly take up any room at all... this storage advantage may be necessary for some.

Finally, I am not trying to say that my jacking technique is the "best" end-all method. But it is ONE method that works, and will probably be better for some than for others, situation dependent.

My big thing about the jacking technique though, and the main reason I even posted it, is that it complies with the GM specificed "preferred" jacking locations, perfectly. I thought that this factor alone made it worthy of sharing, especially since some of the other jacking techniques I have seen posted in the past have completely ignored the manufacturer.

 

Forgot to mention... this is the first pic of my car I've posted at the forum with Ed's (Pipedreams) splash guards installed on the car. Pretty hard to see in these shots, but you can see `em if you try. (I'll get better pics of the guards next time the car is out on a nice day).

Guards are excellent... I installed them in minutes, very easy. I used the provided clips and they've been on now for over 1,000 fairly hard miles, heavy rain, etc... no signs of movement, the guards aren't going anywhere. The Pipedreams guard kit is fine, as is. No mods needed.

My neighborhood is just totally littered with sand, pebbles, stones etc... typical in winter... these guards surely play a big part in saving the paint that is right behind the wheels.

Guards look cool too. Notice, I have ZERO "bling" on my car... not even a plate frame... that's the way I like it. Some call me "Mr. Anti-Bling". Pipe's guards are subtle and purposeful... hardly even notice them... zero bling factor... that's why they're on my car. They look like a factory option.

Will post better pics of guards next time!
Thanks again to Pipe for all his help on the forum!

 

Thanks for the time you spent doing this post. Those modified adapters look great. How did you attach the pads to the cross-member without using the sliding extenders?

 

Thank you for all the info. I plan on using this method when I store the car for the winter.

 

AC Hydraulic website:
http://www.ac-hydraulic.com/

Here are two places that sell AC Hydraulics jacks:

Ultimate Garage

Automotive Service Equipment

As for the cross beam adapter... the side extensions slide right off... just need to unclip the chains... easy.

I then unscrewed the rubber pads from the side extensions (four small screws, come right out) and just placed the rubber pads on top of the black main section of the adapter. Side extensions are not used at all. For the photos, the rubber pads were merely sitting on top of the black section, not even attached. I'll probably attach them with heavy-duty double-sided adhesive tape just so they stay in place.

Again, just a reminder, if you plan on using the $29.99 cross beam adapter with an AC Hydraulic jack, you will have to grind the pin of the adapter down a bit. I used a cylindrical carbide bur on the end of a pneumatic high speed die grinder... took maybe 20 minutes of grinding to get it just right. You need to remove a good 1/16" of metal from the entire perimeter of the pin. A little more work than it seems. I suppose you could also just use a high quality hand file too, but it would then take a lot longer.

The $29.99 cross beam adapter should fit most if not all typical American floor jacks though without modification.

 

I suppose you could drill a hole at each end of the main body to accept the pad bolts or purchase an extra set of pads or something similar and stick them on to the main beam permanently if you aren't going to use your 2 beam adapter approach.

 

Thanks for the response Vet. Without the sliding inserts, do you think the box construction is strong enough to hold the car's weight? A while back you and I read the same post on proper jacking from the C5 forum. That post recommended using a 2x6 laid flat with a double 2x6 on the ends so that no contact was made with the center of the cross-member. I thought a flat 2x6 would flex and be too weak to lift a Vette. My thought was to use a 4x6 laid flat. To avoid contact with the middle of the cross-member I was going to cut out about 1/2" from the middle of the 6" width of the board. That way it would not contact the middle of the cross-member. Hopefully a 4x6 would not flex too much and the 1/2" cutout would be OK. To get this under the car I think I will have to use a triple 2x10 ramp so the wheels are 4.5" off the floor. That should give 7.5" under airdam. I have a Sears racing jack. Hope I have enough clearance to get back to the preferred support and still be able to jack.

 

Howdy! The slightly scooped out 4"X6" might be fine. I am not qualified to know for sure how much lumber you need under there to safely support the weight. You sure would not want that board to split and break while your car is off the ground. Then again, if the board did split, the car would only drop 1/2" until the center of the cross member hit the wood. Still would not be fun in any case.

Instead of scooping out the 4"X6" in the center, what might be easier is to just add some 1/2" or 3/4" plywood "pads" at each end. Less work I think... essentially zero cost.

As for the metal cross beam adapter being strong enough to lift the front of the C6 without the side extensions in place... the way the cross beam adapter is made, the side extensions fit very loosely as it is. They totally float inside the black center part, they do not appear to add support. Also, the adapter is rated at 2-tons, and that's at a full extension of 38". When using the "altered" adapter for the front, the max span is something like only 19"... and the weight is less than half the max rating. So we're putting way less stress on the thing than rated. And finally, for the heck of it, just to test for myself, I had put the black center part of the adapter in my gigantic shop vise with pressure in the middle of the boxing to see how easily it would dent or dimple... I can crush just about anything in my vise, this boxing is TOUGH, it would not budge. So with all this in mind, I think it's a pretty safe bet that the adapter with side extensions removed can handle the task.

As for just one 2"X6" on it's side... I do a lot of carpentry work and hang out with an architect. This by no means makes me qualified to speak of the load capacities of materials, etc. But, I think any experienced woodworker will agree, a 2"X6" on its side is not too much stronger than a 2"X4" on its side, at least not when dealing with over 1,000 pounds. When on end, the 2"X6" is indeed stronger and would be fine, but this is not how it's being used. A 4"X4" would be a far better choice than a 2"X6" on its side. A 4"X6" even better... which is not too different than using TWO 2"X6" on their sides.

In sum, I think that just one "two by" piece of lumber on its side (whether a 2"X4", 2"X6", even a 2"X8") will flex too much in those conditions and very well could split.

As it is, one of the 2"X8"s I had put under my front wheels to drive up on actually cracked. Was not a problem of course, but just goes to show that "two by" lumber on its side, stressed in the right way is not too strong. Depending on the piece, it may work fine for a while or may split right away. Personally, I'd go with at least a 4"X6" (or similar), or just get the $29 metal cross beam adapter.

 

Vet, I was just out in the garage. There is no way I could jack the car at the preferred location with a Sears racing jack; even using three 2x10s under the wheels. The handle comes up too high with the jack that far back under the car. The AC jack is the only solution for jacking at the main cross-member. As far as using the 4x6 compared to your Northern device, I think Northern is the way to go. You have come up with the best lifting solution without going to a 4-point lift. Good work Vet, I think I am going to break down and order an AC jack and two Northern cross-beam adapters. Thanks for your help.

 

You're quite welcome! Glad you find this info helpful. That was the goal.

By the way, if you did not want to stretch for the expensive AC jack, there MAY be other less expensive jacks out there that would work. I unfortunately have no recommendations at the moment, but in my travels I have seen many different floor jacks with very different characteristics. Some jacks will pump up with the lever at a near horizontal position with very little lever travel, which would be good for situations where the jack needs to be partially under the car. Sounds like your Sears jack is the opposite... which is not a bad thing in general, but just not good in this circumstance.

You could potentially visit some auto stores etc and actually test and measure some different jacks. Having said that, the AC jack certainly seems to be a good investment, especially if you plan on working on cars for years to come.

 

I used a piece of wood between my jack and the car... As soon as I put load on the jack i heard the horrendous cracking and crunching.. I though I was destroying my rear end (aluminum suspension pieces) But after I dropped the car down I noticed a big split in the wood.. *whew* ..

Now I just use this method..
Attachment 48174085

There's just enough slope to offset the ramps and the car is pretty much level..

 

The Sears jack lifting pad moves up to height after one or two pumps but the handle does not lay horizontal. It angles up so that it would actually touch the front of the car when positioned at the preferred lifting point.

 

setup...

 

Thanks for the post, this is great info and well presented

 

In the FAQ... good pics!