questions about jacking up car for tranny removal

[VanIsleDSM]

I hate jacking up my car.. it's always the most stressful time of any car work for me.. that probably sounds stupid, but I'm always so paranoid about it.

Today I was jacking up the front end by the crossmember under the rad with a trolly jack and a 4x4 chunk of wood to get some more height, after every few inches though the arm on the jack moves back and the car angles away from the jack as it pivots upwards on the rear wheels and you end up on some ugly looking angle.. so I put the stands under the same crossmember, take the weight off the jack, push it in further, jack it up, and do it all over again.. ahh!

Sorry for the ranting, but on to my point.. vfaq says that a 15" jack was barely enough, mine is 16", that's why I threw in the 4x4, but then I thought, where is that measured from? so now I just want someone to speak from experience, if I pull out the tranny on a jack, how high should the bottom of the tire be off the ground, roughly? mine are about 4-5 inches on both sides.. is that enough?

Also, where should I place the jackstands.. again vfaq says to put them behind the stearing rack, but it pictures a 1g, where can I do that on a 2g? obviously the scissor jacking points come to mind, but how to you put a jackstand there without totally bending the lip? One time I had a bright idea of cutting a slot in a piece of wood for the lip and putting that on a stand at the jack point, but it totally cracked apart.

I'd like to be able to use my stands on the crossmember they're on right now.. if that won't get it the way.. it doesn't look it, but I dunno.. I wouldn't want to run into problems...
I'd also feel safer having the car supported way at the front.. more stable than having your stands further back.. then I'll use my scissor jack and another one I have on either side for safety sake.

So to sum all this up, roughly how high off the ground to wheel the tranny out on a jack, and will my stands get in the way under the rad.

Thanks.

 

[DSMULATOR]

The trans is like 18" tall give or take a few, its in the car so I can't get a perfect measure of the bellhousing. As for the jack stands, if you support the car under the radiator they will definitely get in the way of being able to wheel the trans out. You can put the stands under the pinch weld (lip running down the side of the car behind the side skirt) but sometimes it gets bent if your not using a stand that has a slit cut into it. There are two 'frame rails' that run under neath the floorboards (that your brake and fuel lines are running next to) and they will support the car. You don't have to worry about the jacks stands being too far back. In order for the car to fall on you, the rear end would have to come off the ground and pivot on the jack stands, and that definitely won't happen, unless you have like 14 people standing on the upper radiator support while your underneath. You might be better off trying to jack the entire car up, on all 4 corners, because with just the front off the ground it puts the trans at a pretty bad angle and it will be fun to get back in. Gravity helps you on the way out, but sucks going back in. Good luck.

 

[Dream On]

I'm pretty sure I had jackstands on each end of the crossmember that you speak of when I dropped my tranny.

 

[elfroggo]

There are two 'frame rails' that run under neath the floorboards (that your brake and fuel lines are running next to) and they will support the car.

No dude, don't put your jackstands on there. It's flimsy sheet metal and will flatten. If it's bad you're going to push up your floorboard. That is NOT a jacking point or a place for jackstands.

It's just there to support the floor.

 

[DSMULATOR]

my lift pads are under those rails right now with my car up in the air and I haven't had any problems, nor any other cars that come in my shop. I use those mainly because i don't have slits cut into the pads to accept the pinch weld near the sideskirt, it sucks when you bend them over.

edit: the pads on a lift are also a lot bigger than a jack stand and can displace more of the weight so they won't dent the 'rail' under the floor board. With jack stands I would suggest the pinch weld or cross member.

 

[SnowBird]

I may be stupid then. I have always used jack stands under the "frame rails" to support every car Ive ever worked on, and left them under there for weeks at a time. Its the "slit" you guys talk about that scares me, Ive seen more of those spots rusted out enough to make me nervous just looking at them. I always use the frame rails with jack stands and ALWAYS keep the floor jack under the next best spot, engine, tranny, or crossmember (depending what Im working on)

 

[wret]

Sorry for the ranting, but on to my point.. vfaq says that a 15" jack was barely enough, mine is 16", that's why I threw in the 4x4, but then I thought, where is that measured from? so now I just want someone to speak from experience, if I pull out the tranny on a jack, how high should the bottom of the tire be off the ground, roughly? mine are about 4-5 inches on both sides.. is that enough?

Also, where should I place the jackstands.. again vfaq says to put them behind the stearing rack, but it pictures a 1g, where can I do that on a 2g? obviously the scissor jacking points come to mind, but how to you put a jackstand there without totally bending the lip? One time I had a bright idea of cutting a slot in a piece of wood for the lip and putting that on a stand at the jack point, but it totally cracked apart.

I'd like to be able to use my stands on the crossmember they're on right now.. if that won't get it the way.. it doesn't look it, but I dunno.. I wouldn't want to run into problems...
I'd also feel safer having the car supported way at the front.. more stable than having your stands further back.. then I'll use my scissor jack and another one I have on either side for safety sake.

So to sum all this up, roughly how high off the ground to wheel the tranny out on a jack, and will my stands get in the way under the rad.

Thanks.

I use a 17.5 inch jack with two 2x4 pieces under the front cross-member. You don’t want the minimum height. You want as much room to work as you can get.

It's perfectly safe to jack under the front cross-member. If your jack is on rollers, it will move slightly as the weight shifts rearward. Put your jack stands under the pinch welds on each side, preferably at the scissor jack notch. This is the only place on that is designed to support the weight of the car. As mentioned, unless you use stands that are modified to fit the weld lip, you risk bending it. You probably won’t do any real damage but you may not be able to fit the scissors jack over the lip afterward.

There are many other places where it is safe to support the car but there are also many places where you can do damage. If you don’t want to risk damage, it’s best not to experiment.

 

[turbosax2]

While we're on the subject, what's the best way to get the car on four jack stands so all the tires are off the ground? Should you do the front first, then the back, or doesn't it matter? And where are the best places to put jack stands when four are used like this?