Jacking points.....

Roadkill

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A quick question to the board.. I recently had my car in to get the rear fascia repainted. When i went in to pick up the car i found that they had jacked the car up by placing a floor jack under the rear differential. Is this acceptable? Can this damage the rear diff/ car? I looked underneath and didn't see anything amiss, but figgured I'd check with those of you on the boards about this.
Thanks for any input
 

Janni

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You very specifically DO NOT want to jack the car up using the differential. There are full frame rales right there that are more than adequate.

Probably didn't do any damage - but it is something that the service manual says is a big NO NO.
 

ViperJoe

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Jacking Points

The middle of the front cross member (the meeting point in the "K" of the frame) will allow you to pick up the front of the car.

Placing a floor jack under the "S" part of the rear side frame rail (closest to the center of the car as you can get) will pick up the back of the car - although one side will come up first, the chassis is stiff enough to pick up the back end.
We pick up the back end first to give enough clearance to get to the front. This is the only way we ever jack the car to get it up on jackstands.

Jack the back end of car at the start / curvy part of the frame's "S" curve FORWARD of the rear axle. This will pick up your jacking side of the rear first, but keep going and it will pick up entire back end.
Place jack stands under FRAME RAILS behind S curve - not too far out. We only lift the car about 16 inches or so - just enough to be comfortable to work under there. We have never had an issue about the car moving in this tilted position, but again, we don't lift it to a 45-degree angle.

Jack up front of car - either by placing jack between front and rear wheels and going in that way, or, with a low enough profile jack, going in from the front. Place jack saddle at the intersection of the "K" crossmember. This will pick up the front of the car very evenly.

Place level jackstands under FRAME RAILS slightly behind where the tie down holes are but not directly underneath the "A" arm reinforcement. Again - big thing here is to make sure you are under the thick / wide section of the frame and not the front 1/2 height section of frame horn.
 
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Roadkill

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Thanks for the input all.. Gonna check the rear diff after driving it a bit. Hopefully no damage was done
 
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