joeveto

I'm going to work on my brakes. So I put the rear of my car up on jack stands. The jack stands are supporting the car at the rear frame pads (near the control arm mount, but actually on the frame rail). Upon lowering the car on the stands, I heard no crunching noise or any sounds that would indicate a weak frame. I also attempted to move the car from side to side, and the car felt firm.

Is the car okay? Did I do this right? Is the fiberglass one good swift breeze away from cracking into two pieces?

I've lifted a lot of cars before, but never my Vette. So I'm worried about the car and my own safety.

Thanks in advance for the feedback.

Frankenvette

I always support my car at the frame rails. I also leave the floor jacks (I have two of them, one on each side) under the car while its on the jack stands for extra safety incase one of the jack stands decided to fail. Can't be to careful.

Regards,

Jim

1979toy

Yep, ya done good. :jester
I can not find my link currently but there is a site that shows the jacking points. They are at the rear where you have the stands and at the front where the frame levels out behind the front wheel and in front of the door.

Jughead

It can't hurt to slide the wheels/tires you remove under the doors....I do, just in case! :eek:

jerryp58

Here's a link to the jack/jack-stand points pic http://users.erols.com/jerryp58/corvette/jackpts.jpg .

If I have the room to work around them, I do like 1970 Stingray and place the wheels/tires underneath the car to take the fall instead of me in case of a jack stand failure or if the car is somehow knocked off of the stands.

Zane

If you are doing other work under your car and don't need to remove your wheels I always use 4 car ramps. I just jack the car up and put the ramps under my wheels. I feel much safer than jack stans.

Carl in LA

Since were on the subject... All those weeks I was under the car doing the rebuild... I never for one second forgot how I would grab onto anything and sling myself out from under the car if a great earthquake were to hit... The earthquake we had in 1994 would have easily lifted the car off the jacks and flopped it down on what ever poor soul was trapped underneath...

Related question... With the 350 CI engine, the car is very close to a balance point when placing the jack stand on the frame rail behind the front wheels and ahead of the door... what about when you have a big block... does the car teater to and fro when lifting at that point???

Juliet

Yikes - Never thought about that. So glad I'm not in So. Calif anymore! :yesnod:

I add one more jackstand (not really supporting weight - just for security) under the nose section. ESPECIALLY now, with all the rear end out of the car - (spare, diff, suspension, etc...). The car is nose heavy to begin with when on jackstands. I was afraid it might tip forwards off the jackstands. Probably not - I pushed on it pretty darn hard to make sure - but it makes me feel better with an extra jackstand under the front suspension. :) Also, make sure you push fairly hard on the car before getting under it. You'd rather it fell off with you standing up NEXT to it, than under it. :eek: I judge how hard to push simiar to as if someone were to run in the garage and trip and sort of catch themself and land land falling up against the side of the car. ~Juliet

Jim 77

This is exactly how I do it. My car is pretty beat up, so yours should be fine!
Also, I am a wuss. So if I can get to a nut or bolt with the car on the ground, I will. Cracking them loose before jacking up the car cuts under car time very much. I was able to get to most of the caliper bolts, making it very easy to just reach around.
Jim

mayberg

I can speak to that. Once for a local NCRS meet, my car was being lifted by a two-post lift. The nose started to teeter forward - I wasn't looking, thank-goodness - or I'd probably have blown something out an orfice or exhaust port. Anyway, we lowered the car, repositioned the forward lift post a bit, and lifted the car again.

This is the stuff bad dreams are made of. I support the front of my big block with a jackstand under the front swaybar bushing cup - works great, and the doors open and close fine. I try to ignore the creaking noise while the car is being jacked up or down.
GM