Jacking the rear of a W124 Estate

[Ade]

How do you do this safely?

I followed the Haynes manual and put axle stands under the rubber pads adjacent the rear jacking points and the car slipped off one whilst trying to raise the other side. Fortunately minimal damage (to plastic cill only and bent car jack) but couldn't see where underneath you could place axial stands safely without damaging the floor pan.

 

[flyingtech55]

Ade

Please be careful. A good old friend of mine was killed by a vehicle falling on him. The problem was that he wasn't crushed by the vehicle and killed outright. It fell on his chest and he was asphixiated. It was both a truly horrible thing to happen and to find. You never get the image out of your mind. Please be very, very careful.

 

[Ade]

Gliderman

Thank you for your concern and sorry to hear about your friend

This is the sort of incident that was playing on my mind and I don't want it to happen to me.

There may be the clever so and so's out there who think it's a stupid question and it's easy. There must be a better way than the book would have you believe as the car did not feel safe on the stands.

Ade

 

[Barnie]

HI ADE
THE CAR SLIPPED OFF THE STAND BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T JACK IT UP AS PER THE INSTRUCTIONS!!
THE INSTRUCTIONS TELL YOU TO USE A HYDRAULIC TROLLY JACK & LIFT THE REAR OF THE CAR BY PLACING THE JACK PAD UNDER THE FINAL DRIVE UNIT (DIFF), ONCE BOTH WHEELS ARE CLEAR OF GROUND PLACE TWO STANDS(WITH BLOCKS OF WOOD ON TOP) DIRECTLY UNDER EACH SUPPORT PAD & THEN SLOWLY LOWER THE JACK UNTILL VEHICLE IS RESTING FIRMLY UPON THE STANDS, LEAVE JACK IN PLACE IF YOU SO WISH(BELTS & BRACES)
REGARDS BARNIE

 

[Ade]

Barnie

Thanks for the advice, I did rush the job (downpour started at the time), the slip is my own fault and should have read the instructions in more detail but as the saying goes ' It's difficult to remember that the first objective is to drain the swamp when you're up to your neck in Aligators!'.

However having got to the stage of blocks of wood under the car as you state it still was very unstable. The irony is I have a pit in my garage that I can't get to! (Too much of the Partner's junk).

Ade

 

[andy_k]

the golden rule is to make sure the front wheels are securely chocked. if they can't go anywhere then the car will not fall off the stands. Level ground is not always perfect and a very slight downhill gradient with the car pointing downwards means the front wheels stay solid

HTH

Andy

 

[Ade]

Andy

Good advice but my front wheels were securely chocked. My problem was the car slipped sideways off the stand when trying to jack the opposite side.The car slipped off the rubber pad supposedly meant for the axle stand to go beneath

My concerns were that when jacking the car I couldn't see anywhere to put the axle stands securely that felt safe and would cause no damage to the car floor pan. .

I think next time it'll be a pile of breeze blocks either side!

Ade

 

[andy_k]

don't try and lift it to full height all in one go unless you have a trolley jack. Far better to lift to one of the lower stops on the axle stands then switch sides.

Sorry, I misunderstood (failed to read properly) your original post

Andy

 

[Ade]

Andy

No worries ( I did the same with the Haynes Manual!) but you're right and that's where I went wrong. In my haste I did exactly the opposite of your recommendation and tried to jack one side up to much in one go.

The moral here I think is plan your job! I rushed and paid the price. However I still think the support points provided could be better.

Ade