Rust so bad, the jack broke through
 

so today was the day, got my 91 firebird dropped off in my boys driveway, we go to work immediately, we put a jack under the car, where its supposed ot go on that strong metal lip, start jackin, we see he car fall a little but the jack is still in place, we look, thelip was rusted and weak, so it bent right up, and from what it feels like, these lips werent too strong to begin with cause even the rear lip was already bent up, but not from rust, just weak metal, i did a search on rust on this site and it really didnt give me too much info could use, what could i do to say this car, its basicaly just the undercarriage, it rusted and pretty damn weak, and advice someone could give me? i cant weld but i have friends in my shop that could do it for me but i would like to hear what everyone else has to say, Tanks, Joe

forgive me if im wrong, but arent our cars supposed to be jacked up in the rear by the lower control arm mounts?

dude you're not suppose to jack the car up from the metal sides or the floor....

you're suppose to jack it up with the rear axle and the lower control arms on the front.

ya your deff. not supposed to put it on something that can rust. theres should be a sturdy place to jack it up. You should always consult another person if you dont know exactly how to jack it up. Couldve prevented things like this.

Nate

wow, im a real monkey's a$$ huh? i dont know, at my shop I always used those seams to jack up the cars, WOW, i cant believe i goofed up that big and i usually like to think i know a thing or 2 about cars, at least when it comes to jackin it up. ok thank you people, i will now bow my head in shame. **bow**

oh man, ya live ya learn. Im sure your glad it happen on a car you owned first. Them lip jacks are for only small small import cars that weight 105lbs. Allways jack of the frame or supension parts. I either use the shock nubs on the rear end or the front a arm for jacking.

this thread has several images of the jacking points you can use.

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...jacking+points

My crackhead uncle did a similar thing. The stock jack was in the truck under a carbboard cover. He said he could never find it. [it was right in plain sight] So he used a regular bottle jack on the seams and guess what. About every other time he poked a big hole into the body and blamed it on rust too.

I know on mine there is a detent in the ground effect that is supposedly an alignment mark for where to slide the jack under. Don't jack there, but keep sliding until it is under the frame rail. Then jack. Make sure to use a good stand.

if it has rust on it your gonna have to fix it sonner or later anyways, and u can use the factory jack right under the rocker panel inside that channel. It is a structural panel and can hold the weight of the car enough to let u remove a tire.

Actually those pinch welds are relatively strong jacking points and I was pretty sure that they could be used for jackin points and or jack stand points.

Hell, whenever we have a car up on the lift at school and we need to get the lift outa the way, we hold the car up on the pinch welds by tall jackstands with rubber padding on the top.

right, an when i looked at the jack, it has and indentation for eactly that reason, so tyou can jack it up there without it slipping off the car. im sorry, maybe its not the best location, but it aint supposed to bend like that, flakes just fall off whenevr i touch it.

my stock firebird jack has a big round shaped nub sticking out of it. which corensponds with similar spots on the frame. Like a peg n a hole thing but 2-3in around.

Hey Guys,
I have been jackin my car with the stock jack for some time now.
I use the indentations on the body...and I have not noticed any
bending or **** like that?

You would think GM engineers would be smart enough to make sure the jacking points under the GFX are strong enough.

I agree with you that using a floor jack is a better way to do it, but it my case, my car is too low and I cannot possibly fit a jack under the cross member or A-arm.

Tommy

My owners manual actually indicates the location to place the oem jack under that lip you describe. I did that once on the road and it worked poorly. Never again.

I don't know how anyone could change a tire jacking on the body. The suppension has such a long travel.

Get 2 two foot pieces of 2x8 boards. Lay them down in front of the tires, then up on them. This should raise your car enough to slide a floorjack under your car.:)

The lip is there for lifts. Its meant to be lifted but those cut outs on the "lip" only if there is support on all 4 corners to distribute the weight properly. :p

but=by ...woops

at least you didnt jack it up by the gfx like i saw some guy do. :doh: glad he wasnt working on my car. I was about to buy some tires at his place till i saw him do this!!!!

I got an issue.... ive been jacking up my 84 in that spot for a while now and it works, well worked great. however it rusted through there, i learned the hard way by jacking it up and seeing the seats and floor rising up with the jack and then seeing the ctrl arm bracket thing going about 2 inches into the floor. the question is, how safe is that thing gonna be if i were to drive it or she gotta take a trip to the graveyard? last thing i need is someone to buy it and have the rear end fall out behind it :(