Hey guys, I wanna dab some chassis saver on the rusty parts on my undercarriage but first I wanted to jack all 4s up about 7-8 inches in the air. My plan is to back the rear wheels onto a pair of automotive ramps, then with the butt in the air, I'm gonna take a jack on the k-member, jack up the front so the car is about level, then I'll place jackstands under the front. Sound safe?

 

put the front stands on the frame rails or the arms, just not under the fan shroud, and all should be well, i always like to push/pull on the car after i get it lifted, just to make sure it's not going to roll or slide after i get under there

 

Yeah I'm definitely placing the jacks under the safe spots. I always shake around my car while its up in the air too to make sure its stable.

 

You'll have a hard time getting a jack under the front with the back up in the air, will probably have to come in from behind the front tires. Other than that, nothing wrong with what youre planning... just make sure the tires stay where they should on your ramps.

 

I couldn't even get a normal floor jack under the k-member when my car was sitting normally, and my car was at stock height or higher (lots of weight reduction).
Now I have a long and low floor jack that I bought specifically for lifting my Camaro.

 

You'll have more luck jacking the nose up first, then jacking the rear up by the pumpkin.

Either way, space is going to be limited getting the jack under the bumper, but you'll have more success doing the rear last.

 

Front first, rear last. You'll have MUCH better luck. Not just because you wont be able to get a jack under the front while the back is up, but you can lock your back wheels. So when you jack the front, the car cant roll. Once the front is on jack stands, that effectively locks it from moving, and you can jack up from the pumpkin.


Invest in a low profile jack too. Not one of those cheesy aluminum ones... get a good one.

J.

 

if the car is too loww to get under the Kmember (I had this situation) just simply put a small jack under on siderail (In my case I put in under my SFC just about a foot behind the front wheel well and jacked that up a few inches, I then placed the larger jack under the kmember, and lastly went back to put jackstands under the SFC's where I started with the little jack.

Just don't do this:

 

If you plan to back up on the ramps, be sure the ramps are secured to the floor in some way. Since the back wheels are trying to pull the heavy front end up an incline the power of the wheels have a tendency pull the ramp toward the front and cause misaligned ramps. However the action is worse when trying to get down from them. I've almost had the ramps shot clear out from under my car giving it a wee too much gas.

 

But I'm sure the instructions with his jack said not to go under a vehicle only supported by that jack...

 

Easiest way to get a jack under the front crossmember of a lowered 3rd gen, is to lay down wood (2"x4"/2"x6"/2"x8"/etc.), drive the front tires in to those. That'll give you another 1.5" clearance to get a floor jack under the nose, to reach the crossmember.

My home made wooden ramps. I initially build them as 2, 2 layer ramps to be stacked, hence the 2 vertical boards. I've since then took 1 vertical board off & screwed all together into 1, 4 layer ramp. Now I need to add a 5th layer to the bottom, since I've lowered my GTA. Right now, the nose hits the ramps before the tire hits the first layer & starts going up.....
http://s119.photobucket.com/albums/o...gta/DIY/Ramps/

A thread about ramps.....
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/afte...eel-ramps.html

 

Thanks for the advice guys (especially Vetruck LOL). I forgot to mention that my nose is in pieces, the front bumper, hood and fenders are taken off. So clearance shouldn't be an issue, plus I have a very nice low-profile 3.5 ton jack.

 

OK here's my car up in the air... jacking it up was easy as cake. I just had my dad watch the back wheels on the ramps while I was jacking up the front to make sure there were no mishaps.
I just had to use some landscaping bricks to put the stands a bit higher.


All the weight is on the jack stands; I just have the red jack under there as an extra life line.



And here's my resto thread.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/conv...t-serious.html

 

Scariest thing i've ever done... haha

 

two of the birds in the shop now are just as high, I use old rail road ties to put under the jack stands. We can roll with ease under each car plus work above (to a degree)

 

yeah the secret is all in the throttle, if you hit the gas too hard it pulls the ramps underneathe the car, found that out the hard way.....

 

Yep... Those TPI engines and their low end torque can do that if you're not careful. I had a spotter guiding me onto the ramps.

 

are you serious? Even after showing a picture of what not to do.

Newsflash..(HOPEFULLY YOU ARE NOT ALREADY DEAD)...those jack stands are not plated on the bottom and will cut right through those cement blocks in time. The blocks split, the jackstands tilt and the car falls on your head.

I guess this is just another example of weeding down the gene pools.

 

What's wrong with that? They're solid. I even pushed, rocked, punched, kicked, and backed my DD into the car once it was up in the air to make sure it would stay. It did (well I didn't do the last 3 haha)

 

I just explained to you why.

Look at the bottom of the jack stands. They are not plated, they rest the entire weight f the car onto those 4 vetical knife edges that touch each cement block. That weight will eventually cause the jackstand to slice right through the blocks and fall on your head.

Its your head, do what you want. Its like the old saying," Got a $5 head? then buy a $5 dollar helmet"

edit: I could see on a post like this where people think I come off like a jeck picking on this kid, but fro christ sakes I am trying to save this kids life and he isn't listening.

 

First thing I thought when I saw the pic.

Did you ever drop one of those landscaping blocks. They crack VERY easy. They are not even fired for strength like a good masonry bricks are, and still I would not use one of those either.

I think we learned the right, and wrong way to jack up a third gen.