Thread: New Jack option.

Originally Posted by LRD414

Richard, my photo a few posts back is a D4 arm. Front and back are very similar.

And yes a bit of jacking off the chassis can get things high enough to get under the control arm.

Cheers,
Scott

Scott was your last photo of the front D4 suspension arm? If so, then yes very different to an L322 front.

Originally Posted by rar110

No it's an L322. Is the D3/4 different?

Very much so...

I see Richard's point about lots of posts, so here's the photo again of my D4.


And here's a couple of "How to" summaries related to it, also from earlier in this thread.

Cheers,
Scott

Originally Posted by SBD4

For the confused....IMHO:

• Any jack is unsafe to use when extended to the height required to get the tyre off the ground using the chassis rail. Even more so when not on level ground. Jacks are not designed to cope with the sideways stresses this introduces.
• Don't jack using the chassis rail
• Jack using the control arm - it is faster and safer
• when the tyre is flat, there is not much room to fit the jack between the control arm and ground, drive the wheel on to a rock or block to get the clearance to fit the jack in.
• The jack head should be placed into the indent pressed in to the control arm. The ideal shape of the head would be convex.
• As always make sure the jack is placed perpendicular to the load it is lifting, level the ground or chock it if necessary
• any 2T jack would be suitable, the shortest closed height one you can get with a stroke long enough to match the profile of your tyre +50% (so you can fit the new one on)
• at a stretch, even the OEM jack could do this job easily and its closed height will allow it to fit under the arm when a tyre is flat.

Note that unlike the chassis rail, the control arm has no hole to positively engage the head of the jack so you need to make sure the jack head is correctly placed in the indent to reduce the chance of slipping.

PS I have done all four corners using the EOM jack on a garage floor, it was hard work, time consuming and nerve-racking.

Originally Posted by LRD414

Sean & Brian have summarised the overall situation well but here's some extra info that may help regarding the use of the air suspension.
This is what I have done, both on the driveway and out in the wilds when jacking the suspension arm.

1. Place bottle jack under suspension arm indent as per Sean's post.
2. Raise vehicle to higher suspension level if required to fit jack under arm.
3. No need for open doors or anything else, just switch vehicle off.
4. Use jack's screw extension to adjust jack head to be touching arm indent.
5. Start extending jack slowly.
6. Vehicle will self-level in small increment.
7. Repeat steps 5 & 6.
8. After a few self-levelling movements (~4-5) the wheel will lift off the ground.
9. Change to spare wheel.
10. Lower jack (and vehicle).

Vehicle will drop all the way down close to bump stops on this corner and the jack may not be removable.
I found that the jack was removable by lowering the jack's screw extension all the way down but for some jacks it may still be too tall.
However, once the vehicle is started the suspension will raise to the correct height immediately and then jack can be removed.

I prefer doing it this way rather than lowering suspension onto the jack because I can keep an eye on things at the jack without worrying about going into the cabin or messing around with doors.
Plus the vehicle is switched off for the whole operation once the jack is positioned under the arm.

Regards,
Scott

PS ..... I haven't detailed the usual safety steps required for any jacking operation, including choking wheels etc.

Thanks again Scott


Richard

Is there a consensus on which would be preferred access issues aside for either the bottle jack pictured above or the trolley jack flagged a page or so back?

After reading all of the advice, I have gone this route. I knocked up the attachment on top of the jack from some bits lying around as I do not have a lathe.

My question now is where do you keep the thing in a vehicle without drawers to prevent it becoming a weapon of mass destruction 'in the unlikely event' of an accident?

Bunnings sell tool boxes.Find a small heavy duty plastic one that is just the right size,strap the toolbox down to the luggage tie downs????
Andrew

I left mine in the cardboard box and put it behind the back seats on the floor. Added 3 bits of timber for sand or driving onto to fit jack under.