Thread: Jacking Car

You need a bottle jack with a higher lift - it is too short, that is why you cannot get the wheel off the ground.

But why not put the bottle jack under the suspension arms as you did with your trolley jack?

If is hard to get a bottle jack that goes high enough to lift the wheel off the ground but low enough to get under the chassis when the wheel is flat. I go to offroad height, use the standard jack just to get the car high enough to get the bottle jack under the chassis and then jack up - reverse when letting down. But generally I can get the bottle jack under the suspension arms somewhere.

Garry

Originally Posted by garrycol

You need a bottle jack with a higher lift - it is too short, that is why you cannot get the wheel off the ground.

But why not put the bottle jack under the suspension arms as you did with your trolley jack?

If is hard to get a bottle jack that goes high enough to lift the wheel off the ground but low enough to get under the chassis when the wheel is flat. I go to offroad height, use the standard jack just to get the car high enough to get the bottle jack under the chassis and then jack up - reverse when letting down. But generally I can get the bottle jack under the suspension arms somewhere.

Garry

You drive the flat tyred wheel up onto the spare tyre then put the bottle jack under the control arm. Old truckie trick.

Originally Posted by rocket rod

This is a really dumb question but here goes (yes I've searched); How do you jack up the car to change a tyre? Now hear me out first. I have a trolley jack and it's brilliant. Works under any conditions, is pretty safe and gets the job done by placing it under the control arms, but it's a bit bulky. So now I've bought a bottle jack and adaptor. Now the fun begins, no matter what procedure I've followed the wheel never lifts off the ground. Here's a summary of the various methods;
1. Follow the owners manual exactly. Off road height, hazard lights on, doors shut. Jack up from the chassis point. Wheel stays on the ground.
2. Off road height, place jack under chassis point, select normal height (to lift tyre off the road), goes into extended mode, wheel stays on the ground.
3. Similar to point 2 but with door open, wheel stays on ground.
4. Multitude of other combinations, wheel stays on the ground.

Unless someone can help me with a foolproof way of using the bottle jack, I think I'll keep the trolley jack in the car.

Did you unscrew the top of the bottle jack to max out the height 1st?

I carry a 40mm thick jacking plate that gets me the additional height from my bottle jack. If that’s fails me due to terrain then I’d switch to the suspension arm as suggested.

I feel your pain. Went through all the different permutations too. In the end I screwed 2 pieces of 4”x2” together that I had lying around. This is about the same as the wall height of an inflated tyre. I drive the flat onto the block and put the bottle jack under the control arm.

You can get 2 and 3 stage jacks that will give extra lift. This one goes from 150mm to 450 mm.


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I've got the right jack for the job, Omega 2T, I guess I just wasn't expecting to have to fully extend it and that somehow there was another trick up the sleeve. It can't go under the control arm as that is too unsafe. I reckon I'll keep using my floor jack then.

Originally Posted by rocket rod

I've got the right jack for the job, Omega 2T, I guess I just wasn't expecting to have to fully extend it and that somehow there was another trick up the sleeve. It can't go under the control arm as that is too unsafe. I reckon I'll keep using my floor jack then.

That is probably the problem. As you are from Perth I’ll assume you bought it from Blackwoods. Omega changed the spec of the jack, but Blackwoods didn’t update their website to reflect the changes.

The correct jack specs are printed on the jack (Minimum height 173mm & maximum height 418mm). Where as Blackwoods indicate the original measurements of 181mm minimum and 442mm maximum. I filled out the Blavkwoods ‘information is incorrect ‘ but on the web page about 4 weeks ago, doesn’t look like it’s been updated.

I found that with a deflated rear tyre I was able to raise it high enough with the D4 in access height to be able to change the wheel. In off-road height I wasn’t able to get the required height.

I was doing this without an adapter (Just call me Mr Reckless), which I would think would add another 5-10mm to the height. Eventually I’ll get an adapter and have a square of 25mm ply to sit the jack on.

It's so long since I've had to change a wheel I've forgotten how to do it. I've got a small hyd. bottle jack from one of my Defenders I think plus the scissor jack which I detest. What a useless and cheap nasty piece of crap this is. LR should be ashamed of themselves for supplying something fit only for a little buzz box from you know where.....
I'm going to pop into Blackwoods soon and buy another hyd. jack and see what adaptors they can supply as well although I believe the one most use are from private sources.
AlanH.