i bought a long frame jack that provides almost 3 ft of lift, but the saddle is about 6" wide so i'm not sure where to lift the car from. i was thinking of using the rear differential so i could lift the entire rear in one shot rather than doing one side at a time. any thoughts on that idea?

what about for the front of the car? i havent looked up front for a spot yet, but im sure im not the only one with a huge *** jack...

thanks

 

it's fine to lift the rear end up by the diff. use the huge black beam(subframe) under the car to lift the front end.

 

I agree with Hiwords, but I'd recommend a block of wood or hockey pucks on the saddle.

 

^^word up

 

you are going to use jackstands on either side once its up yea? High lift jacks are nice, but unfortunately i cant fit any jack other than the stocker under my car, as its so low... its a pita process using the crappy stocker to get the car high enough for me to get a floor jack under the pinch welds... and then taking it down is the same process, but in reverse order...
My question is, why not take the extra 3 minutes to jack up each side instead of risking damaging anything??? just a thought...

 

FasterA4ThanUrs, I learned a tip at a shop that I helped out at. For low cars, you can't really get around the hassle of jacking it up at each corner but when you lower it, put some small blocks of wood directly underneath the tires. Now when you lower it, you can lower both wheels at the same time. That way when the jack has dropped all the way down, you can still pull the jack out from underneath since the car is higher now and then drive the car off the wood (as long as you don't use a railroad tie). Doesn't solve 100% of your problem but 50% isn't bad.

 

Ramps...

 

well if the car isnt driveable, which mine often isnt, it just becomes a pain, i dont mind the process, ive gotten used to it by now.
yea if your not plannin on takin the wheel(s) off

plus my driveups, like most others, dont fit under my car... my car is slammed btw

 

didnt realize there were so many replies. thanks for all the input

of course, i dont have a death wish lol. they arent quite tall enough to take advantage of the full lift of the jack, but still allow for a 24" lift

its not about the extra time, with my old jack i did it that way. theres something about lifting one corner of the car 24+" while the other 3 are at ride height that just seems wrong to me. seems like theres more risk of damaging something if i do it that way.

i could keep going from one side to the other, jacking little by little until its all the way up... but thats really annoying since the jack weighs about 160lbs and is kind of hard to maneuver. not to mention the factory jack points are very small compared to the saddle, so i would still need to use a block of wood or something as Tweaked suggested.

 

If you use low ramps, you can get a jack under the car and put it up. It will give just enough clearance to get a low profile jack under there. Mine is lowered with just Eibach Pros and a Craftsman Aluminum low-profile fits under the jack point, but not to the subframe. A small ramp will get it high enough to get the jack to the subframe.

Something like this: You could probably make them out of wood.