FAO people with very low cars.

-westy-

-westy-

-westy-

Soldato
Joined
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Hi guys,

I'm currently doing some research for my dissertation at uni, and am after some experiences from you guys.

I'm researching methods of raising a lowered car, where a traditional jack/ramps would not work, ie very low cars.

I know there are a few members on here who have very low cars, so I was wondering what methods you use? Several planks of wood then a jack? Have any of you created your own method of doing so?

What difficulties did you discover?

It'd be brilliant if you guys could help me out :)

Thanks

Ben
 
What do you class as low? As my car is obviously lower than most but I have noi trouble sliding a jack under the side skirts.
 
Can get low profile jacks for anything really low, also you can get extension ramps that attach to standard ramps as well ;)
 
Drive onto blocks of wood. Pretty annoying when the car is a non runner.

Possibly jack it up from a more accessable point (rear diff is a good one).

Have a friend lift the car slightly by the wheel arches - works until you've rolled your arches.

Low entry jack.
 
SoliD said:
What do you class as low? As my car is obviously lower than most but I have noi trouble sliding a jack under the side skirts.
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I mean particularly low - I'm aiming the product design at the modified car market, so you can imagine how low some of those cars are!

Obviously there are limits; I'm still trying to establish what these are. In some ways these may be set by the strengths of the materials being used (again, still to be established)
 
I used to have to drive onto a plank of wood/ brick.

That didn't get it high enough to get a trolley jack under, so I used a scissor jack to get it a bit further up.

Then I used the trolley jack to raise it the rest.
 
Mucky_Pup said:
Is that really dissertation level stuff? fml
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It seemed acceptable to them, so I guess so :D My degree is Mechanical Design and Manufacture, so kind of fits :)

Remember there's a lot more to it than just designing it, there's material considerations etc etc
 
Used a scissor jack, trolly jack was a good way up the sideskirt kerbside. Standard trolly jack though, a low profile one would have probably done it.

Once I was finished I'd have to lower it down by the trolly jack, then lift it up with the scissor to pull the trolly out then lower it completely. Double jack effort. PITA.
 
I drove the mx5 onto planks of wood, or frustratingly dug out bits of our gravel driveway as the car was in situ, to shove the jack under :p
 
With my car you can't just jack it up from the sides as the underside of the car has panels for aero.

Not my pictures (mine is blue!) but you need some mini ramps like this:

001.jpg


To get to the jacking point like this:

003.jpg


Once up, you can use the jack stand points on the sides but these points are not good for jacking up as the disc bit on the top of a jack will crush the side skirts.

004.jpg



I have an inspection pit though which helps with not having to jack up cars to do things!
 
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Wood then jack. With a low jack there is no problem. I can't imagine any car that you couldn't jack with wood and a low jack, I can't believe this is dissertation material tbh.
 
Clarkey said:
Wood then jack. With a low jack there is no problem. I can't imagine any car that you couldn't jack with wood and a low jack, I can't believe this is dissertation material tbh.
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This is only a small part of the whole project, not to worry ;)

What did you do your dissertation on?
 
As has been said, drive/push onto blocks of wood and a trolley jack.

Although a low profile jack will just about slide under.

mk1_salami said:
Have a friend lift the car slightly by the wheel arches - works until you've rolled your arches.
Click to expand...

Makes me cringe whenever anybody tries to do that to my car, but then I own a Rover and the arches are usually rusty/crumbly :D (For the record, mine aren't!)
 
I do this since the scissor jack for my mx5 is barely 1.5 inches tall when not in use. Jack it up a bit then shove the trolley jack in and use that for the rest.

Biohazard said:
Used a scissor jack, trolly jack was a good way up the sideskirt kerbside. Standard trolly jack though, a low profile one would have probably done it.

Once I was finished I'd have to lower it down by the trolly jack, then lift it up with the scissor to pull the trolly out then lower it completely. Double jack effort. PITA.
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Or if I'm at the rear of the car, I can lift the whole rear end on where the rear tow eyes are fixed as the rear bumper is quite high compared to the rest of the car.
 
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