Lifting a Convertible

[Big_John]

this is how i lift it now. View attachment 583378 cut to the chase and get yourself a lift while you're still young. note: the lift that Big John bought for his garage is a no brainer for anyone that has reservations about buying a lift. i'll let him tell you about it if he so chooses.

You get a commission each time you talk someone into buying one of these don’t you? :poke:

I wish I got a commission for something... LOL... I even have had a hard time collecting "bird dog" fees from car dealerships. My son works on commission selling windows and he makes more than I ever did.

BTW, I have a Wildfire lift that I really like. 4 Post Car Lifts | Safest, Highest Quality On The Market | Four Post

 

[haywire 440]

Yes, you can lift under the stub frame and rear. (the C-body doesn't use a "K-Frame, it has a stub frame).

Well another day and I learned another correct term.

When I went to title the ‘65 300L the clerk wanted the weight for her records. I estimated 4000lbs. Her response was “Isn’t the 300 a small car?”. The net said 4100.

Fortunately and greatly to my satisfaction there is a 2 post lift in my forever garage and seeing the rear axle hanging down as I was working under the engine, it gave me pause to consider the total weight above me.

Being and working under a lift isn’t new to me.

 

[Big_John]

Well another day and I learned another correct term.

When I went to title the ‘65 300L the clerk wanted the weight for her records. I estimated 4000lbs. Her response was “Isn’t the 300 a small car?”. The net said 4100.

Fortunately and greatly to my satisfaction there is a 2 post lift in my forever garage and seeing the rear axle hanging down as I was working under the engine, it gave me pause to consider the total weight above me.

Being and working under a lift isn’t new to me.

The funny thing is that most of the new cars are heavier.

BTW, I had one DMV clerk that had never heard of a Plymouth... and he was old enough to know.

My diesel Ford Excursion weighed over 7k lbs. The tire store's lift wouldn't pick it up and they wheeled 4 cheap floor jacks under the axles instead... It was a joke.

 

[Big_John]

I wasn’t meaning to single you out as one who gives those type of responses . I think you got the jist of what I was trying to say. It’s a discussion forum. If we discuss and sometimes debate things, we come up with ideas that the FSM didn’t cover or take into consideration for cars that are old or have sat for many years.

And I really agree with you.. I have always said that everybody that takes the time to respond is well meaning and wanting to help, even if they give the wrong advice. Well, almost everybody LOL. I get frustrated when a thread goes far off the topic without the answer being given and I also get frustrated when the responses are "replace the part" without any diagnostics.

Just once I wish we could be like the Cartwrights! Lol

What? And have Pernell Roberts quit halfway through?

 

[crv]

Unless taking the wheels off, consider car ramps.

 

[Big_John]

And to everyone.... Don't ever think I take jacking a car as something that takes no thought...

As I even mentioned the other day, a truck next door to my garage fell on a guy and killed him. I wasn't there, but I saw that truck out my window for a long time after that.... A friend had a '65 Satellite fall on him and left him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life... A life that was cut short in the long run.

And as I have said more than once, that stuff sticks with you.

I taught my sons to always use jack stands and when you take a wheel off, it goes under the car. If the car is sitting on jack stands, give the bumper a push and pull and see if the car "settles" into the jack stands. Even a cheap jack stand is better than no jack stand...

One other thing I did was to teach my wife how to use the floor jack... Basically it was a "jam it under the car, turn the handle and start pumping" lesson... In case something ever happened and she needed to get the car off me.

 

[Big_John]

And a jacking failure story is probably in order...

I was given (yes given) a 70 SFGT that was really, really rusty. It was basically "get it out of here". I had admired this car for many years while it was still in good shape.

Anyway, the rear of the frame had rusted away and the leaf spring had pushed up into the trunk floor. After I got it home, I decided to jack it up and see what I had... The car was really low and jacking the rear axle was almost impossible. I decided to place the jack under the frame in front of the rear wheel.. Just wanted to get it up high enough that I could block it up. It looked solid...

Well... I was wrong... I jacked it up about 6" and stood back to see if I could now put some wooden blocks (never use concrete blocks) or jack stands under it. Suddenly, without warning, the car came crashing down. I said "WTF?" and couldn't believe my jack had failed. I looked in the car and the rear seat was pushed up... The jack had crushed the frame rail and came up though the floor.

I had an awful time getting that floor jack out from under/in the now even lower car... and it was another lesson for me.

 

['66 Fury I]

When I was 16 (in the Dark Ages!) I "blocked" up a 54 New Yorker with what I had at hand- some bricks. While I was under the car, the bricks shifted and a rear spring came down on my chest. When I tried to wiggle out, the bricks seemed ready to collapse even farther, so I waited for help. Seemed like for ever till my dad came to get me safely out. Lesson learned! Lindsay

 

[Big_John]

When I was 16 (in the Dark Ages!) I "blocked" up a 54 New Yorker with what I had at hand- some bricks. While I was under the car, the bricks shifted and a rear spring came down on my chest. When I tried to wiggle out, the bricks seemed ready to collapse even farther, so I waited for help. Seemed like for ever till my dad came to get me safely out. Lesson learned! Lindsay

Yea, bricks and concrete blocks are the last things you ever want to hold a car up with. They crack and break without warning... and one breaks, they all all break.

 

[MrMoparCHP]

In my opinion your car will flex a lot more just being on the road than it will jacking it from anywhere. The factory didn't address jacking on the convertible any different than the other cars so it was of no concern to them. Move on.


Alan

 

[Zaggart]

This is all awesome info - thank you customsportsman for asking - as I was going to ask about this myself since I have to replace my trans gasket. Just to clarify, it's ok to jack up on the rear pumpkin without damaging anything? I'd like to have a hydraulic jack front and back as well as jack stands. My wife also wouldn't notice the silence of a catastrophe until well past dinner time...

I can slide under my truck for whatever I need and her Equinox goes up on ramps. I admit raising this one scares the sh*t out of me.

 

[Boydsdodge]

This is all awesome info - thank you customsportsman for asking - as I was going to ask about this myself since I have to replace my trans gasket. Just to clarify, it's ok to jack up on the rear pumpkin without damaging anything? I'd like to have a hydraulic jack front and back as well as jack stands. My wife also wouldn't notice the silence of a catastrophe until well past dinner time...

I can slide under my truck for whatever I need and her Equinox goes up on ramps. I admit raising this one scares the sh*t out of me.

I sometimes used ramps to get me started. I would drive up on ramps, then lift the rear to that height and place the jack stands, then go to front and lift some more, then repeat until I was at desired height.

 

[Boydsdodge]

Here is a photo of the stretched rear flex line when you let rear axel hang. I change to 72 pick up truck rear line to stop the stretch.

 

[Boydsdodge]

Just an observation from jacking my 68 NYer. You may want to jack the rear end up first to the amount of overhang in the back.

On long over hang I will go from just behind the rear wheel to reach the axel centre.

 

[D Cluley]

I sometimes used ramps to get me started. I would drive up on ramps, then lift the rear to that height and place the jack stands, then go to front and lift some more, then repeat until I was at desired height.

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I like this idea, but you definitely want that sort of ramp that has wheel chocks.
I tried it once with old school metal ones. Turns out that my driveway has just enough slope that once the rear tires lost contact with the ground it tried to roll back over the jack!

 

[Big_John]

I didn't watch this completely, and there are other videos on the subject that might be better, but the idea is there.

You can't beat wood cribbing for large loads. It's used to support a lot of heavy stuff... Like ships in dry dock and houses being moved.

 

[polaratherapy]

Not all of us are lucky to have nice lifts, but kudos to you!
Just wondering if anyone has used ramps on all four corners and going by what Big John says of lifting one corner at a time I think it's do-able???
Right now I have ramps under the front wheels oriented backwards and I'm wondering if I can use ramps for the rear wheels as well oriented with the ramp towards the rear so the ramps are opposite orientation.
Seeing that I have the front up, can I possibly just use the floor jack on the axle pumpkin and slide 2 more ramps under the rear wheels?
Somehow I would feel safer under ramps than just jack stands.
I'm sure a combo of ramps and jack stands would possibly work also, maybe?
Would appreciate some input before I consider doing it.

Have a nice day,

PT

 

['66 Fury I]

No matter what you support the car with, the two major concerns are first SAFETY, then access. Each method of support will restrict access to some part of the vehicle. Ramps have a large footprint. I use jackstands under the frame for some proceedures, but cribwork (like Big John suggested above) under the tires is better for other service.
I might note that I use a large "hockey puck" shaped piece of rubber in the saddle of my floor jack to prevent dimples in the frame. I also have flat bar tops on my jack stands that interchange for the usual saddles. The flat bar is (about) 5x2x3/8.

 

[Big_John]

going by what Big John says of lifting one corner at a time

I really didn't suggest this.

I mentioned that the bumper jack does lift one corner at a time... If you are doing any more than changing a tire, you really don't want to lift the car much with a bumper jack.

It's much better to lift one end of the car at a time and minimize the twist to the convertible unibody.

BTW, I'm not a fan of ramps. I threw mine away years ago. They slide on concrete floors while driving off or on to them.

 

[polaratherapy]

I really didn't suggest this.

I mentioned that the bumper jack does lift one corner at a time... If you are doing any more than changing a tire, you really don't want to lift the car much with a bumper jack.

It's much better to lift one end of the car at a time and minimize the twist to the convertible unibody.

BTW, I'm not a fan of ramps. I threw mine away years ago. They slide on concrete floors while driving off or on to them.

Good morning,
What I'm wondering is lifting the car with a floor jack and then sliding the ramps under the wheels as opposed to driving up onto them. Did the fronts one at a time with ramp portion towards front bumper, but wondering if I can lift the rear at the pumpkin so I can slide 2 more ramps under the wheels with ramp portion towards rear bumper so that the car is level. Ramps are oriented to not interfear with access to the underbody.
I hate ramps for the fact they slide also, just wondering if I can put them to use seeing they've been sitting in a corner of the garage for years.