Axle Stands

[Steviewevie]

The axle stands that I bought (but hadn't used) a while back have a pretty wide "head". Pic below.

In trying these out on the IS200, at the jacking points, the head seems to be too wide, in that the bits supporting the car would be outside where the scissor jack would go, and I doubt the point they're touching would be strong enough not to be damaged.

I've seen suggestions (via Google) to use a bit of wood on top of the axle stand, and I guess a small piece of wood with a slot in it could provide a smaller contact area that fits in. However I don't really like the sound of this, since the top of the axle stand isn't that big and I can see that easily slipping.

What do others do about this, do you use axle stands with a smaller head that does fit ? Do you use something on top of the axle stand to fit the shape of the lip that the scissor jack fits around ?

[deckie77]

Stevie, this is going to sound rough, but it worked for me, i aquired a set of stands from a mate when he finished his welding college, he made them in working towards his certificates. same story the head of the stand too wide fit jack points of my car at the time so i set about the head with a grinder to make the head that bit smaller to fit. i know you spent money on them and maybe dont want to wreck them (allright in my case as they were FOC) maybe head wouldn't grind down, but apart from sourcing smaller heads of the same make to fit the stand i cant think of anything else, as i wouldn't use bits of wood to set your car on if you are planning to go under, not worth risking bud!!

[Steviewevie]

Thanks Deckie, that thought had crossed my mind but it seems like a lot of trouble to go to. Although as you say, I don't really want to go down the "block of wood" road.

Surely everyone else doesn't end up grinding down their axle stands do they ?

[Bazza]

dont use them on the jacking points

how would you then jack it up

use somewhere suitable under the car

ie: rear axle or roll bar attachment points

[Steviewevie]

I was planning to jack it up just next to the jacking points, then use the jacking points for the axle stands.

I would use somewhere else for the axle stands but I was concerned about what bits of the suspension etc are suitable, i.e. what could take the weight.

When you say the "rear axle", where do you mean exactly ? The driveshafts ?

And which roll bar attachment points do you mean ? Do you mean the suspension arm that the arb drop link fixes onto ?

[chrisis200]

A pic would be a great help from anyone ^_^

[Steviewevie]

I would happily drive round to someone with my jack and axle stands so they could show me the best place to put them ! (and then I could take photos to show others too)

[Bazza]

I was planning to jack it up just next to the jacking points, then use the jacking points for the axle stands.

I would use somewhere else for the axle stands but I was concerned about what bits of the suspension etc are suitable, i.e. what could take the weight.

When you say the "rear axle", where do you mean exactly ? The driveshafts ?

And which roll bar attachment points do you mean ? Do you mean the suspension arm that the arb drop link fixes onto ?

the jacking points are indicated because they are a strengthened part of the body, jacking it up somewhere else may cause damage and it would be unsafe

the driveshafts

the arm mounting points

the arb points under the body where they attach to the chassis

there are various places but you must make sure they are suitable, do not place jacks under the chassis rails !

to be honest i cant remember what the underside looks like, so dont want to give any specific points without being sure

i could tell you where they are on a starlet off by heart

[James Marks]

the jacking points are indicated because they are a strengthened part of the body, jacking it up somewhere else may cause damage and it would be unsafe

the driveshafts

the arm mounting points

the arb points under the body where they attach to the chassis

there are various places but you must make sure they are suitable, do not place jacks under the chassis rails !

to be honest i cant remember what the underside looks like, so dont want to give any specific points without being sure

i could tell you where they are on a starlet off by heart

I wouldn't support the car on the drive shafts unless you want bent driveshafts :P You can support the car via the differential housing though which is what I'm sure you meant - but make sure you have something else - probably under the rear suspension arms somewhere near the hub ends to stop the car wobbling from side to side and as a back up. As for blocks of wood - its fine to use them - they act as insulating blocks to help spread the load and protect the paint and flanges - just be sensible with them, and set up the stands such that if the wood does split, the car will still just end up on the stand!

[sparkystav]

the correcr jacking and axle stand locations should be in the manual Stevie. Have you looked there?

but like has been said, the diff, and the ARB mounting points on the front are good spots.

[Steviewevie]

The online manual does show jacking and axle stand locations here. The axle stand locations it shows are the jacking points for the OEM scissor jack, which is what I had put in my original posting.

The diff is ok as a lifting point if you've got a trolley jack with a long enough handle to reach under there (I haven't). I don't see how you can use the diff as an axle stand point though, as you'll have to crawl under the car to place the stand there, which surely is completely the opposite of what you want to do given that axle stands are there for safety reasons ?

As for bits of wood, I'm not concerned about them splitting, I'm concerned about the bit of wood slipping off the axle stand, and the car slipping with it.

I would still be inclined to jack the car up from just next to the jacking point, and then support the car via the axle stands on the jacking points. Except my axle stand head is too big to fit there, hence my original posting here.

The ARB mount points sound good, I will have to take a look under the car to see how easily I can see where they are, hopefully that could be a goer.