Advice on placing your E30 on jackstands...

[echothreezero]

iF you have a lowered vehicle (like me) and your jack won't fit under (also like me) and it is too low to drive onto ramps (like me even tho I have ramps) then all you do is grab a small block of wood, say 4x4, get a longer bit of 6x2 and make some very gradually sloping ramps - drive up on then and the your jack will fit under.

Sometimes if I want to use my ramps instead of jacking for instances when the wheels don't have to come off I just use bits of 6x2 as leaders for my ramps. We're only talking 2 or 3 ft long bits of plank so they are plenty strong enough.

[Jand3rson]

What you want is one of these:

http://www.ultimategarage.com/acjacks.html

If I ever get a garage... that's one of the first things to buy.

Oh man, that's fucking awesome! There's no way I could afford it though, not right now anyway.

We're hopefully looking to move into a new place pretty soon, so I can finally have a garage. The house I live in now is cool (nice and big), but has no garage.

[bmwsmurf]

What you want is one of these:

http://www.ultimategarage.com/acjacks.html

If I ever get a garage... that's one of the first things to buy.

[Jand3rson]

With the iS airdam on my car, it's too low to get a jack under there from the front. Does anyone know if low-profile jacks (like the Craftsman one) will fit under the front end of a lowered car? Because right now, jacking my car up is a huge pain in the ass. I have to do one side, get a jackstand under it, take the jack to the front, jack it up, then get jackstands under the front once it's up high enough, then do the rear.

[bmwsmurf]

I have a very hard time jacking the rear of the E30.

If you jack it up on the rear subframe on the sides, there's no room to get a jack stand onto the subframe bushing bolt on the edge. If you try to jack it up on the subframe bushing bolt, the bolt can slide around on the jack and is pretty unsafe unless your jack mounting plate can accomodate for this. Not to mention you may end up warping out the bottom edge corner of the body panel that surrounds the subframe bushing/bolt area if your jack stand doesn't move, and that part gets caught on the edge of your jack.

I've ended up jacking up on the metal plate that is part of the rear subframe bracket that bolts onto the body. This is highly not recommended if you have rust in that area.. which my other E30 does. My jack has a rubber pad on it so that it doesn't mar the underbody.

Best thing probably to do is to get one of those super long and low profile jacks that are $200-$400 and jack it up under the center of the rear subframe.

Some have warned against jacking on the differential and that it could be bad. No idea if that's true or not.

E36s and E46s are so much easier.

[amdspitfire]

so many more jack points than an e36, looks very convenient

[rwh11385]

Joel,

i like to jack the front by the rails just inside the rockers with my craftsman (QUICK and easy to do), then jack the rear at once with the same and throw some jackstands under the back.

it's very quick, safe, and easy to do.


i only wish my car would fit onto a ramp.

[Low Level E30]

I personally like factory jack points only.

[browntown]

Im wondering....


once you have frt up, how do you access rear jacking point....from side of car? or rear?

I guess I was assuming from rear, which would be diffcult on a lowered car.

From the rear, under the diff. For the best little picture this site has, see this:

I have it push-pinned in my garage for reference.

[JRKOUPE]

Im wondering....


once you have frt up, how do you access rear jacking point....from side of car? or rear?

I guess I was assuming from rear, which would be diffcult on a lowered car.

[JRKOUPE]

I cant imagine getting to lift the rear after the frt is already up. W/ my HR race I'm thinking the rear will be drooping to low to get to if frt is already up..........Ill check it out again over weekend .........good points here...Thnx!

[fretburnr]

on a known flat surface i don't like to chock the wheels/use the p-brake as my jack tends to pull the car forward as it raises, and it either makes the chock useless or the rear wheels drag some. if i'm only lifting one end, i'll chock the wheel after its lifted.

plus my car's so low i can't get a jack under the front any way at all, so i have to raise the back and get the jack under the front crossmember from the sides.

Charlie, do you lift on the diff itself? i tend to use the center of the rear subframe most often

[Charlie]

I like to roll it up on ramps under the front wheel, and then jack it up under the front subframe. From there I pull the ramps out and put it on jack stands.

After that, I put the jack under the rear diff, lift it and put stands under the rear subframe.

Pretty quick and painless.

-Charlie

[HST]

Yeah.... front to back, then when you take it down take down the back first. Make sure you pull that e-brake!

[Low Level E30]

I jack the front, THEN the back.

I figure it's safer to lift the front first, because you can stop the rear wheels from rolling w/ the parking brake (I prefer it over using the transmission to lock the wheels...). One less thing to worry about.