Where do you place jackstands? (2002 C2)

[wrljet]

After using a floor jack at the rear jack point(s), where do you put jackstands?

Thanks,

Bill

[Loren]

After using a floor jack at the rear jack point(s), where do you put jackstands?

Thanks,

Bill

http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=3404

[wrljet]

Thanks, Loren. I should have searched before posting.

But is jacking up the entire rear end of the car by the engine

crankcase (or that delicate looking rear suspection subframe)

really a good idea?

In addition to the pieces in question being of a somewhat fragile

nature, and expensive as all get out, it's all rubber mounted.

Those bushings couldn't be intended to handle loads like that, could they?

Bill

[Loren]

But is jacking up the entire rear end of the car by the engine crankcase (or that delicate looking rear suspection subframe) really a good idea?

I actually go further back and jack on the rear suspension cross brace (you will need a low profile jack for this). I use a jack with a hockey puck on it so it isn't metal to metal contact.

[wrljet]

You mean the aluminum subframe? Where I've pointed the green arrow in the attached pic?

Looks awfully delicate to be carrying a 2,000# in a direction it's not designed to bear any load.

Of course, if it works, it works.

(back in my 914-6 days I could jack up the entire car under

the tunnel with one floor jack and spin it around end-for-end in the garage)

Bill

[Loren]

Yes, that is the lift point I use. It is as close to a frame member as you are going to find.

What bears the weight when you get a little airborne going over a hill? and when the car lands? I guess I would say the same cross member.

If you don't feel comfortable lifting the car there, or at the engine, then I don't know where you can lift it at.

[wrljet]

Vertical forces from the wheels come through the hub carriers into the coil-over-shock

arrangement. Nothing special about landing after being airborne.

I don't see why there'd be a vertical load component on the center of that subframe.

It's there to handle tension and compression loads tying the two sides together.

But, in any case, I agree with you, if you don't jack there, or the engine crankcase,

you're not going to lift the car without using the jackpoints.

I did see a pic someplace (don't remember where) where a jack had been used

just forward of the jack point. I haven't examined my car carefully enough yet

to decide if I'd want to do that.

One major thing I have learned in my short term ownership of the 996, is that

99% of what I knew about Porsches and 911's from the past is useless on these!

Bill

[Orient Express]

Ask any factory trained Porsche mechanic where they put the jack to lift the rear of the car, and they will tell you that it is on the centerline of the engine case just behind the sump cover.

Remember that you are not leaving the car suspended with just that one lift point. It is only for as long as it takes you to put the jack stands under the rear lift points on the car. As long as you do not lift on the sump cover, you will be fine, and your engine and its mounting points can take a lot more stress than from just having the motor mounts compressed when lifting up the car via the engine.

If you have a long and low enough jack, you can use the subframe too, but most folks don't have a jack that will reach that far, plus there is no advantage from lifting from the subframe anyway.

This car is pretty damm rigid especially in the drive train area.