Jack Car on Incline...

[G Speed]

Pretty much as the title states..

what's the safest way to jack up my car.. my garage has a minor slope...

If working on the front, choke back wheels... jack up front then put axel stands on the front jack points?

 

[Teken]

Can't you do this in the garage or the street? What is the grade 4%? If you have no alternative then the following for sure . . .

1. Engage the e-brake . . .

2. Chalk the rear tires, and back them up with something heavy behind each wheel.

3. Jack stands under the front like you said

4. Leave the pump jack also in place under the engine area

5. Have a phone with you, just in case

6. Use a creeper so you can get your mellon out quick if you hear anything amis

 

[spongerich]

Unless you're working on suspension, ramps might be better than jack stands.

If you have a fairly steep slope and a 2nd car, you can pull the other car up to the rear bumper of the one you're lifting (put something non-marking like a block of wood between them)... then there's no way you'll roll back.

 

[APEowner]

My shop floor also has a slope and I've jacked vehicles up hundreds of times. I use one of two different techniques depending on the vehicle. This assumes a good quality floor jack with wheels that actually roll. As you jack the car up the saddle on the jack moves in an arc so either the car or the jack has to roll.

If the vehicle is one that I can do one side at a time then that's what I do. I lock the brakes and/or block the wheels, jack up one side, put the stands under and then jack the other side and put stands under.

If I need to do one end and then the other I block the wheels and leave the car in neutral. Then I jack the uphill end, set it on stands and go around the the other end and repeat the jack and jack stand operation. I have very occasional had the jack and car roll back a little against the block but I like to let the car and the jack both roll as that seems to cut down on the chances of the saddle moving from my preferred jack point.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

Can't you do this in the garage or the street? What is the grade 4%? If you have no alternative then the following for sure . . .

1. Engage the e-brake . . .

2. Chalk the rear tires, and back them up with something heavy behind each wheel.

3. ............................................

Not sure what the police lady chalking the tire will do to keep the car from rolling, but...................

 

[Teken]

<-- something in the kool aid when I wrote that . . .

 

[G Speed]

maybe he was referring to... if I was working on the street lol

 

[larry_g]

Also be aware that the parking brake only works on the rear axle so if you do the parking brake and then jack up the rear.... no restraint, I know from personal experience.

Also be aware that if you rely on the transmission Park position and you jack one of the drive wheels off the ground your park no longer works. Not personal experience but watched it done.

Once you get the rig up in the air give it a GOOD shove. Its better to knock it off the stands while your in control than to have it come down when your out of control. The kids once were working under their car and after getting them out I shoved it with my foot and down it came. They are now beleivers. This is also not a place to save on the jack stands. If you have to float a loan do it a and buy good ones.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[egdede]

Also be aware that the parking brake only works on the rear axle

Older Saab E-brakes engage the front brakes. (I found out, in high school, trying to pull a 'Rockford'; it doesn't work on a Saab).

 

[e-tek]

Can't you do this in the garage or the street? What is the grade 4%? If you have no alternative then the following for sure . . .

1. Engage the e-brake . . .

2. Chalk the rear tires, and back them up with something heavy behind each wheel.

3. Jack stands under the front like you said

4. Leave the pump jack also in place under the engine area

5. Have a phone with you, just in case

6. Use a creeper so you can get your mellon out quick if you hear anything amis

Unless you're working on suspension, ramps might be better than jack stands.

If you have a fairly steep slope and a 2nd car, you can pull the other car up to the rear bumper of the one you're lifting (put something non-marking like a block of wood between them)... then there's no way you'll roll back.

Sorry guys, but I have to say it - TOTAL overkill....

Once you have a car on stands and have "CHOCKED" the other 2, it's not going anywhere. Though APRowner properly explains what "should be" common sense:

My shop floor also has a slope and I've jacked vehicles up hundreds of times. I use one of two different techniques depending on the vehicle. This assumes a good quality floor jack with wheels that actually roll. As you jack the car up the saddle on the jack moves in an arc so either the car or the jack has to roll.

If the vehicle is one that I can do one side at a time then that's what I do. I lock the brakes and/or block the wheels, jack up one side, put the stands under and then jack the other side and put stands under.

If I need to do one end and then the other I block the wheels and leave the car in neutral. Then I jack the uphill end, set it on stands and go around the the other end and repeat the jack and jack stand operation. I have very occasional had the jack and car roll back a little against the block but I like to let the car and the jack both roll as that seems to cut down on the chances of the saddle moving from my preferred jack point.

 

[Teken]

Better safe than sorry = Dead, the extra effort and time is cheap insurance IMO.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

<-- something in the kool aid when I wrote that . . .

Don't feel too bad, while looking for a picture of a police lady chalking a tire, I found dozens of pictures of wheels with blocks, chocks, and other things under them, and descriptions using the word "chalk", so you are not the only one.

I work around airplanes, we chock airplanes with large rubber chocks on a daily basis (if not hourly sometimes when we start moving stuff around in the hangar). I'm used to using chocks. Even bought two pairs of small rubber ones at the flea market cheap (triangular, about 4 inches a side).

Charles