Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Dave's new aluminium trolley jack

Dave, as your 'jack' thread has surfaced again a question if I may. Is that a purpose built lifting bar that fits onto your jack or something you made up?
Pete

It's made up Pete, and is the third version. The first one was a short (say 10") piece of floorboarding with wooden edges to stop slippage. Then I moved to a more streamlined version which fitted between the over-rider brackets with a rough cut U section metal channel.
Then when I fitted my undertray I needed something a bit better, so the full width bar is made to spread the load a bit more. There's a simpler version for the rear.
Even with the alloy L sections though, the timber does bend a bit. The red & white electrical tape is for centrering.
At the rear I've used a couple of trim nipples, male lift the dots, in the floorboards to locate the bar.

Looks like a good jack. One question with your adapter plate in place for jacking where do you put the stands under the car once in the air. I trust you never get under it relying on the jack, there have been some terrible accidents with hydraulic jacks due to stop valve failure!

Absolutely...never, ever go under a car raided using an hydraulic jack.

But the load spreader bar is a good idea and it wouldn't be difficult to modify it so the axle stands are positively located under the bar.

So, jack up, position stands, jack down. then access under the car is easy.

I accept that I should know, but is the handbrake operative only on the rear wheels? I ask as I have only jacked the car on one wheel so far. I presume that this is the case as using the big Mulfab spanner last week I only succeeded in skidding the front wheel. Are chocks safe if I need to raise both rear wheels or do I need the old "trouble and strife" to sit with her foot on the brake?
..............thinks, if is the case I will have to up the tonnage on my jack.

The handbrake only operates on the rear wheels. If your nuts are so tight that you are spinning the wheel, try a bit of heat from a heat gun on the nuts to expand them slightly.

Chocks are safe on the front wheels if you are raising the rear...just make sure that they are secure and recheck them once the car is raised. I really wouldn't jack up the car with anyone sitting inside it.

You'll see in some of the pictures I use the covers from the pit under the wheels (railway sleepers), but I also have eight axle stands. Can anybody beat that?

There are two options - either use axle stands under the ends of the jacking bars, or at the front, a strong point is the triangulation over the chassis at the front corner of the bulkhead. At the rear, the strong point is the spring hanger/seat belt mounting so you can put them there.

That is where the trade usually puts its lifting pads.

There are three things to remember with axle stands. Those which are three legged can tip over unless you set the apexes in opposite directions. Second is the when using a trolley jack with axle stands at the other end, they will tip over if the trolley jack cannot move freely on its wheels, so always watch stands carefully when jacking. Third point is that some axle stands have a deep U section at the pointed end. So you may need to make a wooden adapter so the two edges don't damage the underside of the car, or slip off. I keep a selection of wood and rubber sheeting for this purpose.

PS John, if you only jack one quarter, you will put a strain on the chassis and body. You'll find that the doors won't open properly with one wheel jacked, in fact they can be iffy when lifting one end. The recommendation is to lift one axle or the other, even if you're only doing one wheel.

Good point about torsion.

Dave,

You are so right about the risk associated with three legged stools, a.k.a. axle stands. They are best bolted down on a sheet of ply about 1m square.
Also most garage floors are not smooth concrete so the tiny wheels under a trolly jack may not roll: I see you have industrial carpet tiles in place: nice to work on, but my floor is too rough and I'm not going to apply screed to it! So I use a sheet of marine ply under the jack, which is one ot the reasons why I can't get the damn thing under the rear of the car....

All in all I really don't like the idea using 2 jacks and axle stands to get the car in the air, hence my interest in a proper garage hoist, as posted seperately.

Dave, many thanks yet again for your very valuable advice about jacking the axle rather than a corner. Very much appreciated.