can i lift up the whole car with axle stands?

londonTiger

Norman_Castle wrote: »

Haynes manual should show jacking points. You may be able to jack the rear of the car centrally. Check the car is 100% stable before getting underneath. Out of interest, what are you planning to do?

change the gearbox oil.

It has the drain hole in the middle and the fill hole on the side.

So if the car isn't perfectly horizontal the levels will be all wrong. The gearbox needs to be filled to the brim of the fill hole, and you stop filling when oil starts flowing out of the fill hole.

I just realised. I can only jack up the front of the car, and do this. But I will have jack it up and down a few times during the filling/draining and re-attaching the engine guard stages etc.

londonTiger

londonTiger wrote: »

change the gearbox oil.

It has the drain hole in the middle and the fill hole on the side.

So if the car isn't perfectly horizontal the levels will be all wrong. The gearbox needs to be filled to the brim of the fill hole, and you stop filling when oil starts flowing out of the fill hole.

I just realised. I can only jack up the front of the car, and do this. But I will have jack it up and down a few times during the filling/draining and re-attaching the engine guard stages etc.

E.g.
1. jack up the front, remove gravel guard for engine for better access, remove fill hole (to ensure it's removable before emptying the gearbox), remove drain plug.

2. Lower the car back down, reach underneath and replace drain plug. use dexterity to locate fill hole on unjacked car and place funnel nozzle into it.

3. Fill to the brim, replace fill hole plug.

4. jack the car back up and ensure tight fitting of all plugs and replace engine guard.

londonTiger

CKhalvashi wrote: »

Concrete blocks can crumble, potentially leading to further damage and danger.

Depends. some concrete blocks are like the Rush biscuits (e.g. cinder blocks). those will break over time when used to jack up cars.

Bricks are more compressed and will not crumble and are the prime choice for alloy wheel thieves, but they are unstable do to their small footprint and dangerous because of that.

On the extreme end there are concrete blocks made from fine materials and reinforced with steel frames such as those used as road barracades. they will not crumble, they're even used in checkpouts and can witstand RPG and car bomb attacks. But they are far heavier than purpose built metal boxes are thus are impractical to use.



For one off use, I don't see why a very dense concrete block can't be used.

just don't use a cinder block.

forgotmyname

? You dont need to get all 4 wheels up to do a gearbox oil change.

Jack it up just high enough to get the drain plug undone. Lower it back down to drain. Jack it up and refit that plug.

Remove the filler plug. And fill with about 80% of the required fluid.

Lower it back down and use a tube/funnel from above to fill to the correct level. Jack up and refit the plug.

1 jack one stand or spare wheel under the wheel your jacking up.

Nothing more to it. Making a meal out of a simple job.

mchale

paddedjohn wrote: »

I would have to disagree here, I'd say the 3 legged stands where more stable.

Disagree, if both stands were used on a flat level surface then a 4 leg stand is more stable.

Tobster86

The best advice I can offer regarding raising vehicles is use common sense and don't take the !!!!. I walk round the car and give it a damn good shove from all corners to make sure it's not going anywhere before going under it. Don't rely on the handbrake or being in gear to prevent the car from moving in any way.

Basically, don't under appreciate the fact that your skull & ribcage have no where near the load capacity of the equipment you're using should something go wrong!

Sgt_Pepper_2

How much are you actually saving by doing the job yourself?