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      09-28-2010, 02:44 AM   #67
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Just a couple of comments.

1. Please understand the difference between yeilding damage and fatigue damage. They are incredibly different and you should not really use the term if you have no idea what it means. Jacking a car IN THEORY could cause yielding but won't cause fatigue.

2. I would not get under a car with anything holding it up made by Harbor Freight. Sure buy a cheap pair of pliers you might use once or once per year at HF but not a jack or jack stands. I know some have had good luck with these items from HF but I've also bought more than once complete piece of crap there. For me I won't make that choice with a part that could easily seriously injure you or even kill you.
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      09-28-2010, 07:23 AM   #68
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Quote:
Originally Posted by swamp2 View Post
I would not get under a car with anything holding it up made by Harbor Freight
+1000

I recently bought an OTC 2 ton aluminum racing jack. I cant even tell you how great this thing is.

I think it's funny how a thread asking about puting a car on jackstands lasts forever. All the armchair experts out there have a lot of questions

Oh, and to the OP; I dont think it's a good idea to attempt putting your car on to jackstands. It'll probably ruin your clubs.
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      09-29-2010, 02:11 PM   #69
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kyoshi71 View Post
+1000

I recently bought an OTC 2 ton aluminum racing jack. I cant even tell you how great this thing is.

I think it's funny how a thread asking about puting a car on jackstands lasts forever. All the armchair experts out there have a lot of questions

Oh, and to the OP; I dont think it's a good idea to attempt putting your car on to jackstands. It'll probably ruin your clubs.
I bought an aluminum racing jack from HF over 10 years ago for $129, and it's still going strong after heavy use all these years (it's the first model they offered). The products aren't made by HF. Read the reviews. I know somebody who's been using two of the same HF scissor lifts since 2001 with no problems.

I think it's funny how a thread asking for advice can turn into a reason for somebody to insult others.

Oh, and you may *think* whatever you want, but your're wrong. I've put all my cars on jackstands many times with no adverse affect to my clubs (yes, I work on cars AND play golf )
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Last edited by M3V8Driver; 09-29-2010 at 09:35 PM..
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      09-30-2010, 02:00 AM   #70
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Quote:
Originally Posted by M3V8Driver View Post
I bought an aluminum racing jack from HF over 10 years ago for $129, and it's still going strong after heavy use all these years (it's the first model they offered). The products aren't made by HF. Read the reviews. I know somebody who's been using two of the same HF scissor lifts since 2001 with no problems.

I think it's funny how a thread asking for advice can turn into a reason for somebody to insult others.

Oh, and you may *think* whatever you want, but your're wrong. I've put all my cars on jackstands many times with no adverse affect to my clubs (yes, I work on cars AND play golf )
I'm sure "your mileage may vary" applies here as it will in many instances in life. I should have said "sold by" instead of "made by" I do certainly know HF only sells stuff they don't make it. Nonetheless they DO pick some of the absolute cheapest and least well built items from Mexico, India and China. Now of course there are good products from all those countries, but, as a rule of thumb, HF stuff is crap. Again, a pair of special pliers I'll use a couple times in my life, HF sure, something to literally trust my life with, NO WAY. It is just not playing the odds the way I prefer to.

Also, it did not at all appear that in my post or in the one following it that anyone insulted you. Did I miss something?
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      10-05-2010, 05:02 PM   #71
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Wow that drill-powered scissor lift is the one my heart wants. Unfortunately, I think I might spend some $ on an exhaust next...

The best thing about it is the low weight and versatility - the ability to remove one of the crossmembers is pure genius.
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      10-18-2010, 08:52 PM   #72
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EZ car lift group buy

There's a group guy for the ez car lift going on right now and will close in 9 days. Since there were several of us interested in that in this thread, I thought I'd post a link to it.

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=444481
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      10-19-2010, 09:11 PM   #73
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Yep, I saw that. There's no way I'm paying $1545+ for that. For less than $100, you can buy four single scissors jacks, a Gator Grip socket and a 19v cordless drill. Hell, they even sell electrically operated 12v scissors jacks for $60 on Amazon. Either solution is less than 1/12th of the cost of this EZCar list, and much more portable.
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      10-20-2010, 09:40 AM   #74
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Quote:
Originally Posted by M3V8Driver View Post
Yep, I saw that. There's no way I'm paying $1545+ for that. For less than $100, you can buy four single scissors jacks, a Gator Grip socket and a 19v cordless drill. Hell, they even sell electrically operated 12v scissors jacks for $60 on Amazon. Either solution is less than 1/12th of the cost of this EZCar list, and much more portable.
I see several problems with this approach:

1. If you buy 4 mechanical scissor jacks, you will need to move around all corners lifting 1-2" at a time. That can be very time consuming, I'd much rather use a DK hydraulic jack + jackstands - safer and faster (but not cheap).

2. If you buy 4 of the electrically operated scissor jacks from Amazon, you will need a 12V DC power source - if you want to operate several at the same time it must be able to feed 40amps. You must also be very careful how you lift them since there is no automatic synchronization between the jacks.

3. How safe do you feel with your car suspended by 4 separate scissor jacks of unknown manufacture, each one resting on a 4"x6" base plate? These scissor jacks are only to be used in emergency roadside tire changes, not for working on your car.


Bottom line IMO is that if you want both convenience and safety, you will have to pay.
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      10-20-2010, 10:45 AM   #75
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For those that don't like that lift, here is one that a Z4 member just got for lest than that group buy price of the EZ lift.




http://www.zpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=439177

Might be on my Christmas list.
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      10-20-2010, 03:03 PM   #76
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i found this on ebay
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/DANNM...#ht_4311wt_941

but it seems kinda cheap, anyone knows if it s the same as the other one that goes for $2500?
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      10-20-2010, 09:51 PM   #77
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Geez, we've just gone full circle. The scissors lift two posts above is the same thing Harbor Feight sells for $900, except everybody was "jealous" of that one. Is that becasue it's black, or becasue he paid $400 more? Never mind.

In response to the feedback regarding using four electric scissors jacks, I was thinking of just plugging them all into my two-socket portable battery unit, into the car's 12v ports, or a combo of both. With all four raising at the same time, couldn't be that much of a diff to matter. Also, remember, this is only to remove all four tires to get to all the brakes at the same time, not to crawl underneat and do major work.
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      10-20-2010, 09:55 PM   #78
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Richbot View Post
This isn't rocket surgery people
rocket surgery? I'd like to see this...
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      10-31-2010, 03:24 PM   #79
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I'm not sure if anyone ever answered the OP's question re: putting the car on stands with one jack, and I can't endure reading the whole thing to find out. I was messing around with my car today, as I'm going to need to get it on stands soon for some track prep. Turns out to be a piece of cake, assuming you don't require the luxury of air, hydraulic, or electric power to do everything for you. I have four low ramps that are made from two pieces of 2X12 boards each, so they are a bit less that 4" tall. I drove the car on those. At that point, there is clearance to reach the front center jack plate, thus enabling jacking the front and placing the two front stands at each front side jacking point. Then, I discovered there is room to reach the frame in the rear, just rear of the differential. You have to raise the jack past the bottom, finned portion of the diff, then ease the jack forward a bit, as the differential housing dips in at that point. Then, you can raise the jack saddle high enough to center it under the frame rail, just to the rear of the differential. Then jack the rear centrally and place the two rear stands. The jack will be well extended to reach, so you might want to use a solid wood block or such to take up some space. Just remember, first, either raise the front and place on stands, or, have the front tires securely chocked before raising the rear.

Last edited by elh0102; 10-31-2010 at 06:43 PM..
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      10-31-2010, 10:50 PM   #80
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Quote:
Originally Posted by elh0102 View Post
I'm not sure if anyone ever answered the OP's question re: putting the car on stands with one jack, and I can't endure reading the whole thing to find out. I was messing around with my car today, as I'm going to need to get it on stands soon for some track prep. Turns out to be a piece of cake, assuming you don't require the luxury of air, hydraulic, or electric power to do everything for you. I have four low ramps that are made from two pieces of 2X12 boards each, so they are a bit less that 4" tall. I drove the car on those. At that point, there is clearance to reach the front center jack plate, thus enabling jacking the front and placing the two front stands at each front side jacking point. Then, I discovered there is room to reach the frame in the rear, just rear of the differential. You have to raise the jack past the bottom, finned portion of the diff, then ease the jack forward a bit, as the differential housing dips in at that point. Then, you can raise the jack saddle high enough to center it under the frame rail, just to the rear of the differential. Then jack the rear centrally and place the two rear stands. The jack will be well extended to reach, so you might want to use a solid wood block or such to take up some space. Just remember, first, either raise the front and place on stands, or, have the front tires securely chocked before raising the rear.
Thanks for the instructions, they are very useful.

You forgot just one piece of information - what jack are you using?
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      11-06-2010, 08:00 PM   #81
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Quote:
Originally Posted by adc View Post
Thanks for the instructions, they are very useful.

You forgot just one piece of information - what jack are you using?
It is a low-profile race jack; think it came from either Harbor Freight or Northern Tool.
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      11-17-2010, 06:23 AM   #82
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Quote:
Originally Posted by elh0102 View Post
I'm not sure if anyone ever answered the OP's question re: putting the car on stands with one jack, and I can't endure reading the whole thing to find out. I was messing around with my car today, as I'm going to need to get it on stands soon for some track prep. Turns out to be a piece of cake, assuming you don't require the luxury of air, hydraulic, or electric power to do everything for you. I have four low ramps that are made from two pieces of 2X12 boards each, so they are a bit less that 4" tall. I drove the car on those. At that point, there is clearance to reach the front center jack plate, thus enabling jacking the front and placing the two front stands at each front side jacking point. Then, I discovered there is room to reach the frame in the rear, just rear of the differential. You have to raise the jack past the bottom, finned portion of the diff, then ease the jack forward a bit, as the differential housing dips in at that point. Then, you can raise the jack saddle high enough to center it under the frame rail, just to the rear of the differential. Then jack the rear centrally and place the two rear stands. The jack will be well extended to reach, so you might want to use a solid wood block or such to take up some space. Just remember, first, either raise the front and place on stands, or, have the front tires securely chocked before raising the rear.
I put the car on jack stands since writing the above, and I don't think it is the best method. The frame rail behind the differential is just too high to reach without a lot of wood blocks or other filler between the jack saddle and the jack point. And the surface is slightly rounded and slick also. I used the flat portion of the differential just forward of the the finned aluminum cooling unit, the actual differential housing. This worked fine.
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      11-17-2010, 08:01 AM   #83
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Quote:
Originally Posted by elh0102 View Post
I put the car on jack stands since writing the above, and I don't think it is the best method. The frame rail behind the differential is just too high to reach without a lot of wood blocks or other filler between the jack saddle and the jack point. And the surface is slightly rounded and slick also. I used the flat portion of the differential just forward of the the finned aluminum cooling unit, the actual differential housing. This worked fine.
Hang on... you hadn't done this when you posted? What a muppet.

The flat housing in front of the aluminium cooling fins is the recommended rear jacking point.

I have used this method, and it works...and it minimizes the amount/angle of pivoting on the plastic jacking points.

http://m3.madrussian.net/diy_jacking.shtml
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      11-17-2010, 09:00 AM   #84
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LiM3y View Post
Hang on... you hadn't done this when you posted? What a muppet.

The flat housing in front of the aluminium cooling fins is the recommended rear jacking point.

I have used this method, and it works...and it minimizes the amount/angle of pivoting on the plastic jacking points.

http://m3.madrussian.net/diy_jacking.shtml
The link you referenced is directing the rear lifting on an E46 M3, whcih has a totally different setup, and includes a jack plate near the differential, but it is not part of the differential. The equivalent would be using the subframe cross member I first described, it is just difficult to reach as it is well above the differential. I lifted by the differential housing itself, which is never an officially recommended lift point, but I have used it on numerous cars without issue.
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      11-17-2010, 10:38 AM   #85
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Quote:
Originally Posted by elh0102 View Post
The link you referenced is directing the rear lifting on an E46 M3, whcih has a totally different setup, and includes a jack plate near the differential, but it is not part of the differential. The equivalent would be using the subframe cross member I first described, it is just difficult to reach as it is well above the differential. I lifted by the differential housing itself, which is never an officially recommended lift point, but I have used it on numerous cars without issue.
The BMW recommended jacking point for an E9X M3 is the black casing in front of the differential cooler. It is in their online technical manual. It is the same spot as an E46, but there is no subframe there on an E9X. The rest is the same, it is not a totally different set up. They also specifically tell you not to jack the car up by the cooling fins in the same reference page.

It is a pain to get to, but it can be done with a low profile jack and using planks to raise the rear wheels 2"...as described in the link.

I found it frustrating that you recommended with a certain amount of authority how to do something you had not actually completed yourself at the time you wrote it. Jacking up cars is not something one guesses at.
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      11-17-2010, 01:39 PM   #86
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LiM3y View Post
I found it frustrating that you recommended with a certain amount of authority how to do something you had not actually completed yourself at the time you wrote it. Jacking up cars is not something one guesses at.
I’m sorry you found my initial post frustrating. As I said in that post, the frame member behind the differential is high, and requires a long reach of the jack, with some filler to take up space. That is totally accurate, and I indeed did lift the car in that manner. I simply found it more comfortable to use the diff housing (the black portion you describe) rather than working with such an extended jack. I was not guessing at anything, just trying to describe a couple of options. It's always challenging to desribe service procedures on a forum, and your comments are well taken.
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