avlis

When I put on my winter wheel/tires I was a little perplexed on how to use my standard floor jack to raise my coupe without destroying the 4 plastic "lift pads".

For more info read this thread: https://mbworld.org/forums/showthrea...&threadid=2170

I tried MBTech's suggestion of using a 2 x 4 piece of wood, but it split apart before the wheel ever left the ground.

I designed this adapter so the round part sits in the cup on my floor jack and the rectangle part fits in the plastic "cup" on the MB. The cup on your floor jack may vary. Make from aluminum, steel, or plastic.

SoCal240/6

I just use a 2 inch thick, old college textbook that I have wrapped with duct tape!

Stick it between the jack plate and the car, and you are done.

patronus

I use a hockey puck in the cup of my floor jack - works great!

I have not used the 4 jack points on the sides of the car. I only use the front and rear jack points:

1. Under the front and you can see a rectangular block of rubber in the center under the front cross-member. That is the front jack point.

2. The rear is the center of the differential housing.

I find these to be much easier and only requires two jack events to change out 4 wheels.

Lynn

According to mbtech208, jacking the car using the differential places large stesses on the diff seals, leading to premature failure.

Yellow_Fly_Red

I used the Jack that came with the car to change all 4 tires and it worked great...

avlis

Young, I had an extra poly suspension bushing from my Bronco project that sort of acted like the adapter I designed above. It definitely wasn't ideal and I still marred the plastic lift pads on the coupe. It was snowing that night so I had to get those C7 tires off.

I like the hockey puck idea but I have a small floor jack and I think the cup on the jack is smaller then the puck.

I like the front crossmember idea, I'll check that out tonight. I don't like the rear diff idea.

Finally, those 4 plastic pads are easy to take off. But then your left with even even deeper pocket.

I can get my adapter made for free so I'm going that route.

avlis

Here's the finished 1-piece alloy adapter. As far as I know, it does NOT affect the air/fuel ratio at WOT

If fits into the pocket perfect and ties the jack and car together. No worries about slipping.

I may be able to get a few of these made. Contact me if you're interested.

avlis

avlis

Fits nicely in the storage pocket in the trunk.

SoCal240/6

Avilis - that is really nice!

young

oh yeah! looks sweet!

i'm in! for some reason, i thought they were made of some hard rubbery pucky material but the metal looks fine.

Bora20

I just stuck my floor jack into the notch, jacked up the front of the car until the entire side was off the ground, then swapped on/off the winters.

vadim

I wish they placed the lifting pads around the center of each side, like in Volvos. That way you lift up the entire side of the car in one motion, its center of mass being close to the imaginary line connecting the pads on each side, which makes the car very stable when jacked up. So clever, you can swap tires on each side w/o having to use jack stands or a spare wheel.

Nice job, Avlis!

WebGuyNJ

Avlis:

Is there any chance you could get a few of these made? I am sure people here would be up to buying them.

patronus

I don't get it. It seems so much easier to jack up the entire front of the car with the provided jacking point just under the radiator, work on both fronts, then move to the rear, using the diff. housing (it is the factory-approved jacking point for MB's for years - check some factory maintenance manuals).

The advantage of this is that it frees the rocker panel jacking points for jack stands.

The only trick is rotating tires, but with clever use of jack stands, this can also be done.

peet

So even if assuming the rear diff can be used for a jack point, how can one fit jack stands into the plastic holes used for the wimpy jack that comes with the car?

My beefy stands won't fit in there as well.

P

patronus

Use the rubber pads under the holes for the jack stand.

Buellwinkle

I don't understand the problem. I jacked up my car using a hydraulic floor jack and it worked fine. I also used a lift at those points and it works fine. Why do you need anything there to help the jack lift the car? The problem I have is if I uses these jacking points then where do I put the jack stands. I get using the support under the radiator to lift the front but I don't think it's a good idea to use the rear differential either, you can crack the case. Maybe if you use an old book like suggested that would cradle the differential enough to the the jack stands under the jack points.

peet

B:

the prob is that most hydraulic jack seats are bigger than the tiny plastic hole that is designed to perfectly mate with the crappy scissor jack. So inevitably what happens is that the seat from the hydro jack ends up squashing the plastic pieces to smithereens.

Nowthen, to make matters worse, that tiny opening is not big enough for my stands either so my problem is compounded. Can't lift via that location, can't stand on that location.

Back to the original point - can someone make these things? Use the blueprint.. Go buy some Corian countertop material (hard yet soft) and machine away.

P

Buellwinkle

If that's true, then how do they raise the car on a lift. It's going to squish the plastic too.

patronus

You guys need to see a factory MB maintenance manual. It recommends the diff housing as the only center rear point on which to jack the car. It is bolted solidly to the chassis and is a very stout casting (remember, with independent rear suspension, the diff is not "floating" with the suspension)

avlis

You're right Patronis. I still think it's easier to use the side jack points. I have a small floor jack and the limited clearance inder the car prevents the handle from making full pumps (the handle ends up being under the car). I end up having to do a bunch of mini-pumps before the car is in the air. YMMV.

The alloy adapter will cost $35ea.

The adapter can be used with jack-stands, but at your own risk. I wouldn't crawl under the car unless there was something preventing the adapter from sliding off the stand.

If I had to crawl under the car and had to use jack-stands (as opposed to my first choice: wheel ramps), I would leave the adapter in the trunk and place a metal or poly plate between the jackstand and car.

madryan

i tried to use my hydralic jack... but
1. the car has h&r springs, and it is too low
2. the factory jack is easy enough to use