sammydragon3

i've always put stands under the pinch rail but i was wondering where is the actual unibody structure to put the stands on?

im gunna do the lower control arms again.

i dont have air tools now

i dont remember if i used a t45 right angle torque wrench before i do i one?

how would i torque the ball joint nut with no clearance? i have the torque specs it says torque to 24 lbs then tighten 120 degrees.

C230 Sport Coup

Sammy,
Step away from the tool box.
Before you hurt yourself.

sammydragon3

your message should say

tool box again

Glyn M Ruck

A unibody structure relates to a vehicle that has no separate chassis. Lift the car at the clearly marked & reinforced jacking points X 4.

Moviela

To properly use jack stands you need to modify the stands with a block that looks like a Twinkie (coming back soon.) The stands should always be used as a pair. Never 1, 3, or 4 and with chocks for the wheels on the ground.

There is a company that makes modified stands or just the Twinkies for W203.

http://www.reverselogic.us/shop.html...0&sort=nameAsc

sammydragon3

lol i knew this would come. If your going to "properly jack up your car with the jacking points" and put a stand their at the same time?

you cant do it for total obvious reasons thats why people jack up the car using the jacking point on the side and using jack stands at the pinch rail. that is why im asking for the actual unibody frame.

how do i get a torque wrench to the lower ball joint???

ncmudbug

You can jack up the front under the engine - there is a jack point in the middle. Then set the stands - with an appropriate set of blocks - at the jack points behind the front wheels. Then jack up the rear at the diff. and set the jack stands - with appropriate blocks - at the jack points in front of the rear wheels.

Keep in mind that the car is potentially less stable on four stands. You may elect to drive the end of the car you're not going to be working on on ramps and jack the other side and use stands.

Obviously make sure the car is stable before you crawl under it. If I can find a place for it, sometimes I'll put a jack under a hard place as an extra precaution.

Good luck & be safe!

As Glyn says, basically the entire car is the uni-body. That allows for less "structure" in the form of a frame that older cars often had. Simply put, the strength is derived from the overall shape and size of the body which affords a much more stiff yet lighter chassis (it allows for thinner steel than a frame would require). The concept is the same as a in racing car monocoque construction. As you've noticed, that also requires that some hard points need to be "added" so that you can jack up the car without bending or denting the uni-body (also called unit body).

Glyn M Ruck

+1^ You can lift the front of the car at the crossmember with a suitable load spreading block. The rear is more complex if you don't use the side jacking points. You can lift under the diff with a suitable block as protection.

sammydragon3

mmk i thought your supposed to jack up a point then put the stand closest as possible to the jack.

how do u actually torque the lower balljoint to spec??

ncmudbug

I would not trust the area around a jack point to hold up the car. If you follow my instructions, you won't have to.

I don't know about the ball joint, but if it's like others I've seen, there is a nut on the end of a tapered shaft. The tapered shaft locks in the upright (or whatever it is bolted to) tight enough so that the nut can be torqued. Does that sound like what you have?

tommy

Given your lack of understanding of basic physics (and not to mention the inability to do a search on a topic that's been covered zillions of times), the easiest way for you to torque the lower ball joint is to pay someone else to do it.

ncmudbug gave you the perfect answer, yet you still question it.

sammydragon3

i did do a search. i wouldnt have posted if i found it. people have asked with no answers

ok no i dont understand what he said since that doesnt solve how to fit a torque wrench on a balljoint with no clearance

why cant u just tell us then instead of paying someone?

Glyn M Ruck

The areas around the jacking points are reinforced to take the typical two post hoist crossed spreader bars padded feet. - no issue.

ncmudbug

If you can't fit a torque wrench on the nut then you'll just have to do the best you can. Estimate how hard you're pulling on the wrench and multiply that by the length of the wrench in feet and that will give you an idea of how many foot-lbs of torque you're putting on it.

Torque values are sometimes listed as boilerplate in that a bolt of a certain size will be listed as requiring a certain torque (some bolts require a particular tension but they are not usually mounting-type bolts or nuts like on a ball-joint). In most cases where there is not a piece that can warp, the torque values are guidelines rather than absolute necessities. You obviously want to make a good effort to make sure the nut is tight and in this case, you probably can't turn it too tight.