Johnny Mo

So I was a little bored this weekend and decided to do some research on getting an adapter plate for my hydraulic floor jack - that would work with my w212 stock jacking points.

I saw a few options out there for sale ranging from $20-$40 - so nothing prohibitively expensive and they did seem to have a decent amount of "craftsmanship" to them. I also read a few posts here where guys took hockey pucks and used them as a "buffer" between the car and metal fram of the floorjack. That got me to thinking - I could probably cut a hockey puck in the right shape to fit into the stock jack point location, and then use a hole saw or coping saw to cut a round post to attach that to and insert into the hydr.floor jack bottom plate.

So that's exactly what I did - my kid and I both play hockey so there is no shortage of hockey pucks in my garage...I traced the factory jack head onto 1 puck, cut it on my table saw, then traced the round opening of my hydraulic where the adapter plates sit onto a 2nd puck - cut that square, then using a razor blade and belt sander rounded it so that it fit snug in the hydr. jack. Took the rectangular block (puck) and countersunk a 1/4" bolt hole - drilled the 1/4" into the round "stem" and bolted them together. I now have an adapter for my vehicle so that I can use my hydraulic jack instead of my factory emergency jack, when swapping my winter/summer wheels and tires. I will post pics when I get back home tonight, in case any of you others are interested in doing it.

BM2BZ

wow, another handyman on the forum . great job !

Arrie

You sure the hockey puck material is strong enough to lift the car? I also played hockey in the past and actually split a puck in two one day when I hit the goal post with it. I seriously doubt the material in the end of the factory jack would split no matter how hard you hit it.

theraven333

Hi ! Just as a follow up to this thread, if I wanted to use a trolley jack but not use the the four standard jacking points on the car, ie want to raise front or back or the car totally onto jack stands?? does anyone have a diagram of the points at which I can raise the car!!!!! Thanks

BM2BZ

should i say rtfm ?

BenzV12

I do have floor jack and believe in me it works neatly .I have not thought anything like that lol Kudos to MB designers once again because it's very clever design to take off the car's jack gear as well

Johnny Mo

I'm not that concerned about the puck material lifting the car - that's not doing the lifting - the puck is really just providing a base to insert into the car's factory jacking point...that base is sitting on the steel frame of my hydr jack...completely supported by the hydr jack. Think of it as taking the factory jack - cutting off the cap that inserts into the vehicle jack point off and mating it to a hydr floor jack. Remeber this is not the jack point that actually inserts into the body, but rather it supports it from underneath the body.


I don't anticipate using this on anything other than a flat surface and I am not "shocking" the material with a quick hard strike - it is vulcanized rubber and there really shouldn't be too much stress on it. The factory jack material at "mating point" to the car is plastic - held in place by a metal rod and attached to the jack's steel frame. I'm not planning to use it to hold up the car on jack stands or anything else - just swap out my wheels at the season change.

theraven333

Clearly you have not

BM2BZ

i don't know who has not . read pg 293 and 294.

http://www.mbusa.com/vcm/MB/DigitalA...pe-and-Cab.pdf

theraven333

I really must say that you should read my thread/post more clearly
In the UK manual it is pages 287-290, but lets not quibble
So I will make it clearer, those jacking points would be used for the axle stands, so if I used them to jack the car up, I would not be able to use the axle stands as the jack would be in its place
So what points would one use a trolley jack(this is also a clue!!) to jack the vehicle up? Another clue may well be to use the rear diff, but on some cars they do not like you doing this so my question was, does anyone know where the lifting points are to lift the car so that the jacking points can be used for axle stands????

BM2BZ

points taken and don't sweat, buddy. at least i ain't .

hyperion667

Johnny Mo!!!

Nuru

I bought these and they work well for C and E class.

http://www.reverselogic.us/ReverseLo...Jack_Pads.html

theraven333

Boo Hiss ! I was enjoying the banter !
Anyway the least you could do is help me to find an answer Lol
I thought we were being creative with the use of the smilies !!!

Johnny Mo

Here are the pics - I figured since I had an orange puck (no it is not one of the hollow mylec street hockey pucks) it is a weighted training puck - little more dense than a standard puck. I used that for the top as it'll be easier to spot under the car mating up with the jack point...then used a standard black puck to make the insert that sits inside the floor jack. Pretty straightforward.

Johnny Mo

So I used my hydraulic jack to swap out my wheels yesterday. The hockey puck adapter seemed to work ok, although I think I may sacrifice another puck to get it just right....It seems that the orange portion completely got submerged in the well for the car jack point and the outer portion of the jack point was resting directly on the jack itself - no damage or issues during the swap, but I think if I made the orange portion about an 1/8" taller it will function as the factory jack does and only lift from inside the well of the car jack point.

tomcat7

Johnny Mo, It looks like you have the identical car I do. I never gave jacking it a single thought until now when the brakes probably need to be done. On my old ML430 it was a piece of cake but now I read so much online that folks are concerned about damaging the car on lifts, jacks, or jack stands.

If you have pics of where you put the jackstands when you lifted it, that would be great.

These cars are frustrating because there isn't an easy strong frame member to lift it from as it use to be. Anything wrong will crack the plastic or bend the vehicle which is far worse than the benefit of doing some maintenance yourself. I enjoy doing the brake job as on this car it is super easy and rewarding (also like to upgrade the components to get better performance. Seems silly that brakes are easy but jacking is the problem on this vehicle.

Thanks Man!

mleskovar

I cut rectangular pieces out of hockey pucks that fit in the jack points and put the stands there after using the rear differential and front central jack points. The hockey puck material works great and doesn't deform much for any jacking operations and is fairly easy to cut with a blade or hacksaw.