The only information I can find about safe jacking points refers to the points for the scissor jack. Most cars have a second set of points for a shop lift. How can I safely jack the car and put jack stands under it? I recently did rear springs and, after removing the beautiful plastic covers on the control arms I was able to jack it there, but I don't want to have to remove the covers every time. Also, what about the front?

Oh, for the days when you could jack any car on the front cross member or rear diff. housing...

 

Ahh the days when you could jack up a car using the bumper jack.. Oops giving away my age I think.

 

One side effect of being retired for 3+ years, at least for me, is my memory has gotten mushy.

A couple years ago, I had to do some investigative work on the engine (mostly lower end). There's two lower engine covers to remove.

There is a cross-member, with a hard rubber cover in the center. This is where I placed the 3-ton floor jack, then jacked up the front end. I placed a jack stand on each of the scissor jack pads.

I will check for any photos and videos I might have taken. I'll also go in the garage soon, to look underneath the GLK (2014 Base) to maybe jiggle my memory banks.

 

I have a W204 and there is a front middle jacking pad on the underside of the front subframe. The pad was missing when i bought the car used so i installed one. Can use that jacking point to raise the front end then stick jack stands under the front side jacking points.

For the rear there are no other jacking points other than the side ones in front of the rear tires. Ive seen people say jack it up under the rear diff but im not about to do that.

My W204 is so low i have to drive it up on wooden ramps i made just to get a floor jack under. I made 4 ramps out of wood planks stacked on top of each other. I have two floor jacks, 4 jack stands, 4 wooden ramps, then various big blocks off wood/timbers ill put under the car for backup safety so the car hopefully wont crush me. The ramps are low enough where I can fit them under the car on the sides in front of the rear wheels then drive the car up. Plus I have more wood planks i can use to make the ramps higher, which only works driving forward or reversing up them. Cant do all 4 wheels that way since they wont fit under the car.

if im working on the car where i have to remove the wheel i will just use a floor jack and raise it from the jacking point, shove a block of wood under the arm of the jack so it cant lower if the jack fails. Plus even if the jack did fail the car wouldnt be able to touch the ground, it would just rest on the jack. I will note i do not go under the car if its held up by just the floor jack. if I need to raise the entire back end ill use one floor jack on each side and raise it that way.

if I need to work under the car, like when I replaced some exhaust clamps, ill drive the car up on the wooden ramps. If i need the car higher then ill use the floor jacks to raise the car at the jacking points then stick another wood plank under the wheels then lower it back down, so its resting on the wheels.

 

I have a drive-on shop hydraulic scissor lift but I use the same four lifting points you use with small MB mechanical scissor lift that comes with the car. I put rubber blocks under the four normal lifting points. With my scissor lift you really need to drive on to it pretty precisely to lift safely and properly. I would say within about an inch left to right and within an inch front to back. To do this, easily, I installed some fancy shmancy lasers to guide me to the exact position. Very precise and excellent "repeatability."

 

The front lift point is pretty obvious when you're looking under the front end (the black, rectangular protrusion between the front and middle splash guards).

FWIW, I do use the rear differential as a lift point. Lots of other people who actually know what they're doing do the same. The support for the diff is designed to take a lot of torque and abuse.

You can get some fancy rubber inserts for the support points on the sides for floor jacks. FWIW, I have some, but I cut some 6" 1x1 lumber and lay those on top of the jack stands, lengthwise. Never had an issue.

That said, I was just visiting southern Illinois, and did some work on my sister's Subarus and got to use a full-on two-post lift, so I'm kind of ruined for using jack stands for a while... :-(

 

I am wondering if installing the tow hooks would allow the hooks to be a suitable Jack point.

 

I use scrape pieces of composite wood trim from Lowes between the floor jack and the car. Its somewhat soft and forms easily but seems strong enough to not crack or split.






Im sure the differential itself is built strong but I dont trust the weight of the car on the two bolts that hold it in plus the rubber bushings in there. But obviously do whatever you are comfortable with.

I was looking around before and came across bottle jacks with built-in jack stands that seem like a good idea but unfortunately they will not fit under my car easily.

 

Those lasers are impressive! If I had a garage... I'd have a 2 post lift. That's what we had when I was "in the business."

I'll look for that lift point in the front, and think about the rear diff. I made some wooden blocks that fit in the jack points and on top of the jack stands. Once the plastic is off the rear control arms the floor jack works fine there. I jacked one side with the scissor jack, put the floor jack under the trailer hitch, removed the wheel, removed the plastic cover, moved the floor jack to the control arm, lifted it off the jack and put the stand under the jack point. Repeat for the other side.

 

Those say they are for trucks. I wonder if they have a shorter version?

 

The jacking pad should be right on the subframe. if its missing like mine was they use the same part# 0029976186. I got it at the local MB dealer parts dept for around $8.

 

I've yet to feel inconvenienced to simply place the
3-ton floor jack under the cross-member pad, jack it up, then place the stands - probably a whole five minutes with almost zero physical effort.

... EDIT

I just measured our GLK at the front scissor jack pad ... it's 10 inches, ground to pad. According to the stands listed above in the image, I believe it's minimum is 9.5 inches, so should work... check its dimensions.

 

FWIW, I checked to see if FCP Euro had any DIY tips on lifting a GLK - not exactly, but they do have the info on a W204 (which is essentially identical in most respects). It should be a good resource for anyone wanting to lift their GLK, and I should add that they recommend lifting the rear with the differential. Good enough for me!

https://www.pelicanparts.com/techart..._Your_W204.htm

 

Er ... that's Pelican Parts vs FCP Euro (or maybe FCP owns P.P.?) ... anyway, that method is what I described ... however, the front jack point on the w204 IS NOT the same for the GLK - the GLK is further inboard, at the cross-member.

 

Errr ... that's Pelican Parts vs FCP Euro (or maybe FCP owns P.P.?) ... anyway, that method is what I described ... however, the front jack point on the w204 IS NOT the same for the GLK - the GLK is further inboard, at the cross-member. 👍

 

GLK front subframe w/jacking pad:



C300 front subframe w/jacking pad:



jacking pad part#:





Part# for differential bushings:

 

In case anyone runs across this from google, the GLK subframe pictured fits RWD and 4matic GLK's but the W204 subframe is only for 4matic W204s.
Also worthy to note that while they look similar, the GLK subframe has spacer bushings welded to it so it sits differently in the unibody.

 

TimC300, who said they were too tall, has the lowered "sport suspension" option, IIRC.