jacking up an elise - newbie

[felixflyer]

I've recently purchased my elise and as someone prepared to do my own basic servicing I'm keen to change the oil, etc, myself. However, I'm not sure how I'm suppose to raise the vehicle up so I can remove the under trays. According to the manual it looks like the only jacking point for a single trolley jack is on the side for changing a wheel. Is that correct or is there another point jacking point I can use to get axle stands underneath?

Any one tried reversing the car up a set of standard ramps like the ones you can buy at Halfords?

[Martin_S]

Yep, standard ramps are fine.

[thub]

Yes, there is only a single jacking point per side, but it does lift the whole side. If you want to jack it up I'd suggest the purchase of a low-nose (terminology?) hydraulic jack. (<£30 from Machine Mart)

I've never tried running mine onto ramps.

[TheLemming]

Suggest putting a bit of wood (or something else that wont scratch the car) over the end of the jack to prevent minor scuffing etc of the ally chassis.

Or is this just me being supremely sad?

[Arno]

TheLemming said:

Or is this just me being supremely sad?

No.. Very good suggestion..

Or use a car jack that can be equipped with a rubber 'saddle' for the lifting part like this:



I have one of these. Very good and start at only 80mm lift height, so fits under lowered Elise's too.

www.ac-hydraulic.com/uk/Hydraulic%20workshopjacks.htm

Not cheap though.. Budget around 150 quid for one of these.

Instead of jack stands people also use boxes of copier paper to put the Elise onto. Seems to work well..

Bye, Arno.

[felixflyer]

Do you know of a good place to purchase a low entry jack.
(P.S Looking on the internet I couldn't find a UK based company selling the AC jacks - and they look to be pretty expensive).

[marcfair]

machine mart is on the web somewhere

[thub]

www.machinemart.co.uk

CTJ 2LR 2 tonne semi-pro trolley jack £29.32 in current catalogue. 110mm min saddle height - okay for all but the lowest Elises.

[tom_burnley]

Hi all,

similar to felixflyer - I wanna know how to jack up the back of my elise. I've found the web page:

www.elise-faq.info/content/misc/index.php

which is OK for finding the jack points - but what I want to know is:

can I support the axels on axel stands - while I brake the brakes I assume that its OK..

And how do you jack up just the back???

and..... ramps??? easy hard to reverse onto, too steep = front splitter on floor etc???

Tom

[fergusd]

There are no axles to use axle stands on . . . you must use them only where indicated in the picture in the FAQ (or owners manual for that matter). Additionally I would always use some wood between an axle stand and the car to spread the load.

Best way to gain access to the engine for servicing for the home user is a pair of drive on ramps, I've never seen a car that grounds out the nose when the rear is on ramps . . . much safer than axle stands too IMHO . . .

Fd

[tom_burnley]

Ramps it is then.......

and for when there are no wheels?? Stands with wood??

Ta

[Martin_S]

At risk of stating the bloody obvious (since nobody else has yet mentioned it on this thread) never work underneath a car supported only on a jack.
You must use either ramps or well positioned axle stands.

I used to specialise in adapting buildings for disabled people, and I've met several who will spend the rest of their lives in wheelchairs because they thought this rule didn't apply to them...

[sirlaughalot]

I agree. The idea of photocopier paper although flexible and dual use did sound a little risky.

I'm off to buy a jack to now.

[dannylt]

If your jack doesn't quite fit underneath, just drive the car onto some small wooden blocks, or a brick. Useful bodge for changing a wheel in a hurry etc. for a lowish car.

[tom_burnley]

Or better still stop over one of those massive potholes that Elises are amavingly good at finding