Proper jack and jack stand locations

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Mr Blotto
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Proper jack and jack stand locations

Post by Mr Blotto » Tue Oct 23, 2007 8:27 am

Here is a request for all of us that are safety nerds :cyclopsani: and have never jacked up our buses (and used jack stands)....

Can some kind soul take a picture/diagram of the underside of a bus and illustrate exactly where the jack points and prefered jack stand locations are? :flower: If there is a base diagram in Bentley, or Muir that would facilitate this, I would be more than happy to supply a .jpg or .pdf of it.

Please...please....pretty please :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:
1978 Sage Green Westy - 2.0 FI - SOLD WITH 109887 miles :-(

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BlissfullyCrusin
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Post by BlissfullyCrusin » Tue Oct 23, 2007 11:34 am

Yes.

Me too please, I would really appreciate this info!
1973 Camper - Bliss
Currently engine-less, awaiting a camper special.

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Amskeptic
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Re: Proper jack and jack stand locations

Post by Amskeptic » Tue Oct 23, 2007 12:09 pm

Mr Blotto wrote: Can some kind soul take a picture/diagram of the underside of a bus and illustrate exactly where the jack points and preferred jack stand locations are? :flower:
I am going to use words, just words, and you are going to get it.

Jack Stands
Rear, there's a big big steel tube running crossways. Set your jack stands under the big tube exactly underneath where the frame rails pass by. You can see a lip on the frame rail that is a nice place to buttress the top of the jack stand. FWIW, you can stick a jack stand under any part of the tube even outboard of the frame all the way to the spring plate stops.

Front, anywhere along the beam is OK, you want to put the jack stands as outboard as possible for stability.
But let's say you need to work on the front beam, then location #2 is where the frame rails meet the jack port crossmembers. You can see that the lower frame rail horizontal edge gets wider as it joins this cross member.
Be symmetrical left-to-right for best balance.

Jacking points:

Floorjack
Rear Anywhere along the torsion tube, if you want to raise the entire rear of the car, use the nose cone mounting plate with two 17mm bolts coming down.

Front Anywhere along the lower beam all the way to the outside edge where the arms come down to the wheel. To raise the entire front end, at the center of the beam, you will see the torsion leaves anchor bolt lock nut sort of pointing rearward. You can put the pocket of the jack just forward of this.

Bottle jack
Rear nose cone mounting plate or directly under the lower lip of the spring plate stop at the outside edge of the big torsion tube. If you want to just get the wheel up to adjust the brake (you cannot remove the tire/wheel with this method, the fender will trap the tire), you can lift that wheel only using the diagonal arm housing where it bolts to the spring plate. Just get under the bus and look for the biggest hunk of good thick steel, you will see a couple of big bolts squeezing the diagonal arm to the spring plate to the wheel bearing housing (there's four total, but you can see the lowest two easily enough. Find a place that the bottle jack can grab and lift straight up.
Front
As per floor jack, but don't try to lift on the lower tuve itself, the radius is too slippery for the jack to hold. But direct center between the locknut and the center pin cap is fine. If you want to raise one wheel only, there is a decent spot just inboard of the lower shock mount. It is a light vehicle up front and raising one wheel is a picnic for a bottle jack.
You must have car securely chocked with a bottle jack especially.
I am not going into a stupid safety speech about common sense. But please use common sense and follow the basic laws of gravity.
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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sped372
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Post by sped372 » Tue Oct 23, 2007 12:55 pm

Amskeptic wrote:follow the basic laws of gravity
I don't think any of us really have a choice with this one! :blackeye:
1971 Karmann Ghia - 1600 DP
1984 Westfalia - 1.9 WBX

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Mr Blotto
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Re: Proper jack and jack stand locations

Post by Mr Blotto » Tue Oct 23, 2007 1:09 pm

Amskeptic wrote:
I am going to use words, just words, and you are going to get it.
I would not assume that... :geek:

Thanks for the very detailed reply!
1978 Sage Green Westy - 2.0 FI - SOLD WITH 109887 miles :-(

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Adventurewagen
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Post by Adventurewagen » Tue Oct 23, 2007 2:05 pm

Here is a picture with my back end all jacked up. I tossed in the bottle jack before I knew the transmission had mounting bolts added to it, but if you do have a T1 you need the bottle jack under the transmission or something for it to sit on.

Image
63 Gulf Blue Notch
71 Sierra Yellow Adventurewagen
DjEep wrote:Velo? Are you being "over-run"? Do you need to swim through a sea of Mexican anchor-babies to get to your bus in the morning?
:wav:

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vwlover77
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Post by vwlover77 » Tue Oct 23, 2007 4:33 pm

I really like using the spring plate stops for the jack stands. Maximum lift from the stand, and room to move around under there once they are in place. It's a very stable location, also.

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Don

---------------------------
78 Westy
71 Super Beetle Convertible Autostick

"When we let our compassion go, we let go of whatever claim we have to the divine." - Bruce Springsteen

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Re: Proper jack and jack stand locations

Post by turk » Tue Oct 23, 2007 4:45 pm

Amskeptic wrote:Front, anywhere along the beam is OK, you want to put the jack stands as outboard as possible for stability.
But let's say you need to work on the front beam, then location #2 is where the frame rails meet the jack port crossmembers. You can see that the lower frame rail horizontal edge gets wider as it joins this cross member.
Be symmetrical left-to-right for best balance.
I think you mean that tube. That's where I've been putting them- carefully not too close to grease nipples. I need a bottle-jack. That bilstein works but it's sketchy with the slope of the street near the curb where I work. Wants to lean and fall.

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Post by turk » Tue Oct 23, 2007 4:48 pm

Adventurewagon,
I think your bus pictured is the same color of mine. Know what that color-code or psuedonym is? I've heard "Yosemite Yellow" and "Bali Yellow" but it seems like a greenish yellow color to me.

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justgimmecoffee
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Post by justgimmecoffee » Tue Oct 23, 2007 5:10 pm

Excellent post.. its good to know the alternatives to the factory jack (and I use that word loosely because.....)

how the @#$ does this thing work?

I see how its supposed to work: The arm goes into the jack point, I turn the nut the giant screw turns and it all goes up. Supposedly. Except the "arm" that sticks out is jointed where it connects to the jack: it either folds flat against the jack or sticks out at a 90 angle. So..... Stick it in the hole, turn the screw... the jack lifts up and that arm folds down 'till its paralell with the jack and the bus has not lifted a millimeter (important to be metric here....).
is this some German practical joke? I don't see any way for this to function as a jack. So how does it work? It looks Dangerously Wobbly. Not that that will stop me, but my wife needs to know how much life insurance to get.

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-Barry

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Post by turk » Tue Oct 23, 2007 5:26 pm

Yeah. It seems very wobbly at times. Especially if you're on a non-level surface such as the by the curb and one side of the bus is 6 inches higher than the other - with all tires on the ground. Then it has that angle to it and it's even more unstable with the grade to the curb.

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Amskeptic
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Post by Amskeptic » Tue Oct 23, 2007 5:55 pm

justgimmecoffee wrote:is this some German practical joke?
It's a dang good jack on healthy buses. The rectangular arm is supposed to be securely held inside the jack port. The jack will have a bit of positive camber when you start lifting, but it leans towards straight up as the vehicle lifts. You must make sure that the arm gets fully inserted in the jack port hole. Then you'll see it makes sense and can pick up a fully loaded bus with no drama. If your jack ports are rusted out, don't even bother.
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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Hippie
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Post by Hippie » Tue Oct 23, 2007 6:49 pm

I've used that type of factory jack for changing tires OK, but I'd never get any part of me under the Bus with one of those. My jack points are good.


Rob
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Post by turk » Tue Oct 23, 2007 7:25 pm

It easyto use. It scares me whenever I use it though. It did "pole-vault" off the foot and curb once - I guess because the angle was too positive relative to the driver's side elevation on the street. I've been very careful ever since.

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Ritter
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Post by Ritter » Tue Oct 23, 2007 7:29 pm

justgimmecoffee wrote: how the @#$ does this thing work?
It works. Just stuff it in the hole as far as it will go, kick the bottom out away from the bus and start cranking. The first time I used it, I was dumbfounded that it actually could crank 1/4 of the bus off the ground.
1978 Westfalia 2.0 FI

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