Ford Fiesta ST Forum banner

Jacking points?

57K views 28 replies 14 participants last post by  WestcoastST  
#1 ·
This weekend I swapped my wheels for the first time for Sunday’s autocross and I used the exact same jack pints I had used on my SES when I rotated tires, on the pinch weld in the area that appeared to be the most reenforced, about 4-6” from the wheel well. Both times when lowering the rear wheels I heard a loud pop but I could not figure out if the sound came from the jack, the fiberglass rocker panel or somewhere else. Has this happened to anyone else? Am I perhaps not using the wrong jack points? I think I might buy a low-profile Harbor Freight aluminum jack to replace my existing Craftsman floor jack to try and reduce the probability of interference between the rocker and the jack.
 
#4 ·
I encountered same when swapping wheels (stock summer to winter--I'm making the spring switch this weekend). Never did isolate the source of the noise. Had forgotten it of late until I ran across your post. Now I'm going to stare at the ceiling for a bit tonight before I fall off to sleep. Thanks for that. ;)

And based on your description, we were using (at least approximately) the same jack points. I used my Arcan XL 20 floor jack. I searched around under the car for a good bit looking for the best jack points, and was never completely satisfied.
 
#5 ·
I prefer to use a middle side jack point and raise both wheels at once. I'm using the pinch weld described above. No issues.

At first I was worried about the side skirt, but it clears fine. Even Dave's fancy extended CF setup clears.

I use a heavy duty 3 ton dual piston jack that I can operate with a couple fingers on my left arm! :)
 
#7 · (Edited)
After cogitating about this for awhile, I'm going to postulate a possible cause of the popping noise, and you can tell me if it might be so.

When using a floor jack, the lifting arm moves in an arc. In order to compensate for this, you'll normally notice that the jack rolls along on the floor. In the event that the jack is unable to roll, the arm will still be moving in an arc and the point of contact at the underside of the car will be forced to slide on the welded rib instead. You hear the popping while going down (and not up) because typically you go down much faster.

Does that sound like a good theory, or what? :)
 
#12 ·
I was just over at Harbor Freight and I think I'm going to buy their smallest aluminum jack.

Its rated at 1.5 tons, 3 3/8" low profile and 27 lbs. The pump has dual pistons and right now its on sale for $89. On the 21'st, I can get 20% off of that. The only down side I can see is the maximum lift is a little less than their bigger models.

For working fast, a lighter jack is going to be easier to move. If I can get it to do the middle jacking point that cuts the moves in half. Less weight to move half as often seems optimum to me.
 
#15 ·
Same here. While I like the idea of the convenience of a middle jack point, I'm gonna trust that the engineers at Ford designated the best/safest spots and those are the ones indicated in the manual, above, etc.
 
#16 ·
That's totally a fair conclusion if using OEM (or similar) tools. I'm using an extra wide platform that distributes pressure evenly over a much wider patch. This wasn't a tested condition by Ford.

One other thing I look for is the presence of soft and hard lines (carrying fuel, hydraulic fluid, etc).

This is safe under the conditions I've described.
 
#22 ·
Old school quick jacks are manually operated and only lift 1/2 or 1/4 of the car.

I was thinking about making one but their drawback is that they lift in an arc but don't have wheels so if your car isn't designed with a big flat lifting point, you can drop the car if you pick it up too quickly.

The big one seems OK but you still need jack stands and it only lifts 2', too compromised in my opinion.
 
#28 ·
Buy these for your pinch weld pick up points. Pick up the FiST to the left of the jack stand point in front, and to the right of the jack stand point in the rear. Make sure you use jack stands which have a relief in the middle so you don't impact the pinch point weld when the car is lowered on the jack stands. Place the jack stands at the recommended pinch points.

I got my jack stands from Sears, my racing jacks from Harbor Freight (2 ton and 3 ton), and my magnetic pinch point weld supports from Amazon (About $40.00)