Pinch welds wrecked - now what?

[Bullitt 3309]

https://themustangsource.com/forums/f726/have-you-jacked-up-your-mustang-493306/#post6039853

 

[46addict]

Here's what I found online.

The service manual suggests only jacking from the pinch welds. Use your best judgment.

 

[o2sys]

I don't like putting the jack stands next to the cats like pictured above. They are weak and gets crushed easily.

 

[eighty6gt]

That's a made up diagram by internet guy x. that said, I know that I'm reversing the loads on the diff housing which could theoretically bend it when I lift by the pumpkin, but I ignore this because I simply can't do anything else and if it fucks up I'll just deal with it.

The lifts they use at Ford shops lift by the pinch welds. You should go watch them hammer cars up into the air. Kick the lifting pad somewhere close to in front of the wheel, have a look at all 4 corners, get the car up in the air. I believe the pads are fairly large and have a rubber pad with a square pattern for larger surface area. Time is money in a shop.

When I'm lifting with my chinese jack it has a round bucket with no rubber pad, I run it so that two arc lengths of the bucket edge contact the pinch weld area as I lift. Never an issue. Again, the jack stands are contacting on maybe 1/8", never an issue. The material may deform slightly (It will deform if the material is stressed beyond its yield, but as the material yields you quickly get to a point where the surface area enlarges and the stress drops!) you might lose some paint, but nothing that you'll ever see unless you're rolling around examining it with a drop light, and life is too short to give a crap about that sort of minor thing.

 

[Bill220]

I've jacked mine up there with a rubber pad on the jack plate. Never had a problem. Never used stands there, though.

 

[46addict]

I basically cut 3 sides off the puck to give 1 rounded edge, and 3 flat that fit inside the pinch weld lift points, and a slit across wide enough for it and just deep enough to bottom out as it pressed against the rest of the body to evenly distribute load across max surface area

Do you have any pics or can you draw it real quick on MS paint? I'm having a hard time visualizing.

 

[o2sys]

I jack mine with a hockey puck as well and haven't had an issue with them bending.

The only issue I have is putting the jack stand at the pinch welds where my jack has a U shapped end and bends my rocker panel a little.

 

[Wes06]

Do you have any pics or can you draw it real quick on MS paint? I'm having a hard time visualizing.

Will take a pic today after work

 

[bujeezus]

Shit, it didn't work...just google "jack points"

 

[06 T-RED S/C GT]

I'd just get a pair of race ramps and place jack stands under the frame rails

 

[Wes06]

 

[06 T-RED S/C GT]

Did a nice job transforming the hockey puck into a rubber jack pad Wes

 

[Wes06]

I put one side against the 3" mark so everyone can estimate how large it is, it is just small enough to be a little snug when placing, but cant always hold itself. I feel it distributes the load pretty well over the face of the puck.

 

[Ouroboros]

Thanks for all the info. Are you guys using anything similar between the jack stands and the corresponding contact point?

 

[Wes06]

I've just used the pad to get my car high enough to get to the k member. And go the rest of the way there, placing stands further in. And on the axle/control arm mount in the rear

 

[Bill220]

I get it. You don't happen to have a nifty diagram of safe/unsafe places to position a jack and stands, do you?

If you're an inept, OCD dumbass like me, yes, you do.