Can't find guide on where to put jack stand on Subaru?

[silviaz]

So I'm going to change the oil for the first time myself, and I understand the jackstands can go on the pinch welds, though I can't find for the front of the car where to start jacking it up. The owners guide doesn't say anything about it. I was thinking to jack the car from the chassis rail then put the stand on the pinch weld but I heard with unibody construction cars that the rail will bend if I do that. My car is a 2001 subaru impreza rx sedan.

[GTSBoy]

On 2/3/2022 at 8:30 AM, silviaz said:

and I understand the jackstands can go on the pinch welds

No. Never. That's how you f**k up and fold them over. Look at the jacking points and look at the OEM jack that goes there. The weight is not carried on the ridge of the pinch. The weight is carried up higher, on the reinforced plates either side of the pinch, and ONLY at those specific reinforced jacking points, nowhere else along the sill.

If you want to put jackstands under the sills, you need to have an adapter that takes the weight either onto those reinforced locations either side of the ridge of the pinch weld. Otherwise the pinch just rests like a knife edge on the horizontal plate on the top of the jack stand. And these adapters don't really exist because they'd be f**king dangerous in the hands of most users.

Jack stands go under a suitably flat part of a subframe, or under the lower inner pivots on a suspension arm. Somewhere strong enough to carry the weight without bending. Somewhere that won't slide off of the jack stand.

[GTSBoy]

And in a horrible coincidence, I just had to coach my daughter through jacking her car up to change a tyre on the phone from 2600 km away.

I mean....I shouldn't have had to, having previously had her do it in the driveway. But it appears that smashing a tyre on the kerb makes memories of earlier training evaporate.

So, I now have a photo on my phone of a 2014 Swift's FR jacking point, if anyone thinks it will help!

[Murray_Calavera]

Please don't jack on the rails either. 

My Impreza is a 2014 so might not be the same, but I jack on the tow recovery points and stands go under the subframe.

[joshuaho96]

On 2/2/2022 at 4:30 PM, silviaz said:

So I'm going to change the oil for the first time myself, and I understand the jackstands can go on the pinch welds, though I can't find for the front of the car where to start jacking it up. The owners guide doesn't say anything about it. I was thinking to jack the car from the chassis rail then put the stand on the pinch weld but I heard with unibody construction cars that the rail will bend if I do that. My car is a 2001 subaru impreza rx sedan.

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/showthread.php?18087-Subaru-Factory-Service-Manuals-(FSM)-Every-Model-USDM-EU

This is for the US models but it can't be that different, as a general rule unless you really know what you're doing you shouldn't deviate from what the FSM states. Super important to note that the 2 post lift and emergency tire jack do not just sit on the pinch weld alone, they also contact the flat portion beside the pinch weld which is the primary load bearing surface so do not just blindly set your car down on jack stands without an appropriate adapter:

Edited February 3, 2022 by joshuaho96

[joshuaho96]

On 2/2/2022 at 5:49 PM, GTSBoy said:

No. Never. That's how you f**k up and fold them over. Look at the jacking points and look at the OEM jack that goes there. The weight is not carried on the ridge of the pinch. The weight is carried up higher, on the reinforced plates either side of the pinch, and ONLY at those specific reinforced jacking points, nowhere else along the sill.

If you want to put jackstands under the sills, you need to have an adapter that takes the weight either onto those reinforced locations either side of the ridge of the pinch weld. Otherwise the pinch just rests like a knife edge on the horizontal plate on the top of the jack stand. And these adapters don't really exist because they'd be f**king dangerous in the hands of most users.

Jack stands go under a suitably flat part of a subframe, or under the lower inner pivots on a suspension arm. Somewhere strong enough to carry the weight without bending. Somewhere that won't slide off of the jack stand.

I see the adapters you're talking about all the time, it's just a rubber block with a slot cut in it:

 

[GTSBoy]

On 2/3/2022 at 12:32 PM, joshuaho96 said:

I see the adapters you're talking about all the time, it's just a rubber block with a slot cut in it:

Yes. I've not seen them in Australia and I can see your average knob head making a catastrophic f**kup with them.

[silviaz]

On 2/3/2022 at 3:54 PM, GTSBoy said:

Yes. I've not seen them in Australia and I can see your average knob head making a catastrophic f**kup with them.

Hey man, it seems that most people put a stand on the pinch weld? The photos I attached there are 2 of pinch welds, the first one looks a bit weird but doesn't the jack stand go in-between those 2 notches? Also that third picture I was going to lift it from there what I saw on some channels but it looks thin?

 

Edited February 3, 2022 by silviaz

[GTSBoy]

No. Go back and read what I wrote. If you put a chassis stand under the pinch weld, then the weight of the car is bearing down on the lower edge of the pinch weld directly onto the flat of the chassis stand. That is not how the lifting point is designed to be used.

Contrast that with how the factory scissor jack is loaded onto the lifting point. The pinch weld goes down into a slot in the top of the jack, and the jack makes contact with the lifting point to either side of the pinch. The load is carried by the strong, reinforced part of the sill. Not the weak as piss easy to fold over pinch weld.

This is why, as Josh said above, you don't just throw 2 post hoists, or any other sort of lifting device like a trolley jack under the sill jacking points and crank it into the sky either. This because they don't have the correct interface to load the jacking point correctly - unless you place the correct adapter into the interface. Like the rubber block he showed for a chassis stand, but with a big round lower part of the pad to seat on the end of the hoist arm or trolley jack bowl.

[GTSBoy]

On 2/3/2022 at 2:20 PM, silviaz said:

Also that third picture I was going to lift it from there what I saw on some channels but it looks thin?

When you say "lift it"....do you mean jack it there or put stands under there?

If jack, then....maybe. But yes, it does look like a bad place to jack from. You need a strong and stable place to put a trolley jack's bowl. The front crossmember on a Skyline is flat piece of sheetmetal which looks ideal, but it's quite thin. I use a wooden plate a bit bigger than the bowl of my trolley jack with a neoprene pad on top of it to spread the load when I lift there, because again, the bowl of a trolley jack has a rim with 4 f**king teeth on it which is just designed to f**k up sheetmetal.

But, if you're planning to jack it from that bad looking spot behind the sump....why not just use the sill jacking points with a scissor jack and then put chassis stands in the sort of place where they make sense? ie, the lower control arm pivots or something equally strong and able to carry weight.

If put stands there....hell no. Never put stands close to the centreline of the car, Neither left-right centreline nor front-rear. They should always be as far out towards the corners as you can manage.

[silviaz]

On 2/3/2022 at 5:48 PM, GTSBoy said:

No. Go back and read what I wrote. If you put a chassis stand under the pinch weld, then the weight of the car is bearing down on the lower edge of the pinch weld directly onto the flat of the chassis stand. That is not how the lifting point is designed to be used.

Contrast that with how the factory scissor jack is loaded onto the lifting point. The pinch weld goes down into a slot in the top of the jack, and the jack makes contact with the lifting point to either side of the pinch. The load is carried by the strong, reinforced part of the sill. Not the weak as piss easy to fold over pinch weld.

This is why, as Josh said above, you don't just throw 2 post hoists, or any other sort of lifting device like a trolley jack under the sill jacking points and crank it into the sky either. This because they don't have the correct interface to load the jacking point correctly - unless you place the correct adapter into the interface. Like the rubber block he showed for a chassis stand, but with a big round lower part of the pad to seat on the end of the hoist arm or trolley jack bowl.

Cheers man, will do.

[joshuaho96]

On 2/2/2022 at 10:20 PM, silviaz said:

Hey man, it seems that most people put a stand on the pinch weld? The photos I attached there are 2 of pinch welds, the first one looks a bit weird but doesn't the jack stand go in-between those 2 notches? Also that third picture I was going to lift it from there what I saw on some channels but it looks thin?

 

Definitely get a rubber adapter designed for your jack stands if you're going to put the jack stands on the pinch welds. You will regret it if you don't. I haven't had issues with my alibaba special adapters but it's really important to note that I am extremely careful to inspect them after each use to make sure it hasn't been cut through by the pinch weld and I check many times to make sure the jack stand is lined up properly before I slowly lower the car onto the stands. I also use a rubber floor jack puck to avoid marring/crushing the floor jack points.

That front crossmember looks really weird to me but checking around online that is in fact the floor jack point. Note that in the factory service manual the floor jack has a lifting block on it, presumably because just using a bare floor jack on it will damage the crossmember.