Lifting the rear of the car

[Eskozki]

Hello,

Car didn't pass inspection again due to weak parking break so I'll need to adjust it a bit. I did a quick search for lifting the rear from the transaxle and found conflicting results. Some people say its Ok and some say its not. Pelican even has a instruction that says it is OK.

I bought a low profile jack but it doesn't fit under the porsche. I can only lift from the side center points with that jack. I would really prefer to lift the car once and put it on jack stands than raising the other side first, putting on a jack stand and then lift the other side, that feels slightly risky.

[wwdwgs]

It's fine to lift the rear using differential "bottom". Daytona floor jack (from harbor freight) is 2.5" high and pretty long (or deep). But, I don't see it on their website anymore. Discontinued model? Most low-profile floor jack are over 3" high.
Also, check Clark's garage if you can adjust the parking brake on the handle. It seems to me that you need to increase parking cable tension and/ or adjust the parking brake shoes through the hole on the rear rotors.
If you have never "touched" the rear brakes, do yourself a favor - remove rear rotors and inspect them. My parking brakes were malfunctioning, because or broken hold-down springs, which lead the shoes to "turn" sideways and rub against the rotor on both wheels. Make sure to install those hold-down spring properly!

[OK-944]

I would not lift the car with the trans...seeing as how it is typically suspended by a rubber mount which allows it to flex around a bit. Not sure how that mount would survive such a lift.

Perhaps if your car has a solid mount it might be OK - but others will need to chime in on this.

Back in the days before I'd acquired my own lift...I did the "side to side" procedure that you mention, and never had a problem with this...but would indeed recommend caution with this approach, and also a bit of patience in lifting each side gradually so as not to get the car canted at too great an angle.

[Monkey Wrench]

I always lift cars from at or near their jacking points or secure frame members.

don't forget to securely chock your front wheels so It can't roll forward or back.

never trust a fart , you can loose your shorts if you do.
never trust your life on a jack.
being pinned under a car is a horrible way to go.

my father once jacked his car, used a factory jack , the car rollled he got pinned. mom used the jack and got him out, i think he broke a few ribs. he was too ashamed to even go to the hospital.

if you are alone and pinch your self under a car you can have a horrible fate.

lucky he put the tire under there to save his life. problem is the tire wasn't high enough..

so go find a solid block that you do trust your life to. or several of them.

if you look how trucks build dunnage made of 2x4s or 4x4 on the flat, two one way , two the other way ,nail together, repeat until you are high enough. make sure its not junky junk pine wood, Fir lasts longer, pine rots fast. cedar can split. firewood logs can work but make sure its solid and evenly cut, not sloped and crooked. not punky rotten wood.

teach your wife and kids how to use the hydraulic jack.

never go under a car unless you are absolutely sure it's safe.

a tire or wheel is not a suitable block.
what sometimes happens is that the car can lift ok until the other back wehhl comes up , then it can go sideways..


I was going down a highway and hit a pot hole. got stuck in pouring rain, had a jack a spare, but not enough blocking.

tried several times , it would keep falling off the blocks.. I had the e-brake on but it wouldn't hold well. I was stuck there.. forgot my phone, i was basically screwed. getting very tired after a few attempts at getting a wheel off the ground and it falling back off.. soaked through and out of patience.

solution, I found a pot hole and put my other back wheel in it ! and also found A hunk of logging chain, so wrapped that around the same 9 oposite) tire. that helped hold it from rolling off what blocking i had.

then with better wheel chalking . I managed to change the tire. precarious swapping the wheels , but I wasn't about to put my body under there.

if you use a factory jack , those are meant for changing tires. you can lift one wheel ,

if you jack it up a foot or so, what happens is you are then lifting the other back wheel and one front wheel then the car is sitting on the jack and one wheel , pretty stressed too.

if you instead jack in steps, then both front wheel are still on the ground and doing something. the suspension can move a little and allow this.

if you put a roling car jack unde the differential and jack it up you have no brakes, the front wheels dont have brakes nor does the jack , especially if it has rollers on it. I see car shops do this all the time, I dont do it personally.

maybe its reasonable if you have both front wheels chocked properly and it's actually level, any incline, watch out !

the floor is not a jacking point. its not suitable for the blocking for the same reason, the floor can break. it can push through.

[Eskozki]

Thanks for the advice. I'll try to adjust from the lever. There is a loud bang from the rear if I pull the brake while moving. I have changed the shoes a year ago, but the cable was pretty tight. I think it is too corroded to slide properly. I got it to work enough to pass the inspection that year. I'll replace the cable next winter.

[walfreyydo]

The three main things to check with parking brake:
-lever adjustment inside the car
-condition of the cable(s) running from lever to the torsion bar tube, and additional cables running from the assembly at the torsion bar tube to the rear trailing arms.
-condition of the drum shoes and adjustment behind the rear rotors (just like an old brake drum there is a star adjustment knob which will allow you to adjust the brake shoe contact point)

In terms of lifting the car, I *have* in the past lifted using the trans (given the recommendation by the PP article), but given that its only supported by two small-ish bolts at the trans mount, this makes me uncomfortable. I have opted to jack the car from the sides and putting jack stands under the torsion bar caps at the end of the torsion bar tube. Much more inconvenient but I think the trans mount is happier this way.

[Monkey Wrench]

I tend to not use parking brakes myself, the only time I do is if parking on a hill where I cannot use the curb as a fail safe brake. what can happen is the pads rust to the drum and become somewhat bonded, or i realize i'm driving, and it's still on , by the smell ;-)

if the cables are ok maybe it just needs to be pulled out and lubed and put back. maybe graphite type lube is ok, or lubriplate tends to expel water there might be a rubber boot that goes bad where the cable enters the sheathing.

[Bulldog9]

Originally Posted by Eskozki

Hello,

Car didn't pass inspection again due to weak parking break so I'll need to adjust it a bit. I did a quick search for lifting the rear from the transaxle and found conflicting results. Some people say its Ok and some say its not. Pelican even has a instruction that says it is OK.

I bought a low profile jack but it doesn't fit under the porsche. I can only lift from the side center points with that jack. I would really prefer to lift the car once and put it on jack stands than raising the other side first, putting on a jack stand and then lift the other side, that feels slightly risky.

I have a stack of 2x8s in the corner of my garage for this purpose. I jack up each side and put one two or three of the 2x8s under each tire as needed.

Just need an inch to get the jack in place? Use 1. Plan to do something like transactional fluid change, oil change, etc? Use 2-4.

Easy Peasy

[Monkey Wrench]

I think there is a solid point just in front of the back wheel that may be ok to jack from , its near the torque tube. will your jack fit there?

the fairly small typical floor jacks go lower than most bottle jacks , thats what I use if the bottle jack wont fit. a small bottle jack is handy so either a small bottle jack or a floor jack might be helpful.

if you just take some 2x4s and cut them about 14" long, then lay two one way , two the other way , repeating and nailing each then you have a pretty solid block, I made several like that and find them very handy.

I still take another bottle jack and lift it up under the car taking just a tiny bit of weight, thts just insurance, I do not take chances with cars toppling onto me.

I recently got a pair of car ramps, haven't really used them , a neighbour put them out in the alley for grabs, they may be oK for some things. i suppose you can drive the car onto a pair of those and save a bit of work even if you are jacking.

if you have a firewood pile you might find you have some suitable pieces that are cut really square and are not going to split apart.

ive had it happen where I was pulling on a wrench and put my hand upon the rocker panel for support and the wind blew the door closed, I pulled my fingers back out but that was a bit scary as I could have been trapped. Murphy's law.

if you jack a car up so much that a second wheel lifts, be caereful thats where the car can move, and topple off the jack. it s possible for the car to then move foreward back or sideways.

I do it in steps , its more safe and if I mess up, if it did fall, it can only fall a couple inches.

if you put it withte tires o blocks , it may not hurt to nail down some ribs so the car isn't; able to roll forward or back and roll off the blocks.

Id suggest having a couple of wheel chalks
I have one that I like , it is hand made of thick round bar stock so when its against the wheel it is also under the tire so that way it can't push away

even on the level they can help assure the car is not going to roll.

https://www.uline.ca/Product/Detail/H-517/Wheel-Chocks/Wheel-Chocks-Black-Rubber-9-3-4-x-8-x-6?pricode=YG070&gadtype=pla&id=H-517&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI6dLLt_DAiAMVAs_CBB1KawS7EAQYASAB EgL12vD_BwE

i also keep piece of aluminum checkerplate that is fairly thick , I use that to put under my jacks as I'm working on gravel. if I travel far il oftn throw in my checkerplate and my floor jack , a bit heavy but easier to use than a factory jack.

i made a couple of fairly high adjustable jackstands. ( axle stands) I find those handy because they don't need a large area. I designed the ones I made in such a way that if they do push into dirt they become lodged by the support bars I put between each leg.
Mine are fairly stable. I've seen cheap ones I don't trust so much, I made mine extra heavy so they won't fail on me or rust out. Bedrail and heavy wall tubing holes and a pin to change the height.

generally I will try to jack the car in such a way I end up with my two axle stands under the jacking points and make sure they are secure so they can't go sliding off .

if you are working on wheels and brakes obviously you cant put blocks under the tires. if it's a muffler , that's different. If you work on an exhaust system, it can be important to have the car supported by its tires so its suspension is in a fairly normal compressed state.

if a car is stored maybe there is some benefit to getting it up off the ground, to be less prone to rusting from nearby wet ground. Let the air get under, up out of the dew. rather than it being trapped in boggy tall grass etc. that might reduce humidity.

long term maybe springs age and compress, the torque tube may be a different animal but cars can sag with age. a guy in a spring shop told me its that the springs get rust and the tiny unnoticeable cracks in the metal cause the spring to weaken with age and rust, then sag. i had them re manufacture ones for my old volvo, stock height but a little stiffer, but those are coils. it restored the height to original.

some suitable chunks of marine plywood may be handy to have around. spread weight or use them as shims or something to stiffen the ground up. a base for your bottle jack. normal plywood rots fast.

a scissors jack can easily be found at any auto wrecker, they do go very low and are inexpensive, one may be ok to get the car high enough for a bottle jack. be careful though , those things can topple easily.


a lot of the time a bit more jacking means less squeezing and contorting and the job can be a lot more comfortable.

getting dirt in your eye is always a hazard. I've done it so many times and still Ill forget my safety glasses and do it one more time. often in too much of a rush to go find them ..