Advice for hydraulic jack and jack stands. First time

[Fred Smith]

Thanks everyone!

[Zedebee]

AFAIK there is no central front jacking point, apart from possibly the M-cars or maybe the early ones. My 06 E85 (like the E46) has a dimple in the reinforcement plate but there's nothing structural there.

FWIW, having bought one, I would get the low profile trolley jack over a standard one any day. It's got slightly more reach and lift, and a slightly wider track to give better stability.

According to the user manual, the dimple in the reinforcement point is the front jacking point. The reinforcement plate is a two layer construction and at this point the layers are only a few mm apart. First time of jacking, the dimple will deform slightly (and that’s assuming you’re using the rectangular jacking block that fits in the cill jacking points) and then you are jacking against the main structural cross member that supports the gearbox. I don’t know of a jack that will reach this point without lifting the front somehow first. I drive my front wheels onto short sections of 9 x 2 and this gives sufficient clearance for a low entry jack, including the Halfords 3 tonne which I have. Jacking at this central point means it’s dead easy to put axle stands under the cill jacking points.

[DaveP]

I had a small 'low access' trolley jack for a while. It was OK but I found it would 'twist' if not on solid very flat ground, so made me nervous.
I bit the bullet and got a 'proper' low level jack from Halfrauds. It's big and heavy (I can't lift it) but is well made and will lift any car quickly and safely IMO.
This one:
https://www.halfords.com/tools/garage-w ... 63126.html

Halfords don't make them so there are many different brands of the identical thing.

Also worth noting with axle stands; get the shortest (closed) ones possible. A low car has to be raised higher to get an axle stand under, so lower ones are better IMO.

I have the exact same jack from Halfords, combined with some Amazon 2T stands. As you say, it's a bit of a beast - I have to carry mine 30m across gravel from my shed to the car, and it's a good workout!

I still needed to drive my slightly lowered E85 onto a couple of planks to get it under the jacking point. It would probably be ok on a standard height car. Really nice quality, but I'd have probably bought a lighter alloy one if I'd realised how heavy it was (bought online in a hurry).