How to Safely Put 70 coupe on Jack Stands

[Dennis Voiro]

I am ready to replace the calipers and brake hoses on my car. As simple as it seems I would like some guidance on the best way to go about raising the car onto jack stands.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Dennis

[David B.]

Re: How to Safely Put 70 coupe on Jack Stands

Dennis,
Here is how I jack up my 69. I put a floor jack on each side of the frame near the front wheels, but far enough back so that the jack stands can fit after the car is jacked up. I jack the front first, going from side to side to make it go up evenly. I stop before going to full height. (by full height, I mean don't try to put the car at a severe angle.) Then I put the jack stands under the frame and remove the floor jacks.
Then I jack the rear with one floor jack on the differential housing, with a hockey puck or a piece of wood in the jacking plate to keep from marring the housing. I put two more jack stands under the rear frame. Then I usually go back and lift the front again in the same manner for the final height by jacking on the frame on each side until the car is level and solidly on the stands.
(It is a whole lot easier to jack the front using the crossmember with one jack, however, that is how they get dented, as tempting as it may be.)
Dave

[Terry M.]

Re: How to Safely Put 70 coupe on Jack Stands

Heed David's concluding warning about the front cross member. Unless you have something to spread out the load well you will put the same dent in the front cross member all the rest of us have.

David must have side exhaust on his 1969. I can't get at the differential with my original under car exhaust on my 1970. Years ago I saw advertised some kind of made-up support to allow one to jack on the differential with the under car exhaust in place, but I don't recall seeing it advertised recently.

My preference is to place the jack under the side frame rail where the center cross member is welded to the side rail (bolted on if you have a shiftless Corvette). Raise one side and place jack stands front and rear. I like to place the fronts at the inner mount for the front lower control arm, but this can be tricky depending on the kind of pad one has on the top of the stands. Depending on the job I am going to do, I sometimes place the back stand at the rear of the frame, inboard of the muffler. I have two heights of jack stands so I can use the taller ones at the very back of the car if I wish, or the shorter ones in front of the rear wheel if I wish. On rare occasions I will place the short stands at the four corners of the horizontal part of frame, but this usually binds the doors, so it may not be advisable. One of those do as I say, not as I do sort of things.

[David B.]

Re: How to Safely Put 70 coupe on Jack Stands

Terry,

You are correct. Good point. When I had sidemounts, I could jack on the differential, but not now that I have restored it back to under exhausts. With under exhausts, it is necessary to jack on the frame as you said.

David