Hello,

I have to get deep under the car before a long trip to tighten the shifter bracket nuts on my 88 Volvo 240 wagon. My room mate/ex-co owner for some stupid reason loosened them up top and wasn't able to tighten them from the bottom.

I'm a little paranoid about jacking the car up and being underneath it. I have one of those jack stands with the lever that you pump up and placed it underneath. I'm sure it's strong enough for the car. I'm using a jack point that is a huge steel beam slightly forward and to the inside of the stock jack point. It's been up on the jack for a half hour with no problem, think it's safe??

Any other advice when jacking the 240?

 

yeah, that sounds like a usable jack point. a jack stand should lock into place, its not a jack. you jack the car up, put the stand(s) under it and lower it onto the stands.

I always put a chunk of a 2x4 between the jack and the car to keep from munging the jacking points.

 

I meant a jack, not a jack stand. I've read that 2x4 can be dangerous, the wood can compress, crack, etc. This one jack point I'm using (is it the axle??) seems pretty solid, but it's my f$%@ng life I'm wagering here, so you never know.

 

you should never crawl under a car supported solely by a jack that doesn't have some sort of locking feature. lift the car with the jack, support it with a jack stand, THEN crawl under it.

 

How much do you trust the o- ring inside the jack?

 

I sure HOPE you're not jacking on the axle!! what you described sounds like a frame member


temperature changes (warmer OR colder) can cause the jack's pump valve to start leaking, and the jack lets go.... whoooops!

a volvo probably won't kill you, its got good ground clearance, but its gonna hurt and someone else is going to have to extract you.

 

Haha, no it's not the axle, I'll snap a photo next time I'm at home to show you.

Thanks for the tip on the Jack-stands too. I'll make sure not to get under a jack. It can be tricky to find a good spot when the jack is already propping things up.

I wish I had a good photo of the undercarriage so I could say "point to the best spots." but I don't.

 

here's where I put my stands, which look just like these cheap ones. I've had my whole 745T sitting on 4 of these.

 

here's where Volvo says to put the stands or jack...

 

Ok, I'll just use the stock jack spots then. I think my problem in the past has been, I use that spot to raise the car... then I can't put the stand there. But I'll come up with a temp spot to jack it up so I can put the stand there.

 

From memory I do not believe there is a flat surface in those areas, I think it is curved, preventing use of stands like you show. I did use my jack with a circular contact to raise it at those spots.

 

the stock jack spots are ONLY good to use if you can support it by the 'pin' as in that picture, if your jack or stand fits under the bottom of the two side plates, they can bend, which renders the whole jack point useless for the stock spare tire jack.

DAMHIK.

 

Ok, so the first photo is from the right side; the pin is broken. How that happened, I do not know. The second photo is from the left side, which still has the pin, but if the other one broke, why won't this one?

right side


left side

Ignore the red color under the wheel well, it's a reflection from something next to the car.

Now, my question is, is it okay to use the flat metal area, in front of where that little hole is to put your stand? Thing is, I don't recall if it's entirely flat or not. What about the metal ridge that each side of the pin goes through?



Thanks.

 

I've generally put my jack under that square beam behind your ?

that broken pin will give you grief if you ever have to change the tire on that side when you're on the roadside with the stock jack... you might want to get a small bottle or scissors jack and carry it (after testing that it can safely lift one wheel at a time off the ground...)

 

Pierce, the part of my stock jack that is supposed to grab the pin is so mangled from someone else using it wrong that you can use it just about anywhere, it's practically flattened on the top.

Can I put the stands on that square beam too or do you just use the jack there?

 

well, my pins are all in good shape (coastal california car == zero rust), and my stands nicely fit on the pin like that picture I posted above (which isn't my picture), so I've been jacking the subframe and standing on the pins. if I put my stands under the beam, I'd be a little afraid they'd dent the beam unless I had some kind of block or pad between the stand and frame.

 

California "coastal cars" can be pretty rusty... Depending on how close to the water they lived. Ocean spray is worse even than road salt as it gets everywhere. Now, a mile inland, it's a different story... These destroyed jack points are all due to undercarriage mishaps or improper jack use in many a Volvo cases as people don't put the jack in the right place and mangle it as a result...

 

well, my 'coast' location is 3-4 miles inland and 300 ft elevation, so I'm well out of the marine layer, and the lady I bought the car from (adult daughter of the original owner) lived about 2-3 miles inland and behind a hill, so also out of the marine layer. it also spent some time in LA.

in the 70s, I lived in Pacific Grove for a few years, blocks from the beach and in the fog belt. stuff rusted fast there.