Rear jacking….where best?

[MaxTheDog]

Hi All, so decided now the weather has lost its bad attitude, to do some cleaning under arches. As per the attached pictures the rear jacking point is taken up with the trolley, so where to put the stands? Somewhere on the the rear frame I’m guessing but it does seem to need a lot of lift to accommodate my axle stand.
If anyone could enlighten me, preferably with pictures it would be greatly appreciated.
Eventually I’m wanting to get under and clean/treat but until I know I’ve put the stands where they should go to be safe it ain’t ‘appnin’.
Something else that was a bit disconcerting, when I was raising the nearside rear some liquid drained out from roughly where the join in the sills is. Im assuming it’s water as I washed it yesterday. Reassurance that it’s perfectly normal would also be greatly appreciated. But I’m not convinced.
Regards,
Michael.

[Astromorg]

I've always found it difficult to find a generally agreed method of getting my XK8 onto two or four axle stands, but for what it's worth my way is as follows

For the rear end, chock the front wheels securely. With a suitable wooden pad, use the trolley jack under the middle of the A frame/differential to raise the whole back end sufficiently to put an axle stand under each standard jacking point at the appropriate strengthened section of the sill seam. I use a shaped block of hardwood to fit the pad of each axle stand and with a suitable slot to fit around the welded seam.

For the front end, chock the rear wheels securely. I then religiously remove the front undertray (with which I have taken the precaution of fitting new stainless bolts and clips!) to give clear access to the front steel cross member. Then, using as wide and substantial a hardwood baulk as feasible to spread the load, I raise the whole front end using the trolley jack in the centre of the cross member .until the axle stands can be positioned as for the rear stands.

Depending on the dimensions of your trolley stand, when using four axle stands, you may have to lift the front end first.

Raising at the centre of the front steel cross member is recommended by Jaguar to avoid twist the car using one corner at a time. This is understandably particularly important wrt convertibles, but do use a long enough baulk of timber or the crossmember will distort!!

Under no circumstances lift the car via the alloy cross member and don't forget it's usually easier to loosen the wheel nuts prior to lifting.

[mike020150]

Astromorg has described the officially recommended Jaguar procedure which should be the safest method. Lifting the front by the crossmember has always seemed counter intuitive because it doesn't look particularly beefy. These days, it's probably as well to check for any rust in it or nearby before using it for jacking the car. Mike.

[MaxTheDog]

Thanks Astromorg and Mike,
Regarding the lifting from the front the main reason I’m wanting to do it is to treat rust on the front cross member picked up as an advisory last MOT. So not sure I’m in a big rush to do that.
Lifting at the rear, I just want to do a general clean and rust check/treat as required. I’ve just used some Bilt Hamber Hydrate 80 down the inside of the rear wings where the ‘flappy’ vent thingies are.
As Astromorg said about the rear diff/A frame, it seems a long way under to put the trolley but I’m sure it’s my relative inexperience making me think that. Also with the stands I’ve got it seems a lot of height is needed. Maybe some ramps are required.
Thanks again both of you.

[JimMann]

Hi Michael, if you elect to procure / use ramps to gain height to work under the car, you need to be careful in your choice of DIY ramp. As you may imagine, the rear of the X-150 has more of an overhang than the front and it is relatively simple to reverse the car onto a decent set of suitably rated ramps. However, the front, with its much shorter, but significantly lower, overhang will not generally work with the same ramp geometry. The ramp will contact the front spoiler before the wheel has the chance to raise the ground clearance. This means that you need extended lead-in ramps, or some other method to first raise the front ride height before entering or exiting the ramps.
In addition, using the ramps when the task is to allow removal of the wheel to inspect / clean inside the arch is counter productive.
Jim

[MaxTheDog]

Thanks for pointing out the geometry issue with front. I did wonder.
I’ve since spoken to mechanic that I use and he’s very kindly invited me to his workshop to use his lifts. It turns out his wife and mine used to work together in the NHS at Harrogate. So for now I’m going to concentrate on one wheel off at a time work. In the meantime I’ll look for a suitably beefy piece of mahogany!
Thanks all for your input.