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MG MGF Technical - All four wheels off the ground?

No not when your driving but when it comes to working on it.

Looking for the easiest & safest way to get the car raised up with all four wheels off the ground and sitting level and enable me to get underneath.

Dont say axle stands as I have a deep mistrust of them. I've seen a car topple off them before and I dont fancy giving it big licks with a spanner etc while its on them.

I know some elise owners use four boxes of paper that you'd get in your office, one in each corner behind front wheels and in front of the rear but I dont reckon they'd hold the lardy F!

Anyone got an ingenious solution?
Bob Millar

Two sets of ramps, drive up one and then jack the car up for the others
Will Munns

> Two sets of ramps, drive up one and then jack the car up for the others

Should be safe enough I suppose. No chance of tipping the ramps over at the front as I'm jacking up the rear?
Bob Millar

I'd put the rear up first - and secure with handbrake, in gear. You then have the problem of getting a jack under the front with the rear up so high. Maybe you could use two trolley jacks ?
This is not a job I'd do by myself !
Steve

You should be OK as long as you use a trolley jack with wheels on it.

Tim
Tim Jenner

Bob, always a chance - used to do this successfully with a Midget but obviously much lighter overall than an F ('tho not necessarily at the front end). Simply ensure you're on level ground and if you can place the front ramps against a kerb or similar less chance of movement. If you're safety conscious, as a safeguard use axle stands too, assuming it leaves you enough space to work in.
Paul Bevan

Halfords ramps (i know they say you cant use them with 195+ profile tyres, but they do work!) have an un slope, followed by a slight down slope, followed by a stop bar, you would have to be really doing some to come off the ramps!

Be aware of two things though:

Most trolly jacks don't wheel well, if you have a perfectly smooth garage floor then it might work, else I use a sheet of plyboard to get a smooth surface. If the jack doesn't wheel as you pump then the car will get pushed backwards (or forwards) compressing the rubber against the stop or pulling the car back up the slope.

Too much of this and the jack will come off, if you then use axle stands then you really are in dangerous ground now

Secondly, ramps for halfords have a nice smooth painted bottom, and this slides quite nicely on a garage floor when trieing to drive up them - this can be combatted by glueing rubber strips to the bottom, or putting screws in the two holes supplied. Problem is concrete is a real bastard to drill into, so I use two more pieces of ply, length of the ramps + tyre footprint, so the wood sticks out in front of the ramp, as you start to drive up the ramp the tyre is already holding the wood down.
Will Munns

Probably not much help but...
I once saw the front axle of a Landrover being replaced whilst suspending the vehicle nose-down by it's rear towing eye from an overhead gantry crane :-/
Cannonball Bob

I am unable to drive up ramps as the front of my F is too low - I can however reverse up them. So I put the rear up on ramps and then jack up the front and support with axle stands - the car is quite stable as the rear wheels are still on fairly solid supports.
Getting a jack under the front when the rear is on the ramps is however a bit problematic!
Jason H
Jason H

I dare say I could do it with four scissor jacks just keep dashing round the car jacking each bit up at a time till i can get something big and stable under each wheel then lower it down
Bob Millar

>>four scissor jacks<<
I wouldn't recommend that. You need to keep at least one part of the car fixed at all times. Using 4 jacks allows the whole car to move and fall off.
Steve

This thread was discussed between 26/11/2003 and 27/11/2003

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