Jacking points

[mangocrazy]

I've never been entirely sure what are safe jacking points on my Spider. I know that there are four 'slot' type points on the outer shell near the wheels that would take a scissor jack, but have never really trusted myself to use them. There are also some square blocks approx 50mm per side just inboard of the body skin with a hole in the middle that I'm guessing are for use with garage 4 post lifts. Is that a correct assumption?

Also, do other members have favourite jacking points for specific jobs?

[Neil-yaj396]

Not sure what you mean by the 'slots'? There are the two fittings for the jack in the tool kit on the Coupe. Are there four on the Spider because of the less rigid body? Either way, I wouldn't put a trolley jack under them.

The four square attachments with the hole in the middle are in fact fittings used on the production line to fit the body shell to it's overhead cradle. It's a risky business using them as jacking points, though many have over the years.

The only official points for a trolley jack are the 'plates' below the rear bumper and to the front of the sub frame, but using these doesn't get the car very high. I use the sub frame near the wishbone, or to get even higher, the rear of the sub frame from behind the front wheels. At the back I use the centre fitting point for the link arms, but extreme care is needed to keep away from the link arms themselves, as these can be flimsy, and once bent even slightly your rear suspension geometry is gone.

[HFStuart]

Under the ends of the sills is perfectly OK for wheel changing etc other than that the plates at the rear and the subframe are the best. The front crossmember moves quite a bit if you use that so I'm never 100% happy using it.

[mangocrazy]

Not sure what you mean by the 'slots'? There are the two fittings for the jack in the tool kit on the Coupe. Are there four on the Spider because of the less rigid body? Either way, I wouldn't put a trolley jack under them.

Slots is a poor term. They are the jacking points that project down from the cills and are intended for use with a scissor jack. Agree about trolley jacks.

The four square attachments with the hole in the middle are in fact fittings used on the production line to fit the body shell to it's overhead cradle. It's a risky business using them as jacking points, though many have over the years.

Well, every day's a schoolday. I never knew that. If you were to spread the load over all four attachments to raise the car completely off the ground for stuff like exhaust repairs, would that caveat still apply?

The only official points for a trolley jack are the 'plates' below the rear bumper and to the front of the sub frame, but using these doesn't get the car very high. I use the sub frame near the wishbone, or to get even higher, the rear of the sub frame from behind the front wheels. At the back I use the centre fitting point for the link arms, but extreme care is needed to keep away from the link arms themselves, as these can be flimsy, and once bent even slightly your rear suspension geometry is gone.

Yes, that mirrors my experiences. I'm aware of the fragility of the link arms. When I used the front jacking point years ago it didn't inspire me with confidence, so I've never used it since. At some point my front subframe will be coming off to be refurbished and I'm thinking of getting some plates welded on to act as jacking points. Can you see a flaw in my cunning plan?

Thanks, Stuart. I've never really trusted the front crossmember either.

[Neil-yaj396]

Re the production line fittings these can be seen in action on the front cover of Viva Lancia 547/February 2014 if you happen to have it.

As above, they are often mistaken for and used as jacking points. As they were initially designed to take the weight of the car (I don't know at which point of production the car came off the cradle, was it dropped onto the engine/subframe, or was this lifted up into the shell?) in theory it should be OK. However now the cars are 30 years plus old, the danger is that these points have weakened and might collapse, or even worse get pushed up into the floor/sill!

You jacking plates on the subframe theory sounds OK to me.

[rossocorsa]

important in this discussion to remember that spiders have different arangement to coupe and hpe and are supplied with a normal jack rather than a beta specific one with the bar that slots in the special box section piece below the sill. personally in any case I'd never use the sill for jacking aside from the fact that they may be old and weaker there's a risk of dents etc. 

[cheeky monkey]

Hi

Matt gave some suggested axle stand points and photos in the following thread which I found a great help. Again, its a coupe in this example.

http://www.lanciabeta.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=1124.0

regards
Graham

[mangocrazy]

Hi

Matt gave some suggested axle stand points and photos in the following thread which I found a great help. Again, its a coupe in this example.

http://www.lanciabeta.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=1124.0

regards
Graham

Thanks Graham, that's a very useful link and gives me a few more options.

Graham 

[Ferrit]

Super old thread.  Can anyone point me to the article mentioned?  No older links seem to work here.  I am guessing they all broke post a migration to another forum platform...

So the middle of the wishbones on the front sub-frame and somehow off the rear centre sub-frame, be careful of the wishbones.  I might need to make some sort of cradle for this.  This all rings a bell from my distant past.  Any further advice?

Mark

[SanRemo78]

There are central lifting pads underneath the front crossmember and the rear valance. Wouldn't trust either to be fair! There are four square raised points behind the front wheels/infront of rear wheels, lift with caution here as the structure underneath may be weak. I had mine cut out, internals put in and the outer refitted. The sills underneath all showed crush damage but should be okay. There are jacking points underneath the sill on either sie. Assess the state of the sills before lifting here.

I was happy to jack the car on the wishbones at the front and axle stands underneath the subframe at the front. Be very careful at the rear and do not jack the car anywhere near the transverse links. They are very easily damaged. I used blocks of wood under the sills on top of axle stands to spread the weight as much as possible. Raise the front first and put it on stands before the rear or use chocks on both front wheels. And never get beneath the car until you are 100% sure it's balanced and steady.

Guy

[Ferrit]

thank you (again).  I am pretty good jacking stuff up safely recently and have some good diy kit due to my first project, a 2.5t VW Caravelle.  Scary as hell all four wheels off on the drive sorting the brakes out.  I did leave wheels under it just in case 

A 40 year old Beta is brain surgery in comparison to bashing out skips