Quote:
Originally Posted by camaroman123
Bought a used 2017 Camaro SS, and the previous owner seems to have installed a chassis brace on the underbody. The chassis brace is fastened to the chassis using the jack points at the front of the chassis. I have attached some pictures--one of the brace's attachment points pictured under the vehicle, and one of the brace itself that I removed while servicing some parts on the underbody.
I mainly want to figure out if I need to remove the brace every time I need to jack up the car, i.e. changing a flat, etc. Do you think the brace's are "structural" enough that I could just put the jack right on the connection point?
I understand that the question might be better posed to the manufacturer of the part--unfortunately, I cannot find the manufacturer online. The brace does not seem to have manufacturer's information or part #. Does anyone happen to recognize this brace and would know the part #, so that I could look up whether or not it can be jacked?
|
Hope the following helps: I don't like lifting my SS Vert, I have nightmares about it lying flat on the garage floor with the wheels off and no way for me to raise it. Soooo.....I'm sharing the most conservative approach I could come up with short of buying ramps that slide too easily or a drive on lift that's too expensive for my budget.
1. Equipment: (4) Torin 6000 lb aluminum jack stands purchased at Pep Boys, (2) 4000 lb jacks, and ZL-1 Addons Permanent Lift Pads for Gen 6 convertibles.
2. Equipment Locations: I started with the front and used the Cross Brace attachment bolts shown in the photographs as the points to locate the floor jack saddles. For the front, I used the outer bolt (circled in red) and for the rear I used the inner bolt (circled in yellow). The Torin jack stands have a saddle that fits the ZL-1 Lift Pads perfectly and the base on them is small enough that interference between the floor jack and stand is eliminated. In my method, a wider based jack stand would not have worked due to interference problems.
3. Jacking Procedure: Since I wanted to avoid twisting the body, I centered the jacks on the cross brace bolt (circled in red) in the front and gradually raised the car by going from side to side in small increments until I got to the height I wanted. After making sure the front was secure, I used the inner cross brace bolt (circled in yellow) to raise the rear using the same side to side method.
Conclusion, I was getting the car ready for the Dallas Autorama so thoroughly cleaning wheels, wheel wells and the bottom of the car was a necessity. Using my method, I heard no creaks in the body, or other evidence of twisting or misalignment. Also, the stands are extremely secure, take up the smallest amount of room possible, and don't scratch the floor. Yep, my method ain't cheap but it costs a lot less than the damage accruing from my beloved Camaro falling off a jack.