Need Help With Floor Jack
 

About a week ago, there was a brief discussion about using a floor jack to lift the Fit. I had made a wooden block for a Nissan Cube, and I was going to make another for the Fit. Someone cleverly suggested using a hockey puck between the jack pad and the car. I got two pucks from Amazon. One will sit on the jack pad, and the other will be on top of it, fitting into the sheetmetal on the bottom of the Fit.

I found that my table saw can easily cut a groove into the rubber puck. I can widen the groove with multiple passes and increase the depth with multiple cuts. My question is how can I hold the puck securely to make all these cuts? I need some kind of carrier so it stays in position, and also to keep it from dragging against the rip fence.

You could probably screw the puck to a 1x board (puck side down) that will give you something to hold onto as well as stabilize against the fence.

Use multiple screws so the puck can't rotate...

es

Excellent! I'll be putting screws into that puck anyway to attach it to the one on the bottom.

Just get on the internet and buy a unibody pinchweld adaptor from any of numerous vendors, including fleabay. $15-$17 is about right. Have seen them as high as $25. Great tool. Just remove the round jack adaptor most jacks come with originally, and drop the cylindrical base of the pinchwld adaptor in the hole at the distal end of the jack's lift. Screw
messing with that hockey puck jazz.

The hockey puck sounds like a good idea, but I looked up the pinchweld adapter that badself talked about and it definitely seems like it would be safer in some sense.

How crucial is it to use the reinforced plates as the jack point? I ask because when I used the floor jack on the plate (as I believe will be the point of the puck/adapter) there wasn't enough space to fit a jackstand on the plate as well. I don't like trusting the jack by itself. I wound up setting the jack stand behind the plate on the actual pinch panel(?) and lowering the car until it just made contact with the stand. I figure that way, there was no pressure on the pinch panel, but if the jack failed thecar wouldn't fall to the floor. I still felt unsafe about it and hope to have a better method next time.

Also, because it is relevant to floor jacks, how would one advise patching the soft coating on the bottom of the rocker panel? The floor jack knocked a small piece off and I don't want it to rust there.

I'd like to get a pair of these, but can't justify the cost.

http://www.jackpointjackstands.com/

Good idea, but I've already invested $5.00 in these pucks! :D

This one is funny. It's a hockey puck, 3' X 1", just like the ones I bought..

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Solid-Vulcanized-Rubber-Floor-Jack-Disk-Pad-Adapter-for-Pinch-Weld-Side-Lip-Disc-/231311285914?hash=item35db3a1e9a&item=231311285914&pt=Motors_Automotive_Tools&vxp=mtr

Wonder if there are screw holes on the back side?

:p

es

The Jackpoint stands are cool, but WOW they are pricey.

Silver, I'm just trying to picture it: you are essentially making a double stacked puck (screwed together to form one double thick puck) and then cutting a channel into the top to accommodate the reinforced plate on the car. Is that right? Will this mega-puck fasten to the jack pad at all, or will it just sit on top of it and be held there by the weight of the car?

And follow-up question, what are your thoughts on using jack stands as an additional safety measure in conjunction with the puck-jack? Do you think they will fit on the plate with the jack?

*Always* use jack stands any time you will be under the car. Otherwise you are relying on a $0.75 hydraulic seal to protect you being squashed to death (rare, but they do occasionally fail). Cinder blocks and bricks are not acceptable substitutes for jack stands, BTW.

My jack already has a rubber "head" on it (not notched) so it's fairly gentle on the rocker panel jack points. I typically jack my car up and put my stands under the frame where the lower A-arm or rear beam (or equivalent) connects to the car (on the car frame side of the joint). I have yet to put my Fit on jack stands, but that's what I'll expect to do at that time.

es

Maybe we can get a group buy? :D

that is a recipe for failure. you need to get rid of that old 70's style hydro jack and get a new one with a rubber pad on it.

dood, just ante up and buy a new jack. harbor freight will fix ya up fairly inexpensively... :D no pucks needed. i have had nearly every honda made in the last 25 years and NEVER needed a puck to jack it up. and wheels come on/off in my driveway frequently with all the race stuff.

jacked up my ap2 with the cheapie aluminum smallish jack hundreds of times, including roadside repairs with a 1000 lb tire trailer. no issues. cost $70 on sale from HF
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5613/...5d64e62e_b.jpg

get this adapter instead

Flyin' Miata : Miscellaneous : Tools : FM jack adapter