:( Jacking points snapped off

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cheshire190e
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Joined: 07 Apr 2008 12:40 pm
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:( Jacking points snapped off

Post by cheshire190e » 12 May 2008 03:57 pm

Hi everyone,

Havnt had my car all that long, went to jack it up the other day to replace the pads and the rear jacking points on both sides just snapped off.

It seems like this is a pretty common problem. The problem is my car is due for an MOT quite soon so what should i do??
1987 Volvo 340 1.7

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CarlD
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Post by CarlD » 12 May 2008 04:06 pm

As far as i know, on our old 340 the jacking points were in a bad state and were a definate MOT fail, so we removed them and as there not there the MOT doesn't test them. It's also better to jack the car using other points anyway i belive.

Cheers
Carl

cheshire190e
Posts: 283
Joined: 07 Apr 2008 12:40 pm
Location: Macclesfield/Chester

Post by cheshire190e » 12 May 2008 04:10 pm

so it could pass an MOT without the jacking points but not with them bent and twisted?

The rest of the car is sound, the arches have no rust and the sills seem fine, do you reckon i just chop the jacking points off?

Cheers
1987 Volvo 340 1.7

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CarlD
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Post by CarlD » 12 May 2008 04:18 pm

It's probable best if someone else can confirm this. But as i said we cut ours off and it went through fine.

cheshire190e
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Post by cheshire190e » 12 May 2008 04:19 pm

yeah, cheers for that. Anyone else got there opinions?
1987 Volvo 340 1.7

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shimon340
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Post by shimon340 » 12 May 2008 05:38 pm

hi there

welcome to V3M! The rear jacking points are a common rust place but it usually starts as the rear of the sill rusting, usually where it meets the rear wheel arch. The car may or may not be jacked at Mot time on the jacking points (depends on the garage) but they are the best place to lift a 300 really. Rusty chassis and weak floor areas mean it wont pass an mot so you'll need to get this repaired. You are quite close to me in thwe UK, Im in manchester.

I'm not sure if he'll appreciate me saying this (giving him extra work!!)but I think you are best to contact Dai or Classicswede on this forum. He welded the jacking points on my friends 340 for MOT and did a beautiful job!

prob best to ask him as you arent so far from Angelsey like me.

good luck!

Shimon
Enjoy your 300s

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Bazboy
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Post by Bazboy » 13 May 2008 01:16 am

I usually jack my car up on the square patch behind the rear wheels, im not sure if this is the best place for it though, ive never had any problems but i too would like to know where else you can jack the car up from?
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petefarrell360
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Post by petefarrell360 » 13 May 2008 02:54 am

The jacking points are prone to collapsing, and tbh, I won't use them to jack a car up, unless it's roadside and an emergency to change the tyre, as even on a solid car, stresses of jacking it up on uneven ground etc can help them bend, as they're not super strong. My Uncle has repaired one I think and braced it in a couple more places, where as normally, it's a bit of box section tacked on the sill!

I wouldn't like to say about cutting them off for the MOT. For the remaining ones, if they are both fronts for example, check they look ok and leave them on and thing about checking them and strengthening them. Check they are all clear of everything, as the rears if bent rub on the rear leaf springs quite easily. As Carl says, if the ones that have snapped off aren't present, they cannot test them. It's a jacking point for the emergency jack, some fit into holes in the chassis, others onto pads, others into a lip, the Volvo 300 one slots under and into a piece of box section, that's how they decided to make them, so it's not cruical, only to operate with that particular jack.

As for jacking points when working on the car, I prefer to use a decent trolley jack and place it in the middle of the rear axle (not the gearbox and diff as some do) and lift there, and for the front, on the cross member behind the sump. I have a rubber pad fitted within the jack too, which helps grip and prevent damage. This way you lift both sides of the car at one, and your not jacking up one corner at a time. Always use axle stands though when working under the car!

At the MOT, they will normally lift the car up on a jack when it is on the lift/ramp, so will use a structural point underneath, to use the jacking point mounted under the sills they'd need to use the jack supplied with the car. However, as the jacking point is there, and could be used to support the car, or is within 30 cm of a structural part of the car, which it is, then if it look rough and fails their tests, then it will be picked up and failed on it.

Pete
G reg 360 GLT, G reg 340 GL Variomatic, plus many more..........

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foggyjames
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Post by foggyjames » 23 May 2008 02:27 am

I usually jack the car on the underside of the gearbox or axle tube at the back, and on the rearmost of the two crossmembers at the front....then pop it on stands placed under the jacking points. They're reinforced both front and rear. I've been having quite a good look at them this week, courtesy of the holes in my 360's sills :-D

Watching closely, both tyre places I went to recently went for the 'correct' jacking points with the pads on their pillar lifts. It shouldn't be a problem, if you jack it correctly, and the car is solid.

I suspect there are two issues here.
1) Jacking points shearing / bending when jacking the car on a slope / uneven ground. You can't afford to jack the car on anything other than nice level ground.

2) Jacking points collapsing due to rust. You need a date with a welder. I've yet to own a 300 rusty enough to have this happen. I've had various other problems with rust, but never the old "I'm raising the jack...the car isn't going up, but there's a nice crushing sound..."

cheers

James
VOC 300-series Register Keeper
'89 740 Turbo Intercooler
'88 360 Turbo Intercooler
'85 360 GLT
'81 343 GLS R-Sport
'79 343 DL
'70 164
...and some modern FWD nonsense to get me to work...

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