Rotario

...to pick up a pair of jack stands, and found a 2.25 ton capacity (4500 pound) trolley jack on sale for $39.99. Couldn't beat that price, so I bought one. Tried it on the '8 last night, and it's perfect. Even has a decent plastic carrying case to stow it when you're done. Makes lifting the '8 a breeze. Not trying to advertise for Sears, just thought I'd pass that along as I had (mistakenly) assumed that a trolley-type jack would be considerably more expensive, even for a light capacity unit. Oh, and the jack stands were only $19.99, which was a much better price than Auto Zone had for similar capacity stands. I usually don't much care for Sears, but last night they were my friends. :D

Best,
Bill

Go48

Not sure what you mean by trolley jack. Are you referring to a floor jack? Got a part number or photo? Just curious. I bought their super-duper aluminum floor jack which works fine but doesn't fit under the front or rear jacking points without first raising the car on ramps. Works fine on the side jacking points, of course.

Rotario

Hiya Go48,

Yes, it's a floor jack. The kind that you roll under, and then actuate with a long bar. This one goes up under the '8 perfectly. This looks like it:

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...id=00950523000

The product tag at the store said "On Sale," but it looks like it's the regular price on the web page. Oh well. Still a good deal, I think.

Best,
Bill

Go48

Thanks Bill. You say it fits under the '8. Do you mean you can slide it under the front or rear to the jacking points and then work the bar up and down? Or are you referring to the side jacking points? I hate to be a PITA about this, but I've not found a floor jack that will roll all the way under the front or rear jacking points (without raising the car a bit first) and still be able to work the bar. I paid a bundle for the aluminum jack and although it will roll under the F&R jacking points with no problem, there is not enough space to work the bar up and down.

beachdog

Actually, when that jack goes on sale it is $50 packaged with the same 2 1/4 ton jack stands. I have the same setup.

beachdog

The answer is no. I have that same floor jack. The saddle will fit under the front cross member or the differential but the jack body is not long enough so the pumping range is nearly useless.

I have done a few different workarounds. For the front, I can put the saddle under the cross member with the handle aimed sideways just to the rear of the front tire. Then I use a short crow bar to jack until the car is high enough to use the actual handle.

Other times, I use the Mazda jack under one of the front lifth points to pre-raise the car enough to have usable range of motion.

You can probably use either of these methods with your jack as well. A bit of a pia but it's quicker than the ramps and it's a must if you're going to take the wheels off.

Go48

Figured that.

I have tried all those approaches except for the crow bar. I'll have to try that.

I built ramps using 2"x10"'s for the front and rear wheels thinking I could just drive up on them with all four wheels at the same time. NOT! They work fine for the front or rear, but not both at the same time. At least the one time I tried it, the rear ramps just slid in front of the rear wheels while the front rolled up on the ramps. I even have some heavy sandpaper-like material fastened to the bottom of the ramps, but that doesn't seem to hold the rear ramps in place.

beachdog

I have done this method too, just not with the 8. Kind of a home drive on lift. You need a couple of long 2x8s or 2 x 10s, whatever you made your wooden ramps out of. The lumber needs to be long enough to attach to the front ramps and extend past the rear tires when the car is on the ramps, probably about 10-12' depending on how long your ramps are.

Bolt the front ramps down to the 2x 's. Drive onto the 2x's just up to the base of the front ramps. Then place your rear ramps in front of the rear tires and mark their position on the 2x 's. Use some flat stock or angle iron to make some attachments for the rear ramps to the 2x 's. Needs to be something that can connected and disconnected easily.

Then to use, you drive onto the 2x 's with the front ramps attached, then connect the rear ramps and then drive rest of the way up.

Unfortunately, the 8 is so low that the rear ramps need to fit under the rocker panels and the total amount of lift is probably only going to be about 6".

Now my disclaimer: Do this at your own risk. All drive-on ramps are dangerous. Construction quality and careful usage are essential to your safety.

Personally I prefer jack stands.

Rotario

Hiya Go48,

Sorry I wasn't clear on that, but basically, it's what Beachdog said. The jack will fit under the front just barely, but there isn't any room to move the (lifting) bar with the car sitting flat. What I do is lift up on the side jack point enough to get a jack stand in place, let the car down on the stand, and then move to the other side and do the same. Once I've got it on the stands, there is enough room to go to the front and lift the center to a higher level if need be, depending on what I'm doing. For instance, for changing out a tire there's no need to do anything further. Conversely, for changing tranny fluid, I go up higher and use the jack from the front. It's a bit more of a PITA than being able to go from the front initially, but it's a whole lot easier than using the jack Mazda supplied with the car, at least to me. There maybe a trolley jack out there small enough to enable use from the front at the get-go, but I haven't seen one.

Does that help answer your question?

Best,
Bill

Go48

Yup!

Another approach, which I have used, is to use the jack supplied with the car to jack up one side, remove the wheel and slide the floor jack under the same side of the car to the front (or rear) jacking points. Used that approach before I built the ramps.

Gotta think about the solution that beachdog proposes. Should be an easy mod to my existing ramp solution. (Thanks beachdog!)