How to Safely Lift a Car

Before purchasing or getting a car, there are a few basic car repairs essentials you need to have locked down. These include changing the tyres in case of a puncture, lifting your car, replacing your car battery and maybe adding water and coolant to the car radiators. While these tasks seem trivial and straightforward for every Tom, Dick and Harry, Some tiny aspects that are often overlooked could make your work more difficult or even worse, lead to fatal accidents that may damage your car or cause injury.

Take lifting your car for instance. This process is relatively simple and almost anyone can do it, right? Well sure, getting your vehicle off the ground is an essential skill. This will enable you to carry out repairs on various car parts that are accessed from underneath the car. But any wrong move could result in devastating consequences for both you and your vehicle. For safety reasons, always use jack stands to lift your vehicle off the ground and always have someone nearby to assist or help in case anything goes astray. With that in mind, here’s how to safely and efficiently lift your car off the ground.

How to Properly Lift a Car off the Ground

A car is lifted by a car jack that should come with the purchase of your vehicle. Getting your car on the jack is an intricate process with a couple of steps that should be followed keenly to avoid any accidents.

Preliminaries

There are a few things you need to do before the actual lifting process:

1. First, ensure that your car is standing on a level field. Any slanting or tilt will lead to an imbalance that will cause the car to fall off the jack.
2. Make sure the car is in gear, and the handbrake is pulled firmly.
3. Place small obstructions or wheel chokes on the wheels to secure the car in place and prevent any rolling.
4. Locate your car’s specific jack points. The position of the jack points vary with the type and make of the vehicle. If you don’t place the jack in the appropriate jack points, you could do considerable damage to your car. For many cars, the jack points are located right next to the wheels right at the middle of the wheelbase and the car’s rear though same cars have them in the front and in the back.

Actual Lifting

1. If you have a front jacking point, lift the front of the car onto the jacking stands. If not, use the rear jacking points found at the back of the car.
2. Once the car is lifted, slide the jacking stands, one either sides of the car, to match the jacking points once it’s high enough. You will be required to lift both sides of the car to slide the two jacking stands in place.
3. Lower the lift, so the car settles onto the jack stands.
4. Bring the floor jack to the rear and lift from the rear jacking point. Once high enough, place the jack stands and lower the car ensuring that the jack stands are the same height to keep the car level.
5. Once secure, shake the car a bit to ensure the jack stands hold firmly. For more safety consider placing wooden blocks at the base of the wheels.
6. With your car safely off the ground, you can proceed with repairs safely.

Getting your car off the ground is seamless as long as you follow these instructions to the letter. If you are not sure about conducting this process, then seek the guidance or service of a professional for an agreeable fee. Otherwise, have fun with your car repairs and stay safe.