# Safe jacking point



## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

I've just had to jack up the TT front for the first time and was aware of differing views:

1/ Bentley manual says use one of the front, rubber 4 point lift points, with a trolley jack.

2/ Some people have reported bent floors doing this.

Having a look under my TT 225 I could see that the floor had already suffered from some deformation from previous jacking.

Considering the floor construction at this point I can see that the forward side of the rubber mount is reasonably well supported by the bend and almost immediate virtical incline of the floor pan at this point, as it forms into the wheel arch, but the rear side of the rubber mount is 3" or so away from the vertical and on a reasonably flat section of horizontal thin section floor pan - i.e. little vertical support. This might explain why my floor is pushed in higher than it should be at the rear of the mount.

Instead of risking any more damage, I opted for the universal monocoque car design front strong point, which is under the front of the chassis rail as it bends up under the front bulkhead. At this point, the chassis rail heavy gauge metal, is double skinned (in common with most cars) and is extremely strong, as it is designed to resist flexing at the stress point of the bend.

As you can see in the photograph, I used a block of rubber to avoid damage to the underseal. An axle stand can be positoned further down the rail for safety but not taking any load at this single skin section. Excuse the tatty jack and stand - they've seen donkey's years of service!


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## KenTT (Feb 20, 2005)

Hi John
Try this post:
http://www.********.co.uk/ttforumbbs/viewtopic.php?t=48879&highlight=

The pictures I posted don't make it very clear, but I do jack the car up both sides at once with two trolley jacks.

Hope this helps.


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Hi Ken,

I have seen your post (nice clean smart equipment BTW :wink: ) but I don't have two jacks and my rubber mounts are both sunken into the floor, so I went for what I'd always done on other cars.


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## KenTT (Feb 20, 2005)

Hi John

That trolley jack is only clean because it was a xmas gift from the father inlaw two years ago and has just come out of its box  , you should see the other one, had it since my teens (20 years ago)  .

Thing is they are so cheap now I think it is worth getting another one John, when you think of the money it could potentially save you. 

That picture was taken when I was changing my front wishbones and that little job saved me a Â£400.

btw the floor around the rubber doughnut appears slightly sloped but I believe this is part of the floor pan shape as the doughnut head does appear to be parallel with the ground.


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Hi Ken,

The other thing I didn't mention is that I have a really narrow garage. You maybe can make out that the wall on the other side is about 2" from the car so I've got enough room to get the wheel off on the jack side! 

Need to move house I think :?

It's perhaps not clear in the picture but my doughnuts are definitely not vertical and point to the rear by 5 to 10 degrees or so.

Two trolleys is definitely better than one though :wink:


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## TTCool (Feb 7, 2005)

This may be a little superfluous, but I always use my trolly jack, with adaptor, on the outside edge, where the provided wind up jack usually fits, and I support the car on the inside rubber mount. This means that the "rough" part of the job of lifting is where it should be and the support happens where it should. Seems to me that this method eliminates any possibility of the rubber mount being overstressed and I also use two trolleys etc. Makes sense to me. :roll:

Joe


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## Snake TT (Jul 13, 2007)

Im a little confused with this. Doesnt Audi state the correct place to jack up the car? Every car has obvious and correct points to use dont they?

Ive had my car less than a month so Ive never had to tackle this so far but will need to soon when I paint my calipers.

Its worrying to think that getting it wrong can damage the underside of the car.


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## les (Jul 24, 2006)

John-H said:


> Hi Ken,
> 
> The other thing I didn't mention is that I have a really narrow garage. You maybe can make out that the wall on the other side is about 2" from the car so I've got enough room to get the wheel off on the jack side!
> 
> ...


John I think your just off your trolley mate :wink:


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

les said:


> John-H said:
> 
> 
> > Hi Ken,
> ...


 :roll:


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## mighTy Tee (Jul 10, 2002)

I use my trolley jack on the sill points the supplied jack uses. I made up a square of hard wood with a small circle screwed into it, which also fits into the trolley jack "cup". I then have 2 strips if wood nailed to the top of the hard wood to prevent the sill sliding sideways when jacked up.

Despite being a little Heath-Robinson to look at, this seems to work well.


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## marco100 (Dec 19, 2007)

mighTy Tee said:


> I use my trolley jack on the sill points the supplied jack uses. I made up a square of hard wood with a small circle screwed into it, which also fits into the trolley jack "cup". I then have 2 strips if wood nailed to the top of the hard wood to prevent the sill sliding sideways when jacked up.
> 
> Despite being a little Heath-Robinson to look at, this seems to work well.


So do you lift one corner at a time then? Think that's what I'm going to do.

Cheers 
Mark


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Don't lift one corner at a time on the rubber mount - you may buckle the floor.


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## marco100 (Dec 19, 2007)

John-H said:


> Don't lift one corner at a time on the rubber mount - you may buckle the floor.


No, on the sill point. But will use a block of wood on top to spread the load more evenly.


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## poor1 (Dec 28, 2011)

The answer if to use a trolley jack under the reinforced parts of the sill where the standard Audo jack would be placed using a piece of wood with a groove that it deep enough to accommodate the ridge, but not deep enough to sit on the sill and when raised put a stand under the main chassis rail.


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Some people have used a sculpted hockey puck for that. It will likely damage the under seal though, wherever you jack from, and I didn't trust the standard jack point (given the failure of the four point lift floor area) - preferring the chassis rail at the thick point. The only problem is the restricted access but first driving onto a piece of wood to raise the car a little sorts that if you haven't got a low profile jack


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## cookbot (Apr 19, 2011)

I go for up centrally on on the subframe in one go. The head of my jack is about 6" in diameter, so spreads the load nicely and allows plenty of space to put the axel stands on the double skinned part of the chassis rail.


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## brian1978 (Jul 10, 2013)

I jacked mine up from the large mount on the wishbone, was this ok?


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