Jack placement rear pad C4S

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32wildbilly
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Jack placement rear pad C4S

Post by 32wildbilly » Tue Jan 11, 2022 1:18 pm

So I use the JackPoint jack stands and have one hell of a time hitting the center of the car's jacking pad. The 4S has the lower plastic sill covers that make it pretty much impossible to see the pad before lifting. Yeah there is the arrow on the sill cover so north to south is not much of an issue, but getting the side to side adjustment properly sux! I've tried two different "top hats" with two different pad arrangement. It still sux. I use every light I got and have tried every positioning besides standing on my head to get everything centered. It is tiresome!

Any suggestions?
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Re: Jack placement rear pad C4S

Post by theprf » Wed Jan 12, 2022 6:44 am

It's hard to see the jack pads on the Turbo, too. I made a set of round 3/4" plywood spacers that I use with my 2-post lift. After I get the lift arms into position I use my fingers to adjust the plywood disks to be centered on the jack pads. Then I lift the car a few inches and check centering. It is time consuming and my knees don't like it very much, though I cannot see any better way.

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32wildbilly
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Re: Jack placement rear pad C4S

Post by 32wildbilly » Wed Jan 12, 2022 7:00 am

Thanks prf. My knees are still barking from Tuesday. That's pretty much how I do it sans the plywood disks. I've used hockey pucks which are a little scary if not centered as they distort. My latest is the tophat I got for my Type R with the 1/4" rubber disc from JackPoint. The extra height of that tophat, while hard to get under the car, allows more visibility for aligning purposes.
theprf wrote: Wed Jan 12, 2022 6:44 am It's hard to see the jack pads on the Turbo, too. I made a set of round 3/4" plywood spacers that I use with my 2-post lift. After I get the lift arms into position I use my fingers to adjust the plywood disks to be centered on the jack pads. Then I lift the car a few inches and check centering. It is time consuming and my knees don't like it very much, though I cannot see any better way.
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Re: Jack placement rear pad C4S

Post by gnat » Wed Jan 12, 2022 7:11 am

Wonder if there would be enough space without sacrificing structural integrity to create/modify a pad to have a USB endoscope in the center of it. Then you could just plug it up to your phone to take the guess work out of the alignment. As image quality isn't critical, you might be able to get away with using a mirror so the camera could be install parallel to the car so it requires less vertical space.

Edit: Quick and dirty, but something like this:
Screenshot from 2022-01-12 10-24-07.png
Screenshot from 2022-01-12 10-24-07.png (127.31 KiB) Viewed 1561 times

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32wildbilly
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Re: Jack placement rear pad C4S

Post by 32wildbilly » Wed Jan 12, 2022 8:19 am

JEEBUS! You are very resourceful. I looked at endoscopes they are ridiculously cheap. Not a bad idea. I'm thinking a bracket attached to the tophat of the JackPoint to clip the endo into aimed at the contact point. Hhhmmm...might be a knee/frustration saver.
gnat wrote: Wed Jan 12, 2022 7:11 am Wonder if there would be enough space without sacrificing structural integrity to create/modify a pad to have a USB endoscope in the center of it. Then you could just plug it up to your phone to take the guess work out of the alignment. As image quality isn't critical, you might be able to get away with using a mirror so the camera could be install parallel to the car so it requires less vertical space.

Edit: Quick and dirty, but something like this:
Screenshot from 2022-01-12 10-24-07.png
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Re: Jack placement rear pad C4S

Post by 5chn3ll » Fri Jan 14, 2022 4:05 pm

Those endoscopes are the sh*t…I have a WiFi one for my phone and a USB version for the garage (Durametric) laptop.

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Re: Jack placement rear pad C4S

Post by Hatchetf15 » Sun Jan 16, 2022 12:00 pm

What about those hockey pucks that have the metal piece that anchors in the jack pad point? Would that help find center?

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32wildbilly
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Re: Jack placement rear pad C4S

Post by 32wildbilly » Sun Jan 16, 2022 2:25 pm

Yeah I drilled my pucks and got the longer "pins". That helps but I've missed center using those as locators too. I think I'll go low tech. Steal one of the wife's freestanding makeup mirrors and position it for visibility of the jack pad. She'll be pissed, but oh well.
Hatchetf15 wrote: Sun Jan 16, 2022 12:00 pm What about those hockey pucks that have the metal piece that anchors in the jack pad point? Would that help find center?
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32wildbilly
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Re: Jack placement rear pad C4S

Post by 32wildbilly » Sun Jan 16, 2022 2:27 pm

Wait...I just realized what you were talking about!! I'll have to see if I can find where to get those. Great idea/reminder. Thanks.
Hatchetf15 wrote: Sun Jan 16, 2022 12:00 pm What about those hockey pucks that have the metal piece that anchors in the jack pad point? Would that help find center?
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32wildbilly
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Re: Jack placement rear pad C4S

Post by 32wildbilly » Sun Jan 16, 2022 5:01 pm

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