I have a 1998 Honda Civic DX 2-door vehicle. I would like to put the vehicle on my two jack stands. Unfortunately, I cannot find a good place for the jack stands!
I was told to jack up the car from the pinch rails, then put the jack stands on the control arms. Does this work? The control arms are curved in some spots so I am concerned.
The official Honda manual only mentions the four pinch rails and the Chilton manual mentions the same.
This is really an exercise in common sense more than anything. If you have doubts or fears, try finding a mechanically inclined friend or family member to show you what to do. This is difficult and dangerous to try to explain in a discussion forum.
if honda and chiltons suggest the pinch rails, then use them. Your local shop would do the same.
Just make sure to check that the vehicle is evenly supported and give it a good shove/bounce before getting underneath it. better for it to fall on the ground than on top of you or someone else.
and don’t use ANY curved surfaces when jacking the car up or putting it on jackstands. You can very possibly get youself killed.
I use the pinch rails to jack up the vehicle with my floor jack. I therefore, need a location to place my jack stands. In reverse, I could jack up the vehicle with my floor jack somewhere besides the pinch rails, then place the jack stands under the pinch rails. The problem is I don’t know what other lift points are available besides the pinch rails.
As for safety, I am NOT going to mess around. I definitely agree, I don’t wanna get killed by having the car fall on me!
Light-weight unibody cars are pretty tender so stick with the four points on the pinch rail or close to them. There is usually enough lee-way for for a jack and a jack-stand to fit next to each other. You can use a 20" length of 2X4 lumber to place between the jack and the rail to spread the load out so you can lift the whole side of the car at one time…
Honda shows six lift points using a floor jack on the Civic. Four at the pinch rails and one at each end of the vehicle.
The ones at each end of the vehicle are metal brackets mounted to the crossmembers pointing down.
Tester
The lift points are below the side view mirrors on the front, right behind the wheel well, and are right in front of the rear wheel wells, but I can tell you from experience, that with my 1998 Civic DX, once you lift the car at these points, you can’t get the jack stands under the same points. If you have a good floor jack, lift the car on the sturdiest frame components, and then put the jack stands under the lift points on the body. You can also do the opposite, but this way, the jack stands are farther apart, making the vehicle more stable.
If you can’t find the lift points, your owner’s manual has directions on how to find them.
Using a floor jack on pinch welds may damage them, they may bend or fold over. The factory toy jack are ok for them. From the side I would push the jack under the vehicle and raise the saddle until it contracts what appears to be a beam/frame rail that runs the length of the vehicle, one on either side. But if you are using one of those small jacks from Sears that comes in a plastic case it will not have the umph for this job.
There is also the haynes manual for this… maybe a Suspension Lift Kit will be good for that. Dealers would a say one those problems… And there are a lot of DIY forums…
Yup. Use those to jack it, and put the stands under the pinch rails.
aftermarket car parts like Chilton suggest of pinch rails,usually is the best idea. Jacking car is one of the toughest job for me, even when i tried it on a flat surface.