Lifting a VF with a trolley jack

[lmoengnr]

Within the service manual PDF, IIRC, Holden only recommends the Hoist lift points or the scissor jack sill points for raising the car

( I‘d drop the section from the page 91 of the manual here but I can‘t since Books on my iPad crashes when trying to navigate the workshop manual PDF and I can no longer cut/paste from the PDF as I once could… All this occurred after one of Apples updates )

They make no other recommendation on lifting the car by the diff (though many mechanics seem to do such). I don’t like the idea of resting the car on the diff bushes which are designed to cope with driving torque rather than vehicle weight...

The front cross member looks hefty enough but again Holden doesn’t recommend it as a lift point. A few vehicle brands have gone to the trouble of actually welding a steel cup on the bottom of their front cross member specifically to mate with a trolley jack and they do recommend this as a lift point… but just because one brand allows such doesn’t mean that it’s 100% ok to do the same on another makes…

I just wish GM/Holden would come clean and clarify whether the diff or front cross member can be 100% safely used to lift the rear or the front of the car…

Like this pic? (from the owner's handbook)

 

[Skylarking]

Like this pic? (from the owner's handbook)
View attachment 253931

I don’t remember my owners handbook showing the front crossmember as a lifting point so I had a look…

I’ll blame my old memory

But the rear diff isn’t shown as a lift point so I’d not want to use it (dont want to stress the bushes nor the alloy case)..

 

[Derekthetree]

^ Rubbing the noses of Holden owners with 6yo cars who can’t get parts well-and-truly in it …

Give it time, once a company can make real money off spares, then the resto-mod businesses will all spring up for Holden parts.

 

[Derekthetree]

I don’t remember my owners handbook showing the front crossmember as a lifting point so I had a look…

View attachment 253935

I’ll blame my old memory

But the rear diff isn’t shown as a lift point so I’d not want to use it (dont want to stress the bushes nor the alloy case)..

So there is no centre point jack from the rear, interesting.

 

[RevNev]

But the rear diff isn’t shown as a lift point so I’d not want to use it (dont want to stress the bushes nor the alloy case)..

Given the rear end has been around since 2006 (17 years), bush and housing damage from jacking under the diff would be well known by now I'd imagine. I bet Holden dealer mechanics have been jacking them up under the diff as a standard practice!

 

[Skylarking]

...I bet Holden dealer mechanics have been jacking them up under the diff as a standard practice!

... I bet customers have been paying for Holden dealer stuff ups since, well, forever After all, poor workmanship, parts canon and cutting corners are the hallmarks of all dealer service centres, Holden or otherwise

The reality is that it may be OK to lift via the diff but I'd still have preferred that Holden have included a clear statement within the relevant sections of the owners manual and workshop manual. How hard would that have been for them (rhetorical)?

It would have been even nicer had Holden welded a braced steel lifting point within the rear subframe dirr rear bush pount post so that mechanics wouldn't have to nice lift point behined the diff... QED during manufacture and cost a few 10's of cents to do...

 

[vc commodore]

If in doubt when lifting from the rear, you can lift by the jacking points referred in the owners manual, or via the lower control arms.

Both these points are solid enough to support the weight of the vehicle being lifted.

One manufacturer I am aware of put a bulletin out, not to lift via the front cross member after a number of them were damaged when being jacked via them and that was the BA onwards Falcons.....Alloy cross members don't like supporting the weight of the entire front of the car

The VF, no problems....It is solid enough to support the weight of the vehicle

 

[Fu Manchu]

Who jacks up a car from under the rear diff?