Damage to Vette on a Lift?

[Dave Z]

Had to have an emergency repair done recently to replace a trans line. Before the shop raised the car on the lift, the mechanic asked me if he needed to remove the t-tops and open the doors before he put it on the lift to avoid twisting/bending the car. I was completely suprised by this and didn't have a clue. It sure sounded logical and I am thankful the mechanic had the presence of mind to even ask the question. I asked if they could use the alignment lift to make the repair and they did, but the question still remains. Are the special points for a standard shop lift that must be used in order to avoid damage to the car?

 

[warren s]

If using the lift, the arms can be placed in the same spots as the jacking points if possible. One problem is the pads on the arms are usually larger than the jacks lift point. I put wood scraps between the lift pad and the car, cut slightly smaller that the lift arms pads.

I was told that the roof panels should be on the car and the doors closed. This is more of a problem when jacking the car up than putting it on a lift, as the lift should raise all 4 points at the same time, unlike a floor jack.

 

[Rain]

I agree-
I have seen no problems with lifts, only when jacking the car up.

 

[CQRT]

I've always been told that it's wise to unlatch both doors - -at least to the first "catch" to avoid binding or prinching the doors - -- that notion infers an awful lot of body flex that I doubt really exists even if the lift points aren't raised together. But I've never unlatched the t-tops.

I guess my perspective has always been that there's no downside in doing so -- so hey, it can't hurt !

CQRT in AZ

 

[78SilvAnniv]

I leave the doors closed and tops latched. I figure it provides more stability.
We also don't lift the 78 one corner at a time. If something needs to be done on one corner or another and it has to go up, the whole front end goes up or the whole rear end goes up. 4-point lifts don't pose a problem, IMO
Heidi

 

[Nick in OKC]

I was told never to open the doors when the car is on a lift

When I first got my car, I wanted different tires. Initially, the dealer put on the wrong size. When changing the tires to correct this, they raised it up on a four-point lift using all four of the normal jacking points. I started to open the door to put something in the car, and they warned me never to do that because the doors could be damaged.

 

[Vette/Berlina-coupe]

-lift from the mid-side...

:eek -yesterday i wanted to check-out my C3's underside, so i placed wheel-chaks behind the Rt.front/rear-tires and let the car roll against them (the car was on a slight 3-degree incline driveway-pad you see) and my heafty 2.5-ton rated Floor-jack under the Lt.side/main-frame portion proximal the Lt./door-front region and simply jacked-up the entire Lt.side of the car to the maximum 22"-extent of the Floor-jack (hence both Lt.tires off the ground), then inserted heafty adj.ht./safety-stands at both the Lt.front and Lt.rear of the main-frame then very-slowly released the Floor-jack upon the Safety-stands; --then went about my work laying upon a Floor-creaper with clear access both to front/mid/rear regions of the car. Do NOT do the above if car is on a greatly slanted driveway, as the wheel-chak could slip allowing the car to roll, --tipping the Floor-jack & stand over, and the car down upon you!!! The point being made here is that by lifting from one mid.-side, and not from a corner, there was no apparent adverse flexing of the frame... :duh
~Bob vH

 

[norms72]

When I was a kid and worked at a friends shop that specialized in Vettes, I was told by the boss never to open the doors on the car when it was in the air. Again it had something to do with body flex. He also had a special way to set up the pads. I have been working on the new frame for my car and was suprised that he bare frame could flex a small amount.

 

[Vette/Berlina-coupe]

in memory of...

-Wow, never saw that above ice-sculpture Memorial before, wonderful if dramatic work of art, ---who done it??? ~Bob vH

 

[norms72]

---who done it???

It's really something isn't it. The womans name is Darlene Racicot, from Northern Ontario. We have a large version posted prominently at our station. Here is a link to her web site and more about the sculpture.
www.neverforget.ca