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Helping to change a wheel on a colleagues Picasso last week, I was mighty relieved that we managed without incident. In a wet carpark on a very slight slope, the L-shaped jack seemed very unstable - I wonder how safe these things are? All my previous cars have had scissor jacks, which seem a bit more stable and where possible I chock the car up with wooden blocks "just in case"
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Jacking up a Picasso with the supplied "lifting device" is not a job for those with a nervous disposition - i speak from experience. The car needs to be on flat solid ground, and dont pick a windy day!. The supplied jack is "fit for purpose" but only just.
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Jacking up a Picasso with the supplied "lifting device" is not a job for those with a nervous disposition - i speak from experience. The car needs to be on flat solid ground, and dont pick a windy day!. The supplied jack is "fit for purpose" but only just.
Like nearly all supplied jacks. I'm surprised there aren't more accidents with them.
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Rotating the tyres front-to-back on a then four year old 1989 Sierra that had been my father's from new (so known, undamaged, history) the front NS jacking point tore*, dumping the car - NS front wheel-less - on the ground. Thank God I had heeded advice given to me as a nipper never, ever, to even sit with legs under a jacked car.
*The jacking points were like breakfast bowls welded to the underside of the car, each with two holes on opposite "sides" through which the rising bar on the vertical screw jack passed. What happened I learned later was that a batch of Sierras was made with substandard steel for the "dishes" that couldn't take the weight of the car bearing down. The rising bar then pivoted on the sill, tearing vertically down through the "dish".
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I noticed that my supplied jack is a scissor type and it says on it, "must only be used on level ground". Thats not much good if you have to drive around on a flat tyre to find some level ground...
A reminder to always use axle stands: Last weekend I jacked up my car with a cheap trolley jack that was £10 from Lidl. I was just locating an axle stand under the car, and found it would not fit under an area where it had fitted a few seconds before. I realised the jack was not holding the car and it was dropping at a rate of about 1mm per second; so if I'd not used stands I could have crawled underneath and got slowly squished into the drive!
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I realised the jack was not holding the car and it was dropping at a rate of about 1mm per second; so if I'd not used stands I could have crawled underneath and got slowly squished into the drive!
Is the bleed screw for letting down ordinarily, tighly shut?
"The Picasso jack is rubbish. Mine stripped its thread when it was needed and was in the middle of nowhere"
Nice to see citroen have changed their jacks, not! I read about a similar thing in an old issue of autocar, where they had an AX on test. Its jack failed too.
My Polo comes which quite a sturdy scissor jack which works very well.
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Is the bleed screw for letting down ordinarily, tighly shut?
Yep the bleed screw was as tight as it would go. I had not used the jack for about 6 months, and it had leaked some oil into the carrying case, so I was on my guard anyway...
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Rotating tyres on my old Wolsey was a doddle.
Sit in passenger seat, open trapdoor, get handle, turn knob to '4' and pump handle for 5 minutes. TaDa - car is up in the air on it's hydraulic jacks built into the axles.
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The Picasso jack is rubbish. Mine stripped its thread when it was needed and was in the middle of nowhere! I didn't bother to replace it with a another Citroen replacement. I drove around with a cheap trolley jack instead.
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With more normal sized tyres, as an extra precaution, I have always placed the spare wheel under the cill near the jack. Then swoped it with the wheel that comes off.
Then of course, remembering to remove it before final lowering off the jack!!
Unfortunately skinny space savers do not offer so much protection and nor does a tube of gunge.
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With more normal sized tyres, as an extra precaution, I have always placed the spare wheel under the cill near the jack. Then swoped it with the wheel that comes off. Then of course, remembering to remove it before final lowering off the jack!!
That is a really good bit of common sense that i've never heard or thought of, and shall remember and use if need be. Thanks Henry!
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Rotating tyres on my old Wolsey was a doddle. Sit in passenger seat, open trapdoor, get handle, turn knob to '4' and pump handle for 5 minutes.
When you said "old" you weren't joking! My 1936 Wolseley 12 had them but unfortunately they no longer worked ~ well, the car was 20 years old when I bought it!
--
L\'escargot.
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So if trolley jacks are robuster and quicker (therefore arguably safer) than the basic ones supplied as OEM equipment, but bigger and heavier to cart around, what's the best compromise?
Oz (as was)
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Are bottle jacks any good ? Draper ones start at under a tenner, 2, 4 and 6 tonne lift, but with a minimum height of about 20 cm and a lift of only 12 cm (approx), may not get you very far off the ground.
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