Glad for a rigid structure on the BJ8

[CLEAH]

Today I was prepping to pull the engine and transmission out of the BJ8, and I accidentally knocked one of the rear jack stands out from under the frame. I was not under the car at the time--not that it would have made a difference to my well being because the car was perfectly happy perched on three stands. I guess I did not have both rear stands positioned equally on the rear of the frame, so one side was not actually taking much weight, which is why it so easily got knocked free. Lesson learned (after many, many years of putting cars on stands) to make sure they are exactly positioned side to side, but on other cars I never really had to because the weight would settle onto each stand and
lock it into place. The interesting thing here is that the structure (at least on my car, even with some sill rust) is quite rigid and experienced no sagging whatsoever. If it had been prone to flexing and sagging, it would have locked the jack stand firmly in place. I have newfound respect for the structure of the car.

 

[drambuie]

I remember "just" sliding out from under my 67 TR4 on my creeper....when all of a sudden the Tr4 slammed flat on the garage floor! I would have been a pancake! After saying a prayer in thanks.... I found the jack stand had gone right through a rotted area in the frame that I did not detect. Since then I always stack 4x4s from the floor to the frame along with jack stands. And tap around the frame members with a ball peen hammer before resting the weight of the car on a particular area of the frame. Especially on a car I'm not familiar with!

 

[John Turney]

Glad you two are still around to pass on those words of wisdom!

 

[drambuie]

Glad you two are still around to pass on those words of wisdom!

Yes John, that makes two of us! Lol

 

[CLEAH]

Glad you two are still around to pass on those words of wisdom!

Thanks! It is a dangerous business, these little British cars! Definitely need to keep your wits about you when crawling around under them.

 

[RAC68]

A while back I discovered a tare in my right side frame section between the shock tower and suspension mount. Wanting to provide sufficient support for the frame section when closing the tare and adding a gusset, I created (2) 4x4s to support the area affected from deforming when the car was being supported on jack stands. The design allows for the frame and its lower bead but can be further reinforced with additional wood or metal across the bottom. It also allowed me to put a jack under the center the beam and place and freed the ends in order to place the stands.





Take a look. It may provide some ideas.

Ray (64BJ8P1)