Ques re: Jacks and Ramps--Help Please!

[jmoser]

Got my MINI up on ramps on front end, and now decided I need to raise the rear also.

Started jacking the rear to put jackstands under there, but is the emergency brake only work on the rear wheels? I can't effectively chock the front tires when they're in the ramps...

Is it unsafe to ramp front, jackstand the rear? (obviously, ebrake on,car in first gear)

or does it have to be ramps rear, jackstands front? (I hate jackstands...kinda pia, hope the ramps are good for somethin when I want the whole car up...)

I await good advice!

[BlueCS]

E. brake only grips the rear wheels.

What the heck are you trying to do? Sounds like (since the e.brake holds the rear wheels, you might be safer ramping up the rear wheels and jacking up the front... That still sounds mighty sketchy to me though...

Can you get two more ramps? Not quite sure how you'd do that but maybe if you ramp up the rear, jack up the front, put the ramp underneath, that sounds like it might be a little more sturdy and you don't have to sweat the jacks while you do the work.

[CooperSAZ]

Good question, what exactly are you trying to do? The only time I have ever had the car suspended in the air was when I would paint the calipers. With that I would have jack stands on all four wheels with cinder blocks at each corner for back up. Quite the interesting little dilemma you have there....

[obehave]

I did exactly that when I installed my Magnaflow exhaust.
Backed up onto my Rhino Ramps, applied the emergency brake, left the car in reverse and then raised the front. Got it up high enough so I could lower it back down onto some blocks I made from 4x4s and some 1/2" plywood.
Car was almost level when done and quite stable.

[jmoser]

Got it done! Had some nasty %$#%&& rattles ( thats too kind a word)
and wanted to check out my Helix SS install and exhaust install....I installed them at the same time, and initially everything seemed ok, but lately I've been hating my car ...

When I installed that stuff, I jacked up all the way around...but since then I got Rhino ramps and they are so easy...(but I only got 2)...

So today I pulled up onto the ramps, got under to take a look, started messing with the exhaust behind the cat and then decided to take the whole thing off and redo...so I went to jack up the back (and put a 4x4 under the jack so I could place the stands higher) and when I got her jacked up I saw the front wheel (same side I was jacking up) could turn in place--yikes.. came inside to think about it...didn't want to start the engine because I wanted to work on the exhaust....

the reason I hate using the stands is just that I'm never sure where to put them...if I jack the car up using the rubber blocks, where do I put the jack stand? And I mangled the protective undercoat once when I didn't use the blocks...and I've head a horror story about the blocks failing, etc, but don't know where else to put the jack stands...just a pita....

but I got a block of wood, jacked up the rear with that, and when I lowered her onto the stand the front tire was again firmly down (left the hydraulic jack in place too, just in case)...and I left the other rear tire on the ground. I pushed and tried to move the car...seemed pretty solid...had enough room to work, got it all done and oh, I love my car again...the nasty rattles are gone. Adjusted my exhaust better, made certain the heat shield was well away from the Short Shifter, and I was more exact with all the heat shield/exhaust fitting....now smooth and the noises are the sounds of the exhaust and the supercharger...

hopefully I won't be jacking up the back anytime soon, but if I do I'll try the REAR wheels on the ramps Thanks for your replies!

[CooperSAZ]

I am glad that it worked out for you!

Question, how does that (is called a 'B' pipe; or middle section of the exhaust) connect to the cat/header? Is it the standard setup where you have two bolts mounting the pieces together while pressing down on springs to keep the system from coming apart. Honda has that setup on most of their cars and the last time I installed an exhaust system, I got an annoying little squeak from those springs as well. Had to go bad and adjust and all was fine! Short shifters can be a pain in the butt about hitting heat shields.....

Best Regards!

[jmoser]

Thanks CooperSAZ--congratulations on your pregnancy

I tried to post pics of the exhaust last night, wasn't successful...I'm just too wordy...

the cat attaches to the B pipe with 2 bolts. No spring or hanger at that location.

Halfway down the B pipe there are hangers (just round rods off either side) that slip into square rubber ?grommets, which allow some movement but hold the B pipe in place.

The stock exhaust has 2 mufflers with straps that attach to similar rubber hangers...my Quicksilver has only one muffler with no straps, so getting it lined up so that it doesn't move out of position was a little more difficult....but so far, so good.

the short shifter didn't seem to be rubbing anywhere that I could see, but I gave it plenty of extra room while I was there...it was my first install of either, and I guess its not so bad that I had to go back and fine tune it, (since it worked )

I'll try to post pics once again. Cheers