348 QuickJack

I have a MaxJax and it's been awesome to have. It takes 15 minutes to setup and it goes high enough to drop the motor onto a cart for an engine out. It takes up a small area when not in use and just needs a 4" thick concrete pad.

 

Weird. I have to raise my 348SS slightly to get a Quickjack under there. But it works and I definitely use jack stands. Once you witness a jack failing, any jack, you will be convinced.

 

20-30 min to set up? Should be called the Slow Jack

 

I just did my car yesterday...5 mins to lifted from pulling the car in. I had to adjust an exhaust donut.

sjd

 

It's slow to setup due to car being really low and at lease in my experience the newer model has a very small success envelope for placement. That and you really should get it nice and square. It ends up being a lot of laying with your head on the ground getting it in place.. then up and over to the other side to do it again.. get a tape measure in place to verify and then back to the other side to move it a smidge back n forth.. 20 minutes later and 10 times back n forth you got it and you're beat from the up and down workout. On any normal height vehicle it would be 5 minutes.. and if you had a helper and 2 tape measures (one front one back) it may even be quicker.
Like I said.. if you make a jig or sorts to make the positioning quickly repeatable it could be done in about a minute.

 

Here's one more data point for all those considering the use of a Quickjack for their major service.

I just used the 5000TL for my first major on my 348 and.....IT WORKED WELL.

There is lots of clearance for pulling out the engine using your standard furniture dollies. You still have to rotate the engine to clear the shock towers but no big deal.

A few notes. A smooth/clean garage floor will make your life easier since it will be so much easier to position the engine. Those dolly wheels rolled very poorly on my weathered Canadian concrete. Next time, I will upgrade the dollies to higher quality and slightly larger wheels. I pulled the engine by myself but putting it back took some help because positioning is tricky (the car moves backward as the jack lowers). Consider painting alignment marks for the dolly wheels on the floor when you first take the engine out (it will save you time on the reinstall).

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This is great news for me, even though I have a F355. What kind of furniture dollies did you use? Do you have any pictures that show how much clearance you had?

 

Having done an engine out with a quickjack, do you think it was a good purchase? I’m thinking about doing my own engine out services and was curious if it’s equivalent to using a traditional lift. I also noticed that they’re on sale on their website right now. So I would like to take advantage of that if I can.

 

Getting it out is one thing. Getting it back in is another. Was discussed in other quickjack thread.

 

I used a pair of these carpeted dollies. These are from the Canadian equivalent of Harbor Freight. They worked ok but rolled poorly on my floor. As I said in my post, next time I would upgrade the wheels to something slightly bigger for easier travel. I would probably also link the two dollies together.

I don't have a picture but I can tell you that there was several inches to spare once I rotated the engine 90°.

The 355 could be slightly different but you can use the same "emergency plan" that I had ready if the clearance was tight: I would have used jack stands to support the body at the highest position, then dropped the Quickjacks down, inserted additional rubber jack pads, then lift again. This process would buy a couple more inches (but again, I wouldn't expect any problems).
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Not sure what post you refer to. Getting it in took some alignment effort, but nothing more. With the jacks down low, I marked the rough alignment position of the mounting points on the floor with a paint marker. I called my wife and son out to the garage and we wiggled the engine back and forth to align it, dropping the car one inch at a time. Eventually, the car and the engine mounting points aligned right above the paint marks. As the car dropped and moved backwards, we moved the engine backwards. I was sweating afterwards but never had any regrets about using the Quickjack.

If you are referring to the other thread where a jack and custom cradle was used, then all I can say is that's another way to do it (but not the only way)!

 

Yes, I think it was an excellent purchase. I think that a traditional two-post lift would be better if you have the space. It would allow you to put the engine on a much taller structure (so you could save your back when working on it).

I've used the QJ to get under my e39 M5 and my son's Focus. The worst part is getting the alignment figured out for the first time with each vehicle. I store them hanging up on the wall of my garage so they take almost no room when not in use. I also don't have room for any other fancier options. I think the proof is in the fact that this was the first time I took the engine out of ANY car.