1st Gen R53 Cooper S Most liked posts in thread: Jack points

Are saying you want to lift the front wheels by themselves or the rear wheels by themselves -- ie just the front or just the rear?

 

The front is easy. With a low profile floor jack you can lift the entire front lifting at the sub frame where the circle is in the center of the sub-frame is. If your MINI is lowered you can roll it up onto some wood or steppers to increase ground to frame height.
The rear can be a little tricky because of all the stock parts in the way. Using the same idea to gain a little ground height as explained for the front. Than you can use 2x4's across the lower strut mount and position your floor jack in the center to raise the rear of the MINI enough to place the jack stands under.
I know. MY Mini has the Guinness record of being up and down on jack stands. :lol:

 

Just for you.rrr:

very old picture

 

I had an idea for something like this:



The support would be welded to the bumper, and a cutout would be made below.

 

Any chance for a photo of the rear being lifted as described? I am not near my MINI and cant go look. Are you saying one 2x4 across the top of the jack spanning from side to side and lifting on the bottom of the shock mount?

Thanks

 

Look under the rear of the car, and from the rear wheel, you will see a control arm which goes (longitudinally) diagonally from the rear hub to a bracket at the center of the car. It is attached to the rear subframe with a bolt through the subframe boxed bracket (Black). Stick your jack on the bracket and you can lift the arse end of the car with one sweep. You probably will have to lift one side of the car from the regular jacking points in front of the rear wheel to get enough clearance to fit your jack that far under the car, or back the car onto a couple of 2X6s.

 

Could you clarify? I'm not tracking into the location (might have something to do with this being a R53 thread....)
Thanks

 

I'd be careful of an idea like this, many bumpers aren't solidly bolted to the frame these days but actually have energy absorbing units between the chassis and the bumper that are designed to flex, bend, sheer, or whatever and may decide to do so if used as a jacking point.

 

A safer size !

This area of the sub-frame

 

Is there a reason to not jack-up one side of the car with a 2"x4" between the jack points, set the stands under the jack points on that side, then do the same on the other side? Just wondering why this would not work.

Mark

 

If your are looking to get the MINI high enough off the ground to comfortably work underneath it is a bit safer and easier to lift either the back or the front at one time.
You could do it one corner at a time but to be safe you may need to do it in a few steps.

 

Makes sense.
I do use a 2"x4" between jack points to lift one side when I swap wheels front to back, after setting it down on stands.

Mark

 

:yikes: Dude, is that dirt I see under your car? :lol:

 

That's the PLUS 40k of CA roads before the "DRIVEWAY MINI" !:lol:

 

Thanks Nitromini's, as I suspected it's a R53 thing, I do a little more investigation on my R56

 

Wow!! we are agreeing???? :lol: