where to place a floor jack 128i

[Gogle]

I heard that you use the rear diff for the back...but where do I put it to jack up the front? thanks in advance, Garth

[JimD]

Garth,

It is a little hard to see but there is a circular area in the middle on the front where you can jack. If you get down on the ground and look back about between the front wheels you will see an area in the plastic windscreen under the engine that goes up some and right in the center of the circular depression is a pad that goes against something solid so you can jack on it.

I made little ramps our of scrap 2x4 to raise my 128i vert enough I could get my floor jack to this jacking point. With the car on the ground, I can't get to it. Just rolling up on scrap 2x lumber should work if your jack is like mine.

Be careful in the back to put the jack on the differential and not the differential cover. On mine the differential is black and the cover is shinier - looks like aluminum. You need to go a little forward of the cover to reach the differential which looks like it is steel painted black.

Jim

[Gogle]

Sounds great! thanks!

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by Gogle

...where do I put it to jack up the front? thanks in advance, Garth

Any place there is one of those black plastic "pucks" - is where I jack the car up from. There are two at each side (rocker pannels) and one at the center cross beam area. Just before the oil pan drain IF my memory serves me.

[Gogle]

I saw thoses..i was just wondering if the metal floor jack will crush that plastic...

[mleskovar]

Originally Posted by Gogle

I saw thoses..i was just wondering if the metal floor jack will crush that plastic...

Yes it will.....there's some pads available that fit inside those jack points to save them from that fate. Or you can cut a hockey puck to fit inside them with the same results.

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by Gogle

I saw thoses..i was just wondering if the metal floor jack will crush that plastic...

Well.... IF you are going to be a mechanic... you have to use some mechanical common sense...

I put a "hockey puck" in the bowl of my floor jack - so it won't damage those plastic blocks.

[JimD]

I made blocks of 3/4 baltic birch plywood to fit into the plastic pieces on the side. I have 4 that I can use on the jack and another 4 that have a second piece of plywood glued to the piece that goes into the car fitting that spans an opening on the top of my jackstand. These are very quick and easy to make if you have a little scrap bb plywood and a table saw. Normal plywood might work, I didn't try it but there is a fair amount of load on these little wood blocks.

Another guy reported good results using 1 inch square steel tubing. The nicest way to do it is a cast aluminum piece with rubber inserts to hold it in place.

One reason I made multiple wood blocks is they tend to stick in the plastic pieces. You can pry them out but it takes time and when I am working to get the car in the air I hate wasting time prying the little blocks out (but I still have to do it later).

My process is to jack in the center and put jack stands on the outside. I used to jack the front, put a stand in the back and then jack the center in the front. But it's easier to roll up on 2x ramps so I can jack in the center and just put the stands on the corners.

Jim