Posts: 168
I did an entire frame swap in my garage with only scissor jacks, two floor jacks, and four jackstands so the utility of these "lifts" is quite dubious to me. Yeah I guess it's "faster" but how often do you have to lift the car up? I don't like lifting from the VARI body at all to be honest. The "jack points" are, in my opinion, for emergency tire change use only.
Andy Lien
VIN 11596 Jan 1982 build - owned since Nov. 2000!
Total frame-off restoration completed 2021-2023
Photography and Backpacking is life.
Was Fargo, ND
Now Kansas City
I have used my quick jack for 4 years now. No issues or problems. I replaced my rear axles in my DMC back in the spring. Plenty of room. My friend Scott came over, used it for a rear brake job and oil change on his DMC. It is one of the best purchases for my car and garage. Money well spent.
I wouldn't want to continuously lift the entire weight of the frame with engine and everything from the body. When I replaced my frame I found I was missing a couple body bolts. Over time it could be fine, but what if it's not.
I would have to defer to the vendors who deal with this stuff on a daily basis, but the underbody has a surprising amount of flex and my passenger door doesn't shut well if I have jackstands under the front body jack points and jack stands under the rear crossmember. I've been in this for a quarter century now and have heard all kinds of stories about windows loosening from their seals when lifting on the body. Once you've had the body off and you look at those little M10 screws holding the body to the frame??? I'll pass.
Andy Lien
VIN 11596 Jan 1982 build - owned since Nov. 2000!
Total frame-off restoration completed 2021-2023
Photography and Backpacking is life.
Was Fargo, ND
Now Kansas City
Location: Austin MN
Posts: 583
My VIN: 03500
I'm sure they do it every day with different vehicles, not the same one. It could be fine for 1000 lifts, but at 1001 when you are underneath it, if the body fails where the bolts hold it to the frame then the frame will smash you -Splat-. It could be fine for a million lifts but I don't care to risk it, I'll lift from the frame.
Location: Austin MN
Posts: 583
My VIN: 03500
This can be said about any vehicle being lifted. Nothing is 100% certain. One falt in any part of the chain in lifting a car can result in as you put it splat. For instance there was a recall few years ago of jack stands causing injuries. So nothing is 100%. Just walking across your room and you can stub your toe.
Nothing is 100% certain!
Dave B.
Since this is a friendly discussion, my rebuttal is this: I'm not so much worried about the chassis falling out of the VARI body (don't think I ever heard of this happening), I'm more concerned with flexing and damage to the underbody and everything glued and bolted to it. This will absolutely not happen if you lift from the front or rear crossmember which, let's face it, can be done just as fast as taking two QuickJack's off the wall hooks, getting it lined up, hooking up the pump, and lifting the car from less optimal place. It's well known if you have the chassis out of the car and you have the body suspended by 4x4's for a longer period of time, the body will go banana-shaped and you have a tough time getting the front and rear body bolts back in place and it takes a long time to settle. Like I said, I did a whole damn frame off with four scissor jacks, two shitty floor jacks, and four jackstands so I'm WAYYYYY past the point of finding QuickJack "essential" or even convenient. Just my opinion!
Andy Lien
VIN 11596 Jan 1982 build - owned since Nov. 2000!
Total frame-off restoration completed 2021-2023
Photography and Backpacking is life.
Was Fargo, ND
Now Kansas City