Does anyone know why LR specify different jacking locations for coil versus air suspension on the LR3? Seems to me that the lower control arm location should be OK for both types of suspension.

 

I don't know why it would be different, but it seems to me, the safest and most stable place to jack from is simply along the frame rail on either side.

 

It's funny you guys mention this today. I spent way more time than I expected trying to get my big pig in the air yesterday to pull off all 4 wheels. When you say 'location' on the lower control arms -- where are you talking on the rears? They are so curved I didn't see any nice place to jack them from. I probably lifted corners of that vehicle 40 times yesterday trying to get it up to sit right... and fit in my garage! I ended up having to turn my truck around so the garage door would be over the hood instead of being so close to the roof of the truck!

I did put the truck up by the frame in the end. Funny thing though -- this truck is so damn rigid the wife says to me - it's not on that jack stand - is that a problem? .... - Sure enough, I look and it's above it by 1/8"! This means the truck unitbody/frame design is THAT insanely rigid it didn't flex down onto the stand after I let the truck down from the hydraulic jack!!!

I also would like to point out -- wholy hell can these things droop! I was amazed by it's ability to still reach the ground as I lifted it up. Maybe I'm just spoiled. All of my other offroaders have been solid axle -- so much easier to just pick up.

Dave

 

You're right that they can droop...took me a while to find a jack that can actually pick it up. Still a struggle though without a big-time floor jack. Were you trying to pick up all four corners or something? Tip for next time? a block of wood between the jack and the frame rail can be helpful to get the beast off the ground more quickly, then put your jackstand in there.

 

I've done the block of wood game doing transmissions / transfer cases, didn't even think of it for a truck. I just kept poking around thinking I must be missing something!

Truck is getting new tires this week. I suppose I should do a build thread for it...

Dave

 

Thank you all for your comments. My first experience jacking up the truck to change a wheel turned into a 2 hour job and hence my seeking comments. I started with a hydraulic jack 4 ton capacity and as per the LR instructions I raised the vehicle to off-road height then put the jack plus a block of wood under the side rail. With the jack at maximum height the wheel was still on the ground. Decided to use the scissor lift jack that came with the vehicle and this has a pin to locate into the side rail. It lifted the vehicle but as mentioned above the suspension sure does drop and jack was almost at maximum. For coil suspension LR recommend jacking at the lower control arm and you can see there are holes in the control arms to locate the OE supplied scissor jack. I agree that the rear control arms do not seem to be a safe location but the hole into which the jack fits on the control arms might be sufficient security.... but I have not tried it yet. Of great concern to me is the difficulty changing a wheel in off-road conditions. I have heard comments that the OE jack will not lift high enough from the side rail so people revert to dig a hole under the wheel being changed so that it can be dragged out. Jacking the lower control arm would easily provide the lift required and prevent the excessive suspension droop. Would be great if someone had tried this in off-road situation.

 

Well, that's good to know. Granted, I've never used the supplied scissor jack, but I had no idea that there were holes for it on the bottom of the control arms! You learn something new every day...


I've always used an aluminum floor jack that I picked up at Costco and haven't had any problems with the LR3. Yes, there is a lot of wheel droop, but I think it's significantly worse with my Range Rover. The rear jack point is supposedly the hitch/receiver. Unfortunately, when jacking on that point, even when using 5" of wood (which is a lot) between the jack and the car, I just BARELY get the wheels off the ground.


If I remember right, the max height on my floor jack is around 18.5-19". When I was at Home Depot the other day, I noticed that they sell a 12t Husky bottle jack that has a max lift of 18.46". I started looking online and there are some other 12t bottle jacks that have a max lift in that range also (Jet, Norco, etc.). I was thinking of purchasing one of these for off road use since a 12t is still small enough to lug around.

 

cmb6 thanks for your input. Unfortunately even when using a 15 inch square steel jacking plate under a bottle jack it still sinks down into the soft ground thus reducing the amount of vehicle lift you can achieve. In off-road situations the ground is uneven and jacking the lower control arms does seem risky, hence my interest if someone has experienced jacking at this location. At this stage the process of jacking the vehicle to max jack height then digging out under the wheel to be changed seems the best option.

 

For TRUE offroad use, the hi-lift style jacks are #1. They ARE dangerous and you really need to pay attention to how you use them, for sure. Generally, I will use them on the rock rails to lift a truck up. In some that I've built, I'll weld on a couple of channels that will act as a buffer for the jack so that it doesn't shoot out.

For on road use, the bottle jack is very hard to beat. I'll have to look at my truck for these holes you folks speak of!

 

I agree that hi-lift jacks are great and dangerous. Have one friend that is minus the end of an index finger courtesy of these jacks. Instead of welding lifting points to rock rails we use rated nylon lifting straps that wrap around the rails but I prefer exhaust jacks rather than hi-lift. Again these are risky and easily damaged so might not accomplish the task when needed. I think I will stick with the exhaust jack for my next trip.
Thanks for your great input


Tadpole 07 LR3 SE TDV6