MASTER THREAD: Jack Points — location, use, damage, pads, etc.

[Ciditad]

If you have the money buy QuickJack instead. It'll lift the whole car at once.

 

[zero610]

I have done this on all 4 of my wheels when I wanted to take the weight off the tires for the winter. The trick is to be able to raise the car high enough using the wheel lift to take the suspension play out. You need to place 2 by 6's on each side of the tire and use that to support the wheel lift. By spreading it wide enough you can get the wheel lift under the tire. I'm not near my 3 now so can't take any pictures. If you just want to do a tire rotation use 2 hydraulic jacks plus adapters, much easier. I don't remember if I used 2 - 2 by 6's each side or one. I was in a hurry to get out of Ohio before the snow came. Since I was just trying to take the weight off the wheels or the majority of the weight not sure if they were completely off the ground after finishing since that was not important for me.

Any pictures yet dmattmul?

 

[dmattmul]

I'm not back in Ohio till April. I can better document then. My method works great to take the majority of the weight off the tires but I'm not sure it's high enough for tire rotation. If I was to rotate the tires I'd use 2 hydraulic jacks and pucks. In 35 years using them never had one go down unexpectedly. Just don't go under the car using HJ's!! Also make sure you get the pucks that hold themselves in without falling out from gravity. It's a little dangerous holding them in using the HJ's. The jack points aren't ridiculously expensive (We all paid over 50 for a 3 and 85 for a S) just when I tried they told me MAYBE 2 to 3 months wait time.

 

[VT_EE]

Why would the tires wear unevenly side to side unless you have an alignment problem?

One word: roundabout. Driving in the UK torches the left front tire. At least in the Milton Keynes area.

 

[Azndaemon]

There's a few scuff marks on the rear jack points, should I be worry that this will rust?

Thanks for your input

 

[03DSG]

There's a few scuff marks on the rear jack points, should I be worry that this will rust?

Thanks for your input

I would assume the jack points are high strength steel so yes you may get some surface rust where the paint is worn off. My solution would be to touch it up with black semi-gloss Tremclad and a small brush. Avoid this in the future by getting a set of 4 jack pads specifically for the Model 3.
These are what I have. Not inexpensive. You can buy others or make your own as well:

https://www.homedepot.ca/en/home/p.rust-paint---semi-gloss-black-237ml.1000139935.html

Model 3 specific Jack Pad

DIY Model 3 Jack Pads

 

[Azndaemon]

T

I would assume the jack points are high strength steel so you may get some surface rust where the paint is worn off. My solution would be to touch it up with black semi-gloss Tremclad and a small brush. Avoid this in the future by getting a set of 4 jack pads specifically for the Model 3.
These are what I have. Not inexpensive. You can buy others or make your own as well:

Model 3 specific Jack Pad

DIY Model 3 Jack Pads

Thanks!

 

[03DSG]

NP

https://www.homedepot.ca/en/home/p.rust-paint---semi-gloss-black-237ml.1000139935.html

 

[Jason_G]

So I figured out a way to put my Model 3 on 4 jack stands. This made tire rotation easy and I know there are easier ways to do this but they cost much more. I only had to spend $70 plus tax for the two All-in-One jack stands since I already had everything else.


Tools:

1 Rolling floor jack

2 Jack stands (shorter is better)

2 All-in-One jack stands (3 ton)

1 2x8 cut in half (2-4’ sections)

5 hockey pucks


The floor jack must fit under the lift points with a hockey puck and then must lift to 14” high to the top of the hockey puck.


A great alternative would be to use 4 All-in-One jack stands to raise the Model 3 up much higher. I am sure the 2 ton version works too but the 3 ton were half the price.


1 Jack up the right front with floor jack

2 Place All-in-One jack at right rear lift point

3 Lower and remove floor jack

4 Raise the All-in-One high enough and place jack stand under right front lift point then lower the All-in-One to its lowest level

5 Jack up the left rear with rolling floor jack and place front jack stand at front left lift point and 2 layers of 2x8’s under left rear tire

6 Lower and remove the floor jack

7 Raise the right rear All-in-One till the other All-in-One fits under the left rear lift point

8 Raise the left rear All-in-One till you can remove the 2x8’s

9 Adjust the heights of the All-in-Ones as desired keeping them as close to the same height as possible

What jack stands are you using? Do they have the typical V notch, or something more accommodating for the circular hockey puck?

 

[AltLogic]

I used the bottom half of the jack stands. My jack stands have 2 pieces, a stamped steel lower part and a cast upper part with a V.

 

[insaneoctane]

Don't waste your money on $ 600 JackPoints (2 jacks) or the other supplier that wants $ 130 per wheel plus the Tesla adapter. Go to Harbor freight and buy there 1,250 lb. wheel lift (Lifts a 5,000 lb. car, at 89.99 less 20%) and then place an adapter (I use K-Motors but other will work I'm sure) and place a 8.5 in to 9 inch jack stand under the adapter (I have a tool shop and can make my own) or just stack 6 by 6's and add 2 by 4's under the adapter or else go to your local big box store and buy cheap shelving cut into 12 by 12 section. This brings all wheels off the floor ~ 1/2 inch for winter storage or tire rotation. I still think lifting from the trailing links is ok as I do in my other vehicles but don't want to buck Tesla's recommendation. If I just wanted to do a tire rotation would probably use the adapters plus 2 hydraulic lifts but want to take all weight off the tires for the winter and that option won't work. (I don't trust hydraulic lifts for 6 months)

I was serious considering this....2 questions:
1. How high off the ground do these lift the tires? I think you estimated ~1/2 inch? How much does the jackpoint move up? Seems like you would need to lift the jackpoint at least 1 inch to get the tips of the puck to engage for this method to work?
2 . how easy it is to use the dolly to re-engage the wheel and lower?

 

[Lunares]

So I have the reverse logic jack pad

Tesla

it works great, the only problem is the minimum height on my jack. I have a jack with min height of 3.5" and it <barely> fits while using this part. I'm planning on lowering the car in the future, wondering if I should return the jack I got and go even lower.

There is a 2.75" minimum height jack that's very similar; problem is it's almost 100 pounds. As is my current jack is 60 pounds and I want to be able to take it to the track with me + 4 tires. Not sure I could deal with the even heavier one.

Are there any jack pads which do the same thing but don't have as much vertical height? Or any other suggestions?

 

[destructure00]

I'm planning on using a couple short pieces of 2x4 to drive on first to give an extra 1.5" of clearance, then jacking up after that.

 

[brkaus]

I'm planning on using a couple short pieces of 2x4 to drive on first to give an extra 1.5" of clearance, then jacking up after that.

This works great! I use the trick for my other low cars too.

 

[Lunares]

Is there any reason why the jack pads cant be made shorter?

 

[brkaus]

Is there any reason why the jack pads cant be made shorter?

You really don’t need the jack pads at all if your careful. The idea of the various pads is to reduce the risk of allowing the jack to hit the battery. A taller pad accomplishes that goal.

 

[DeepRed]

I've had good luck with these from Murphys law, available on ebay. Sorry can't find direct link.


https://cart.ebay.com/

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Tesla Model 3 Jack Pad Adapter Yellow





$15.00

 

[Lunares]

You really don’t need the jack pads at all if your careful. The idea of the various pads is to reduce the risk of allowing the jack to hit the battery. A taller pad accomplishes that goal.

I thought the main purpose was the little peg that goes in the hole

I really like the reverse logic ones they just need to be shorter

 

[Wennfred]

These are the ones I purchased for when I go to discount tires.

 

[Lunares]

These are the ones I purchased for when I go to discount tires.

View attachment 399428

Yes those are reverse logics. Basically I want the same thing just half the vertical height. The yellow one looks kinda cheap