P38A Changing a wheel using standard Jack

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quavey

Active Member
Posts
551
Location
Lancaster
Hi Chaps,

Not a problem as such as the issue is long since resolved;

However the other day I had noticed the rear left tyre was soft and needed some air. Before I found a few minutes to pump some air into it another couple of days had passed and to my horror this particular tyre was flat as a pancake. I attempted to put some air in but the tyre appears to have come of the bead - one for the garage.

Anyway, I set about fitting the spare. Crucially using the standard bottle jack, two problems came to light the first being that with the two handle extensions the leverage from the handle and the resistance in the pump overcame the weight of the jack so it was a bugger to actually raise whilst under the vehicle. Not really thinking about it I raise it to about the correct height where it would start to lift the axle only to realise that the wheel was not raised enough yet the jack was at the maximum height. Cue much cursing, drop the jack and fetch a block of wood from the garage and then no problem.

However I cannot be the only one that has noticed this, is the standard factory jack really too short to actually lift the vehicle in an emergency. All I could think of is this had happened away from home I would have been pretty much stuffed as it appears there is no way to lift the vehicle with the tools provided.

Or am I being an absolute fool and have missed something obvious? (Actually, I might have answered my own question... does the top of the jack unscrew to increase the height? Looking carefully at the owners manual/rave it does show the top section to be different lengths in the diagrams but doesnt actually say that anywhere!)
 
If the jack is the same as that supplied with a Classic then it doesn't unscrew, just a 2 stage ram.
I always carry a wooden block anyway plus a breaker bar & socket in case the standard wheel-brace won't crack the nuts ie if some hairy-arsed tyre fitter has used a rattle gun on them.
 
If the jack is the same as that supplied with a Classic then it doesn't unscrew, just a 2 stage ram.
I always carry a wooden block anyway plus a breaker bar & socket in case the standard wheel-brace won't crack the nuts ie if some hairy-arsed tyre fitter has used a rattle gun on them.

I used to carry an off cut piece of floorboard and a wooden block, as you never know where you'll need a 'flat surface' to put the jack on ...:oops:
 
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