Disco 2 Trolley Jack or just axle stands? Also where to jack?

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Naf623

Naf623

Active Member
Posts
283
Location
York
I'm slowly building up useful tools so I can do more and more bits on my D2 myself. Still very much a newbie to doing anything much, but going to have a bash at changing my pads and discs sometime soon.

Obviously for that I'm going to have axle stands and chocks, but is the standard bottle jack enough to get her onto the stands? I don't really know what I'm doing, or where to put the jack, in order to get the stands under there in the first place.

I know that a trolley jack is going to be the recommended option by many people; but given that I only have the road in front of my house to work on, and the fact I'm only confident doing relatively small and simple stuff myself just now, and that I don't really have the cash to splash on a good 3tonner just now, I just need to find what works.
 
If you haven't got a handbook, which shows you where to use the jack, then look for notches in the arms coming forward from the front axle and back from the rear axle. But for safety's sake you must back that up with axle stands under the axle. make sure you get ones that are big enough.
But the jack that comes with the truck is prone to leakage so don't be surprised if it doesn't work. You can get hold of hydraulic oil and top it up through the bung in the side, but sooner or later you will need a trolley jack.
They cost about £30 iirc. A small one with a sufficient rating, say 1 1/2 tons will do to lift a corner for you to be able to work on discs etc, but again, stick an axle stand under as well, also, for safety, put the wheel you have just removed under the vehicle in a sensible place too. Remember to chock the diagonally opposite wheel to the one you are working on as well as pulling the handbrake on and putting it in gear or P if it is auto. There should be the tyre removal kit in the back door pocket which should contain two clever chocks, which swivel open.
Also get yourself a Haynes manual, and download the RAVE manual, I have just tried to find a link to it on the www. the one I found didn't work for some reason so I would appeasl on here for a GOOD link to it as they come and go for some barmy reason. but once you've got it you'll use it.
All the best.
 
I'd only use a bottle jack in an emergency, but that's just me. It's not hard for a vehicle to roll off one of those
If I'm not putting any part of myself under the vehicle, then I'll just use a trolley jack. If it falls it's not going to injure me
 
Stanleysteamer said:
If you haven't got a handbook, which shows you where to use the jack, then look for notches in the arms coming forward from the front axle and back from the rear axle. But for safety's sake you must back that up with axle stands under the axle. make sure you get ones that are big enough.
But the jack that comes with the truck is prone to leakage so don't be surprised if it doesn't work. You can get hold of hydraulic oil and top it up through the bung in the side, but sooner or later you will need a trolley jack.
They cost about £30 iirc. A small one with a sufficient rating, say 1 1/2 tons will do to lift a corner for you to be able to work on discs etc, but again, stick an axle stand under as well, also, for safety, put the wheel you have just removed under the vehicle in a sensible place too. Remember to chock the diagonally opposite wheel to the one you are working on as well as pulling the handbrake on and putting it in gear or P if it is auto. There should be the tyre removal kit in the back door pocket which should contain two clever chocks, which swivel open.
Also get yourself a Haynes manual, and download the RAVE manual, I have just tried to find a link to it on the www. the one I found didn't work for some reason so I would appeasl on here for a GOOD link to it as they come and go for some barmy reason. but once you've got it you'll use it.
All the best.
Click to expand...

Well said :):)
 
kermit_rr said:
I'd only use a bottle jack in an emergency, but that's just me. It's not hard for a vehicle to roll off one of those
If I'm not putting any part of myself under the vehicle, then I'll just use a trolley jack. If it falls it's not going to injure me
Click to expand...
Glad someone else said that, it really is only there to be used at the road side to change a tyre.
 
Stanleysteamer said:
If you haven't got a handbook, which shows you where to use the jack, then look for notches in the arms coming forward from the front axle and back from the rear axle. But for safety's sake you must back that up with axle stands under the axle. make sure you get ones that are big enough.
But the jack that comes with the truck is prone to leakage so don't be surprised if it doesn't work. You can get hold of hydraulic oil and top it up through the bung in the side, but sooner or later you will need a trolley jack.
They cost about £30 iirc. A small one with a sufficient rating, say 1 1/2 tons will do to lift a corner for you to be able to work on discs etc, but again, stick an axle stand under as well, also, for safety, put the wheel you have just removed under the vehicle in a sensible place too. Remember to chock the diagonally opposite wheel to the one you are working on as well as pulling the handbrake on and putting it in gear or P if it is auto. There should be the tyre removal kit in the back door pocket which should contain two clever chocks, which swivel open.
Also get yourself a Haynes manual, and download the RAVE manual http://www.myrangerover.co.uk/rave-workshop-manual/
All the best.
Click to expand...

I know where the normal jacking point notches are, but I gather from what I've been reading the standard bottle jack is intended to be used on the axles directly? This being the case I wasn't sure how to both jack it up and then get an axle stand under there. I also wasn't sure if the standard jack would give enough height to do much more than just change the wheel.

My included jack does seem to work, I have had her up on it in the past. Very slow, and I can't remember how much height I managed, or if I maxed it out or not. From other reading I was in two minds if a cheap 2tonner would be enough; people mentioning that they drop the car a bit quickly. Are chocks and axle stands enough if I need to work with the handbrake off for a bit? Like checking the discs to actually find the source of noise (which I think is a warped disc, but not certain yet).

I have Haynes and RAVE; but as I'm not generally a Windows user, RAVE is a bit of a pain; and pretty sure Haynes only pointed me to the standard jacking points so as above I still wasn't sure.
 
kermit_rr said:
I'd only use a bottle jack in an emergency, but that's just me. It's not hard for a vehicle to roll off one of those
If I'm not putting any part of myself under the vehicle, then I'll just use a trolley jack. If it falls it's not going to injure me
Click to expand...

I'm definitely getting axle stands, not working underneath with only a bottle jack. And I'm sure I'll want a trolley jack in future; just not sure about the outlay in my current circumstances.
 
You said you were a newbie, but you seem to be more genned up than I thought.
Just remember, if you use a trolley jack to jack up one end of an axle, either the trolley jack will roll on its wheels or the Land Rover will move on its wheels, obvious. Once the jack has got the wheels off the ground, you should be able to find just enough room to place an axle stand, especially one with a triangular base. There are other places on the running gear where you can safely place a stand, and you can always lower the axle onto the stand but leave the jack under there as a back up, but not taking the main weight. Once the stand is under and the wheels are chocked, you can release the brake to check the disc.
 
Naf623 said:
Well I've been reading and not doing, so I know some bits but don't have much confidence in putting them into practise haha.
Click to expand...
Can I suggest you join a local club and get alongside other guys doing stuff. It doesn't need to be a LR club, if all you want to do is do the basics?
 
One thing to consider is that smaller trolley jacks don't have much lift height. A nice 3 ton one will lift perhaps 18" where a 1.5 ton may only lift 12"
 
Kev12 said:
One thing to consider is that smaller trolley jacks don't have much lift height. A nice 3 ton one will lift perhaps 18" where a 1.5 ton may only lift 12"
Click to expand...

That's one of the reasons I was asking. Do you know what the lift height is on the standard disco bottle jack?
I've been looking at this, which appears to have a 13" lift height, well within the range of these stands. But without experience I don't really know what sort of height is needed/desireable.
 
Kev12 said:
If I'm allowed out to the garage tonight I'll have a measure up
Click to expand...

Got mine out and it looks as though it has a maximum of almost 16" height, which putting it against the axles and jacking points would only give about 4" of lift of the wheels off the ground at best. But that's much better than the lift of the jacks currently in my price range, so I'll stick with the existing bottle and get the axle stands I guess.
 
Stanleysteamer said:
If you haven't got a handbook, which shows you where to use the jack, then look for notches in the arms coming forward from the front axle and back from the rear axle. But for safety's sake you must back that up with axle stands under the axle. make sure you get ones that are big enough.
But the jack that comes with the truck is prone to leakage so don't be surprised if it doesn't work. You can get hold of hydraulic oil and top it up through the bung in the side, but sooner or later you will need a trolley jack.
They cost about £30 iirc. A small one with a sufficient rating, say 1 1/2 tons will do to lift a corner for you to be able to work on discs etc, but again, stick an axle stand under as well, also, for safety, put the wheel you have just removed under the vehicle in a sensible place too. Remember to chock the diagonally opposite wheel to the one you are working on as well as pulling the handbrake on and putting it in gear or P if it is auto. There should be the tyre removal kit in the back door pocket which should contain two clever chocks, which swivel open.
Also get yourself a Haynes manual, and download the RAVE manual, I have just tried to find a link to it on the www. the one I found didn't work for some reason so I would appeasl on here for a GOOD link to it as they come and go for some barmy reason. but once you've got it you'll use it.
All the best.
Click to expand...
Where is this RAVE manual/file???
 
I jack it with a big 3.5t trolley.

can't stand bottles tbh.

Also worth noting the D2's chassis is píss thin so if you use a trolley with a small pad put a bit of timber between it and the chassis to avoid caving in the chassis.

Jack stands go under the flat part of the chassis, the tire is also slid underneath for another level of protection in case my 7.5t stands fail.
 
Badger688 said:
Where is this RAVE manual/file???
Click to expand...
You need to search this forum to find a link to down load it from. Every time I search on line I come up with "no longer at this address" even though I did in the past download it. Sorry to be so useless, but there are others on here who keep up to date with this stuff, hopefully they'll come forward.
 
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