jack pad slot height

What good is a jackpad with a slot if the slot is not deeper than the thing it holds? Isn't the idea that the weld area fits completely in the slot and the car is supported on either side of the slot?

I accidentally came across a jack pad with a slot in it, so the weld line on unibody cars doesn't hold the weight of the car when you jack it up. And that's when I realized a) I need that, b) the jack that came with the car has a slot, but if I jack it up at home I use a better jack with no slot, c) there is already damage from people before me jacking it up, and d) the drain holes in the fender could be damaged if I were stupid enough to put the jack there.

But...... the slots range from 1/4 inch to 0.63 inches, and my pinch weld is almost an inch high on the outside and higher yet on the inside.

What good is that?

micky posted for all of us...

Clare, before you reply note it is Micky...

Another one of your worthless posts. I guess this means you don't know the answer.

This is great. Thanks. The poster says "I set the blade on my table saw so it cuts slightly deeper than the height of the pinch weld", so he seems to understand the idea better than any of those who make and sell them commercially. The vendors had pictures and one or two showed that the car was still resting on the pinch weld, inside the slot.

This mattered especially because my new 2004 Sebring had the water drains inside the pinch weld, about 5 per side, instead of having an opening at the rear end of the rocker panel like every other convertible I've had, and convertibles get a lot of water between their roof and the trunk. They're designed that way, with a gutter that runs the water to the side. But even though I can avoid the putting the jack where a drain is, I don't like crusing part of my car. There is already damage from before I had the car.

Unfortunately, the engine failed on the Sebring last Sunday, after I had the car for 10 weeks and 800 miles! That will teach me not to buy a

2.7L engine. So yesterday I bought another Solara, and even though I've had one for 6 years, I don't remember if it has a pinch weld or not.

So, what failed? Did the car come with a log so you could see that maintenance had been done on it?

--scott

No log. It was one of 4 gold Sebrings for sale on ebay motors that week, and it was the newest, in the best cosmetic condition, and it had only 72,000 miles. The others had more. When I got it there was a sticker on the windhield that it had the oil changed only 1000 miles earlier, but who knows what happened before that. I didnt' try to check carfax, largely because I never have before, but I did this time and even the free version has more information than I expected, at least when the maintenance/repairs are done by a reporting shop. (What % of shops participate in this?)

Some part inside the engine. I was only going 65 and when I got to a toll booth, the engine stalled. And wouldn't restart. When cranked the engine sort of jingled, like shaking a key ring. Not a single cylinder ignited and it didn't sound like a normal engine during cranking without ignition. My mechanic told me what a problem Chrysler 2.7L engines were when he inspected it so I could get plates, but I've always had good luck** with used cars, so I still wasn't worried. Even though I lost 4000 dollars, I'm still not upset, because for 6 years I wanted a gold Sebring, and for 10 weeks and 800 miles I had one. That's more than most people can say.

Apparently what happens is one of the dohcams stops, the timing *chain* stalls or breaks, and iirc it's an interference engine. I didn't worry about that since it had a chain, not a belt, but chains break too it seems.

Don't tell me I could have fixed it cheap. It's gone now and I don't want to hear it. It was a nice car except I could feel every bump. So I went back to a Solara. In the first 8 weeks I had the car, I drove both on the same streets, and on one street, the Sebring really shook on several places -- I couldn't see while driving what made the bump, which was an inch long and ran the width of the road -- but in the Solara, I felt nothing and could barely hear anything. I hate to praise the car, which had several small things I didn't like in comparison to any of the LeBarons, but the ride is good. They were both quiet.

I had 3 Chrysler LeBArons in a row, for 23 years, and I don't remember their ride being rough. The Sebring was never a copy of the Lebaron -- made in a different plant I think and various things were different -- but do you think there is a chance that when daemler owned Chrysler they changed the car to be more European, meaning, I'm told, a stiffer suspension and the bumps I felt???

Another difference might have been that whenever I took my eyes off the highway, to get a banana from the passensger seat, or even to adjust the radio, I would stray into another lane??? Maybe I shouldn't do those things but I've done them in all the other cars without leaving my lane. Maybe I just needed more time with the car to learn how to drive straight in highway driving even during a 5 or 10 second distraction, but it happened almost every time. If I still had the car I'd drive it without my hands and see how that went, but I didn't notice any other handling problem.

**This was the 7th used car I've bought and I think only for one have I spent more than 100 dollars on repairs in the first two years. Maybe it's more than that but not much. The one exception needed a repaired transmission, didn't have high gear, which I think cost me 1000, but this was during the convertible shortage and I had to check out 12 counties in and around NYC with 15 million people to find even one I wanted, so I would have bought it even if I'd noticed.

Broken or seized cams are common with the 2.7. Life expectancy of that engine is about 65k miles. The back 2 cylinders don't cool and the over heating causes the oil to gel and sludge blocking the oil galleries to the cylinder heads.

a Chrysler one. I haven't come across the same size by anyone else, but there are only 21 numbers between 2 and 4.

I knew about the sludge (after I bought the car) but you're the first to talk about the back two cylinders, overheating, or gel. Interesting. I wonder if an ice pack would have helped.

I'm not usually none to say "i told you so" but I DID say "it looks good on your driveway" or something very similar. - - - -

Well, if the maintenance shows up, you know it was maintained. If it doesn't show up you don't know i9f it was maintained or not, so you check in other ways or just walk away.

What year was the Sebring?? The 2.7 makes me think early( 1st generation) which is the "time bomb" Mitsushitty engine. Nothing cheap to repair on a Mitsu.

.

Perhaps not all Sebring convertibles drove that badly - mabee you just got one that was damaged/abused.

When you buy based on a specific desire - for instance a convertible - and are willing to "settle" for anything to get that "feature" you often end up over paying for a "bad deal".

I was just answering his question. I don't want to discuss repairs or really anything. I'm handling my 4000 loss pretty well and I want to keep it that way!

You're right.

That sounds pretty good. It would mean the notch is there only to position the pad, and the pad is used so that the rib wouldn't just be sitting on the jack's "saddle" at the two places on its circumference.

If you're right, the guy who made his own seems to have made the notch too deep.

The scissors jack in the trunk also had a notch, but I didn't measure how deep it was compared to the rib, and alas, the car is gone now, never to return. But maybe I'll find another one to check some day.

The notch in the jack is to prevent the jack from sliding out fromm under the car, or the re-enforced portion of the pinch weld from slipping off the jack. The notch is never deep enough to let the flat surface of the rocker panel contact the jack, as the sheet metal of the rocker panel is not anywhere near strong enough to support the vehicle on the jack