Clutch replacement on Jack Stands vs Harbor Freight Lift

[TappaNuKegga]

Does anyone know from experience how much(compared to using a lift) I'll be hating life replacing the clutch on 4 jackstands, with a buddy to help? My main concern is how to get the trans down and out from underneath the car safely. Any helpful tips from experience are greatly appreciated.

Also, I've been eyeing up Harbor Freight's scissor lift. Using something from HB to hold 4000lbs above my head has me worried for my life, but the reviews and videos are excellent. 10% off "everything" coupon applies right now too (Code = 71065546)

Any experience with this lift or if it's arms rotate to line up with our pinch welds?

Thanks All

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[hellovaras]

Does anyone know from experience how much(compared to using a lift) I'll be hating life replacing the clutch on 4 jackstands, with a buddy to help? My main concern is how to get the trans down and out from underneath the car safely. Any helpful tips from experience are greatly appreciated.

Also, I've been eyeing up Harbor Freight's scissor lift. Using something from HB to hold 4000lbs above my head has me worried for my life, but the reviews and videos are excellent. 10% off "everything" coupon applies right now too (Code = 71065546)

Any experience with this lift or if it's arms rotating line up with out pinch welds?

Thanks All

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On YouTube you will find videos of that work on jack stands. Chrisfix is one I recently saw. He changed the clutch of his mustang. He goes into a lot of detail. Just a suggestion.


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[BrokeBichB8]

Cant say I've done it. But good luck! in the coming months im going to try jackstands and use a motorcycle lift from amazon for the transmission. Take pics of whatever you do!

[ellwood]

I did it on jackstands with a friend over a weekend. I could not get the car high enough with my jackstands to get the trans out from under the car. Other than making it difficult to lift the clutch module in/out of the bellhousing, it isn't too terrible. You'll obviously be laying down on concrete and sliding under the car often.

[TappaNuKegga]

On YouTube you will find videos of that work on jack stands. Chrisfix is one I recently saw. He changed the clutch of his mustang. He goes into a lot of detail. Just a suggestion.

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That guy is a wizard. I'll definitely have to look up that video of his.

Cant say I've done it. But good luck! in the coming months im going to try jackstands and use a motorcycle lift from amazon for the transmission. Take pics of whatever you do!

Flat motorcycle lift is a GREAT idea. Way better than my current plan of trying to balance it on a car jack. I'll definitely take some pictures.

I did it on jackstands with a friend over a weekend. I could not get the car high enough with my jackstands to get the trans out from under the car. Other than making it difficult to lift the clutch module in/out of the bellhousing, it isn't too terrible. You'll obviously be laying down on concrete and sliding under the car often.

Ah I see. Maybe I'll finally invest in a creeper + motorcycle lift, instead of the scissor car lift.



Thanks for the insight, All! Any further tips greatly appreciated too - I'm all ears

[Jay@JXB]

You can do it on jackstands easily, just getting the trans out requires a very tall jack temporarily. The 6 ton HF stands aren’t high enough to get trans out, nor is their larger steel low profile Jack. That Jack plus 2 4x4s does it though, so you need about a 7” boost. You could also grab a pair of the big red 12 ton HF stands, those definitely go high enough and would be the safer route.


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[B7TitaniumA4]

FWIW I just pulled my engine and trans with my car on a Quickjack. While more expensive than HF equipment, I never once had any fear that the car was unstable or was going to move around on me and it never did. It puts the bottom of the car about 2ft off the ground, I am able to use a creeper under it comfortably and I am not a small dude. It’s also easier than trying to jack up all 4 corners to balance the car on stands.

Again, just my $.02 and experience.




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[Jimcoily]

Some tips I picked up changing my clutch on jack stands.
1. Build 4 box’s 10 inches high, I used 2x4s
2. I didn’t have any help, I needed 3 jacks to manipulate the transmission to get it out and Back in.
3. You can also lower the subframe, I think it’s 6 bolts holding it in. A engine support bar is needed. I did this and used the front lifting points on the supercharger to tilt the engine back towards the transmission.

That transmission is heavy


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[6SpeedS4]

Very impressive doing this on stands or a scissor. I did it on a lift and it wasn't fun.

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[fastboatster]

don't need to pull the trans from under the car if all you need to do is change the (dual or single) clutch. You'll definitely need a trans jack and possibly another floor jack to support the tail of the trans and make it level so you can mate it with the engine - don't know if mt needs it, but dsg would always tilt slightly backwards on my cheap HF trans jack. Need to support the engine from the top, floor jack under the oil pan will make it too crowded. I personally used a ratchet strap going over the strut brace and hooked it to the loops on the supercharger (I removed the false firewall to get to the upper bellhousing bolts so I just installed the brace back and wrapped the strap around it) this applies to dsg, 6mt might be easier since its lighter and you can probably manage to put the trans jack under its CG. I'm going to say that pulling the drivetrain felt a lot safer than dropping the trans, with drivetrain you don't have to struggle under the car with heavy oddly balanced objects like trans waiting to fall on you if you look at them funny. I'm almost going to say it will be easier to just pull the engine and trans out together, just leave the subframe in place, more tedious but a lot less dicey
1D30E387-FB73-497B-B25C-D0366CC03044.jpg

[Jay@JXB]

I’ll echo what others are saying about the trans being heavy. It’s close to 300 lbs. I personally will not use a bottom-of-the-line jack to do it again. It’s very sketchy, and the crappy jacks won’t adjust their angle easily with any load/imbalance.

Buy this one and never look back. It goes lower, lifts higher, the uprights are removable, super sturdy, has very little slop in the adjusters (this is really important), and you can turn the adjustment handles easily with the load way off center.

Also, throw away the chains and use a ratchet strap to secure it to the jack. Chains are a death sentence.




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[Boost112]

FWIW I just pulled my engine and trans with my car on a Quickjack. While more expensive than HF equipment, I never once had any fear that the car was unstable or was going to move around on me and it never did. It puts the bottom of the car about 2ft off the ground, I am able to use a creeper under it comfortably and I am not a small dude. It’s also easier than trying to jack up all 4 corners to balance the car on stands.

Again, just my $.02 and experience.




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Came in here to post this...quickjack is the best way...make the investment if you can...amazing product!

[TappaNuKegga]

FWIW I just pulled my engine and trans with my car on a Quickjack. While more expensive than HF equipment, I never once had any fear that the car was unstable or was going to move around on me and it never did. It puts the bottom of the car about 2ft off the ground, I am able to use a creeper under it comfortably and I am not a small dude. It’s also easier than trying to jack up all 4 corners to balance the car on stands.

Again, just my $.02 and experience.

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Came in here to post this...quickjack is the best way...make the investment if you can...amazing product!

Thanks, guys. I've been tracking quickjack prices for the past few weeks. Costco has them on sale right now.

I assume we need to 5000lb model for our S4s. Should I order any mount-point extenders or special pads from QuickJack?

[Smac770]

The 8K is 58" between the lift point centers. Add some room for the blocks, the 5000SLX 60" outer block edge spread was too at the limit for me. Plus family members had larger cars, not smaller cars, I would use it for eventually. So 5000EXT is what I have and it works great. But now that they have the SLX extension, you get the EXT block spread and 1.5" of extra lift. Might just be the way to go, though it'll be nearly $200 more.

And the pinch weld blocks. Though those new round versions are kind of chump (https://www.quickjack.com/accessorie...h-weld-blocks/). Oh good, they still have the full ones (https://www.quickjack.com/accessorie...h-weld-blocks/). You'll need to widen the channel a bit so they don't rub away the coating on the pinch welds. They come with 3/8" channels, which work for the fronts if new like shape. But you'll need at least 1/2" channel for the rear. And if you've had your car worked on a lot and the pinch welds are smashed down a lot from all the shops, ....

Pinch weld in pinch weld block resting on small block, very stable. Pinch weld resting on large block resting on small block, yeah, don't do that.

[TappaNuKegga]

The 8K is 58" between the lift point centers. Add some room for the blocks, the 5000SLX 60" outer block edge spread was too at the limit for me. Plus family members had larger cars, not smaller cars, I would use it for eventually. So 5000EXT is what I have and it works great. But now that they have the SLX extension, you get the EXT block spread and 1.5" of extra lift. Might just be the way to go, though it'll be nearly $200 more.

And the pinch weld blocks. Though those new round versions are kind of chump (https://www.quickjack.com/accessorie...h-weld-blocks/). Oh good, they still have the full ones (https://www.quickjack.com/accessorie...h-weld-blocks/). You'll need to widen the channel a bit so they don't rub away the coating on the pinch welds. They come with 3/8" channels, which work for the fronts if new like shape. But you'll need at least 1/2" channel for the rear. And if you've had your car worked on a lot and the pinch welds are smashed down a lot from all the shops, ....

Pinch weld in pinch weld block resting on small block, very stable. Pinch weld resting on large block resting on small block, yeah, don't do that.

Awesome, thanks a lot for the detailed info. Looks like Costco only has the SLX model without the extensions right now. I guess I'll have to hold out for them to get the larger kit (extended arms + wall hangers) available again.


While checking out the models you mentioned on QuickJack.com, I saw that they will be releasing new models(https://www.quickjack.com/tl/) that provide an extra 3" of lift. Would that extra 3" be beneficial for clutch replacement or other jobs? Or would the car likely be a little TOO high, to access necessary bolts while laying on your back?

[fastboatster]

you can never have it too high when doing transmission work, imo) 3 extra inches of lift would not hurt

[Nelson G]

Take a look at this site: https://www.etamfg.com/ The MYLIFT Stand would work for you. I do have a Quickjack and it works well but you only have access from the front or back. The Mylift Stand has a 24" clearance. Check it out.

Nelson

[S4Gibbs]

Wow nice find. These are by far the best way I've seen for a home mechanic to lift an entire car via its wheels.

[TappaNuKegga]

Take a look at this site: https://www.etamfg.com/ The MYLIFT Stand would work for you. I do have a Quickjack and it works well but you only have access from the front or back. The Mylift Stand has a 24" clearance. Check it out.

Nelson

Wow nice find. These are by far the best way I've seen for a home mechanic to lift an entire car via its wheels.

Will these work for a clutch job though? I'm pretty sure I'll have to remove the front wheels

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[maksym]

Here is the tranny on the trans jack stand. The car is sitting on bl-6000xlt with 2”blocks combined with pinch weld blocks.


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[maksym]

This is to say you can probably get the transmission out, but you will have to get off the jack first. It is not excessively heavy once the clutch module out. Getting back to the original question - I've posted a similar question about a year or two ago, and there was a guy or two who done it on jack stands. However, using normal jack stands is somewhat of a pain, because there is no good lifting point. On the other hand, 4 stands designed for lifting would be half the price of QuickJack, like this one jackpointjackstands.com. If you do get QuickJack, get pinch weld blocks (I've got 5300013), or use the solid blocks that come bundled with QuickJack. Do not attempt to use aluminum pinch weld adapters on top of the solid blocks - they will slide off together with the car.

Note that you will hate your life regardless since this is a 20+ hour job by the book. Still, these guys claim to do it in 4 hours https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXMu3U7EJio . If I had to do it all over again, I would have probably called them and asked for a quote :)

Finally, if you have an oil collecting on your undrebelly - plan for a timing chain cover gasket (RTV really) change, since they will be easily accessible once the trans is out.

[fastboatster]

I jacked the front by jacking under the subframe beam, made sense to me since I don’t have any splash shields. Rear can be officially jacked by the diff (at least if you don’t have a sport diff)

[ak-s4]

From a safety perspective, I wouldn't put my trust in those lifts alone. Good way to become a statistic. Some common tricks I've done is put the wheels back on and put those low-profile ramps underneath the tire as a backup. At least if the lift fails you won't be crushed. Some other options are to add redundancy such as the lift plus jack stands or jack stands plus a couple floor jacks. Of course anything hydraulic can never be trusted alone, but as a backup to a faulty jack stand it's extra piece of mind. I've also put the removed wheels flat under the car at various locations, again, just to give enough space to keep from being pinned/crushed.