I picked up a jack on Amazon that works great for this purpose. It is a "Powerbuilt UJack", part number 620516, price was $211.99.

Only downside I've found so far is that I cannot get the full 18" lift range because the lift arm rises in an arc, bringing the lift pad back toward the jack body. The jackstand base hits the jack at full elevation. I found that I could get approximately 15.5" lift with the stands I have.

Pics below...






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Very cool jack!
Over 40 years of working on my cars and I've never seen a jack like this.

 

Ditto that!

 

Nice idea, here's a slightly better price:https://www.eastwood.com/powerbuilt-...ck-620516.html

 

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I use the car jack and park the jack stands along the sturdy parts under the car (front and read suspension where one or both legs of jack stand locks into it securely).


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I jack the car up using a standard 2-ton hydraulic jack. I have an adapter I use at the jack point, that fits the jack point on the car.

Obviously, I am not dumb enough to get under the car without support, so my next step is to place a jack stand FORWARD of the rear jacking point, or BEHIND the front jacking point, ON THE SAME LEDGE THAT THE JACKING ADAPTER FITS ON. I then put a 2 x 4 that is about 12" long, placed flat site up, on the top of the jackstand. The jackstand will actually be directly forward of the rear jack pad, or directly behind the front jack pad. I place the stand under the 2X4, it can be midway down the 2X4, but I normally keep it as close to the jacking pad as possible, so there is the length that is on the jackstand, and then a portion of 2X4 that extends forward or aft of the stand, depending on whether you are talking about the front pad, or the rear pad. I then gently lower the car down onto the flat 2X4, so the car is supported on this ledge that has the jack point mounted on it, but the car is actually resting on the 2X4, with the jackstand underneath the 2X4. The 2X4 spreads the load over the area of the ledge. I leave the hydraulic jack in place, set into the jack point, with a little load on it, so it acts as a backup in case something happens with the jackstand.

I have 95K miles on my Crossfire, and this has never revealed any flexing, deformation, or stress on this frame ledge area, so apparently it is sturdy enough to take the load. I have been jacking it like this since I got the car. I change the oil every 5000 miles, I do the trans fluid and flush, change the trans filter, and change the oil in the differential every 25,000 miles. I had to change the alternator and belt last year, and will be doing BOTH front suspension arms in the next few days, as my front tire wear is heavy on the inside edges of the tires, and I have metal braid showing in the rubber. I am at 95,000 miles right now. As soon as the front lower suspension arms are done, I will be getting new tires installed, and an alignment done. I got the suspension arm kit from FCP Euro just today, and it looks very nice.

I am closing in on 100,000 miles, and will be doing the trans service, another oil change, differential service, spark plug change, and will be changing out the fuel pump and filter as well when I reach that point. I am also doing a complete hose change, new anti-freeze and soluble oil in the coolant, and a flush of the power steering pump.

I will try and take pics of the control arm change, with each step having a photograph, but I have to learn how to post pics so I can tell a coherent story. Right now I am looking for all the torque specs for the suspension hardware. At the same time I do that, I will be scrubbing the front wheels down with "Foamy Engine Bright" cleaner, to get rid of the dirt, before I take the wheels down for the new tires, so they are nice and clean looking. I already have the new tires purchased and on the shelf at my local Costco, so the only holdup is getting the suspension arm change done.

I talked to the FCP Euro guy, and asking him about the UPPER control arms, since the lower ones are worn out. He stated that the uppers need to be changed out ONCE, for every THREE changes of the LOWER ARMS, so he said if this is the first change of my lower arms, (which it is.) then I should not have to worry about the upper arms until the NEXT TWO changes of the lower arms go by. He stated that the upper arms suffer much less wear and stress than the lower arms, which apparently really take the hammering. I did a close examination of everything on the front suspension when I was applying Kroil to the attaching points and hardware, and did not notice any deterioration or looseness in the upper arms, so apparently he knows what he is talking about.

I am considering the installation of the excentric bolts for the lower arms, but will wait and see how close I get to a good alignment after all the repairs are complete. If they have trouble aligning the front end, then the next project will be to put in the excentric bolts, and take the car down for another alignment and see how close they can get it. I REALLY need to find an alignment place that has some experts before I do that, so I have some time.

So far, from 28,000 miles when I bought it, up to now at 95,000 miles, I have had NO major problems with the car. The only nagging item is a "BAS/ESP" message which comes and goes, but doesn't seem to really affect anything, and does not show up as a hard fault, so I pretty much ignore it. I will probably try and investigate it further when I get to the 100K mark and do all the major servicing.

 

Talk about a lucky day! My ramps arrived today but were not as advertised. Came with 3k bottle jacks insted of 5k bottle jacks. Amazoo gave me the option of shipping them back at my expense or i could keep the ramps and they would refund my money. Well heck yeah i'll keep them and take the refund!

 

Free ramps, that's awesome!