An unfortunate result of the extreme ground clearance of C30x’s is most normal floor and bottle jacks don’t have the range of lift to jack the car up. Unfortunately a previous owner of Trog lost the official “Volvo wood block” so it didn’t come with one. Some use Hi-lift farm jacks on the bumper, but they are a bit scary and can tip easily.
I don’t like the unsteadiness of blocks or other bodgy jack extensions so I welded up a stainless bottle jack extender that fits over the bottle jack piston.
The pin sticking out near the bottom is a stop that the top of the jack presses against. I turned the inside of the pipe on the lathe to make it slip snugly over about 1″ of the top of the piston. I probably should have captured more of the piston but 1″ should be ok. Total height is approx 7″.
At the top is a plate with some 1/4″ stainless rod on the sides to cup the bottom of the spring pack on the front
and the pivot on the bogie axles on the back of Trog.
Of course I could have fabbed the extension out of mild steel in a bit less time, but I then would have to paint it and it still would eventually chip and rust. Trog has given me a heatlhly dislike of rust…
Yikes – 1″ . No problem unless you forget to chock those other two wheels / use parking brake — not that I’ve ever…
Also found this amusing b/c I have the opposite trouble. I can’t roll my jack under the car without first driving the wheels up onto some wood.
Nice tool fab.
Looks great – however, in the event of a puncture will the extension be too long to fit in the reduced space available???
good point. i could pick a higher part of Trog. Maybe an variable extender is in order?