Noob needs advice

Hey, as mentioned in my intro post i need to replace the rear shocks, i've ordered the new shocks from eurocarparts, they are bilstein ones and it
was £49 for the 2 delivered.

I finally got some axle stands and a trolley jack, before that i had only used wheel ramps and the jack that came with the car. So, before i get stuck in and damage the car, can someone please advise the best place to jack up the rear with a trolley jack? and also where to place the stands? pics would be much appreciated.

Is it ok to use the jack on the official jacking points? in the haynes manual where it tells you how to do the shocks, it tells you to put the axle stands on those points though :s thanks in advance

yeah mate just follows haynes he's always right lol

2 ways of doing this
first is to jack up with trolley jack using the jacking point that you would put you original car jack and place the axle stands under the torsion beam as close to the trailing arm joint as possible...

but make sure you have a piece of wood or rubber pad between jack and car to avoid paint damage..


second is to use the trolley jack on the torsion beam as close to the trailing arm joint..and put the axle stands under the original jacking point,

but make sure that you have something between the stands and the car,, eg a piece of wood or some sort of rubber pad to avoid damage to the car paintwork..

warning never jack the rear tortsion beam up in the middle with a jack as it can bend the torsion beam..

Thanks for the info, i'll have a look and let you know how it goes

Still waiting for my parts to arrive due to easter holidays had a look under the car though and where you said looks ideal for the stands, right on the ends of the torsion beam where it becomes a solid round section.

As for the jacking, I don't trust myself sticking a peice of wood between the jack and jacking point, so did a little searching and i think i found a good cheap solution...an ice hockey puck! which serves as a 3" x 1" tough piece of rubber which you can cut a notch out of and turn it into a jack pad! so i've invested in a £1.50 puck aswell lol

good thinking lol

Sounds quite reliable when done right, found a couple of discussions about it:
http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/149492-jacking-pad-for-trolley-jack/

This guy uses them for the axle stands, but for the jack he said it didnt work very well for some reason. But from looking on the net most people use them on the jacks with no problems.
http://uk-mkivs.net/forums/t/42058.aspx

I'll be trying it on my trolley jack hopefully sometime this week and will let you know how it goes with a few pics.

supersterl wrote:

2 ways of doing this
first is to jack up with trolley jack using the jacking point that you would put you original car jack and place the axle stands under the torsion beam as close to the trailing arm joint as possible...

but make sure you have a piece of wood or rubber pad between jack and car to avoid paint damage..


second is to use the trolley jack on the torsion beam as close to the trailing arm joint..and put the axle stands under the original jacking point,

but make sure that you have something between the stands and the car,, eg a piece of wood or some sort of rubber pad to avoid damage to the car paintwork..

warning never jack the rear tortsion beam up in the middle with a jack as it can bend the torsion beam..

The zaffy doesn't have a torsion beam, just a trailing rear axle

I'd jack the rear up using the jacking point and put the axle stand on the sill at the rear where it's reinforced, you will see the part I mean once it's jacked up. Rear shocks are dead easy to change on the zafs.

I think mine does mate, and the haynes manual confirms it with an underbody view of a 1.8 16 valve zafira.

was hoping to do it this week but we just had a baby! the only thing i was waiting for to do the job was the hockey pucks, and guess what..while i was at the hospital the postman tried to deliver them, left a note saying he left them under the car, but they weren't there when i got back! so some pikeys had them i think! LOL

zafgsi wrote:

supersterl wrote:

2 ways of doing this
first is to jack up with trolley jack using the jacking point that you would put you original car jack and place the axle stands under the torsion beam as close to the trailing arm joint as possible...

but make sure you have a piece of wood or rubber pad between jack and car to avoid paint damage..


second is to use the trolley jack on the torsion beam as close to the trailing arm joint..and put the axle stands under the original jacking point,

but make sure that you have something between the stands and the car,, eg a piece of wood or some sort of rubber pad to avoid damage to the car paintwork..

warning never jack the rear tortsion beam up in the middle with a jack as it can bend the torsion beam..

The zaffy doesn't have a torsion beam, just a trailing rear axle

I'd jack the rear up using the jacking point and put the axle stand on the sill at the rear where it's reinforced, you will see the part I mean once it's jacked up. Rear shocks are dead easy to change on the zafs.

i think you need to rethink that.. take a read..look at the specs..

http://www.autozine.org/Graveyard/html/Opel/Zafira_Mk1.html[/url]

http://www.schwab-kolb.com/opel/en/opel0050.htm[/url]

same goes for the astra gsi ,, i changed the sons about a year ago.. it came from germany..opel.. and the tag on it said part number P V0093174567 .. and there was a big label that read,, Astra G torsion beam..and its exactly the same set up as my zaf..gsi..

It's a version of a traditional torsion beam setup mixed with trailing arm beam!

A traditional torsion beam will have no springs as the torsion bar takes the weight. Anyway I stand corrected it's a type of torsion beam.

Ok finally got round to doing the shocks, thanks for all your advice.
The puck held up well under the jacking points with a groove cut out:




Axle stand placed under torsion beam as suggested: