[XHILR8N!]

Time to service rear brakes

Lift under transaxle

Jack stands in place

A hockey puck to balance things

This is the left rear. Not bad for who knows how many years. The right side cylinder had failed, pretty messy.

 

[forkmeupscotty]

Hat's off to you, sir!

 

[CLW]

That is exactly the way we supported the rear. We supported the front by placing a 2X4 about 18-24 inches long (I didn't go to garage to measure) along the front tee area of the frame where the closing plate attaches. Raise the car using a jack in the middle of the 2X4 and place the stands near either end of the 2X4. Worked fine.

 

[4380r]

Fun project, that's how I jacked/supported mine in the rear as well.

I thought all 74's came standard with the rear deck hydraulic supports? No?

Sure beats propping it up with a broom handle. R & D sells the kits, but not cheap.

 

[CLW]

I had '74 back in the day. Bought it with 3500 miles and it did not have the hydraulic lifts. I think they were added towards the end of production. But it is really hard to tell what year some cars are/were. Many '73's were sold in '74 and since the model designation was type 74, they were titled as 1974 I think. Chris's car 3675R may actually be a '73 as it was built in June of 1973, but titled as a 74. His letter with the Certificate of Provenance eludes to such. My first Europa was 3991R. Yours as 4380R came much later.

 

[Lotus23S10]

I've always jacked on the rear frame hoop(ie "U" shape which connects the ends of the "Y" section where trans mount bolts). Right or wrong?

Also, the hockey puck is a great idea. I carry one in my M100 Elan with a hole drilled in its center to fit on the conical lift point, and one in my Elise to protect the aluminum under-panel.

 

[4380r]

I've always jacked on the rear frame hoop(ie "U" shape which connects the ends of the "Y" section where trans mount bolts). Right or wrong?

Next to impossible to do on a 5 speed because the shift tube is in the way.

 

[Lotus23S10]

I guess it's a matter of technique: I use a floor jack(catch one tab only) to slightly raise the car, then use a "bottle" jack directly under the tube to lift the car high enough to place jack stands under the frame "Y" rails.

 

[BDA]

I guess it's all a matter of preference and what you have in your garage.

I use the scissor jack to start in the front because my floor jacks can't get under the front of the car. Then I raise the entire front of the car with a floor jack using regular jack stands - nothing terribly unique here.

In the rear, I usually jack it up with a floor jack under the tranny. I have a little step-stool I made in summer camp that is about a foot high. I put that under the rear hoop as a jack stand. I prefer this because when I started with my Europa, I either didn't have jack stands that extended high enough or I they wobbled too much or both. I have better jack stands now that may work but I see no reason to change. The car is supported at three points which is very stable and using the step-stool is a lot easier than adjusting two jack stands on that narrow frame rail.

Each to his own. You're the one under the car so you should be the one confident it won't fall down on you.