DIY: How to Safely Raise Your Porsche 911 on Jack Stands
Here’s a quick way to get the wheels off the ground for most basic wrenching tasks.
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The classic air-cooled Porsche 911 is a very unconventional sports car. Its flat floor, torsion bar suspension, and engine hanging out behind the rear wheels makes maintenance procedures very different from typical front-engine cars. Even simple tasks like getting the car up on jack stands are tricky and if you are not careful you could damage the vehicle and/or put your safety at risk. The steps below will help you raise the front, rear, or the entire car, off the ground and onto jack stands, as quickly and safely as possible.
Note: This procedure is for lifting with a floor jack and jack stands only. It does not apply for any kind of garage or shop lift.
Caution: Do not lift with a floor jack placed anywhere on the flat floor as it could create a dent, damage oil lines or air conditioning lines that run under the car. Do not lift from the gas tank or belly pan between the front control arms.
Model Years Applicable
All 911 cars up to 1989.
Tools Needed
- Floor jack (preferably a low profile one; minimum 2 ton capacity)
- Jack pad adapter tool (get one from any Porsche parts supplier)
- Rubber saddle pad or small block wood (optional)
- Wheel chocks (preferably 2)
- Jack stands (2 or 4 depending if you are lifting one end of the car or both; minimum 3 ton capacity)
Procedure
Step 1: Set Up Work Area and Car
Start by parking the car on a flat, horizontal surface. Shut the engine off and put on the parking brake. Make sure you leave enough space on both sides to operate a floor jack easily. If you are lifting the front of the car, chock a rear wheel to prevent rolling rearward. If you are lifting the rear of the car or lifting the entire car, chock one front and one rear wheel on the same side to prevent rolling in either direction.
Step 2: Lift the Car
2A: Lifting the Front End Only
Locate the front torsion bars under the front wheels. They point front and back and run inboard through the A-arms’ axis of rotation. We will be lifting directly under the torsion bar mount at the rear of the A-arm. We will be placing a jack stand directly under the torsion bar mount at the front of each A-arm.
Roll the floor jack in from behind the front wheel and place the jack pad under the rear torsion bar mount. It is recommended you use a rubber pad or a block of wood here to protect the bottom of the torsion bar mount from being scuffed by the jack saddle.
Slowly raise the jack and the front of the car until there is enough jack stand clearance under both torsion bar mounts at the front of the A-arms. Slide the jack stands into place and slowly lower the car onto them. The rounded torsion bar mounts should drop nicely into the U-shaped tops of most jack stands.
Make sure the rear wheel is still chocked. Preferably both rear wheels. Proceed to step 3.
2B: Lifting the Rear End Only
This generation of 911 has a single factory jack point on each side of the car. This jack point will cause the entire side of the car to lift at once. This was purposely done so you can use a single lifting point to change either a front or rear flat tire on the same side. The jack point placement seems strange until you remember most of the car’s weight is shifted towards the rear, thanks to the engine location.
Note: Do not use the factory jack to lift the car onto jack stands. It is somewhat unstable and should only be used for emergency roadside purposes.
Locate the factory jack point along the rocker panel of the car, right below the lower rear corner of the door, and just ahead of the rear wheel. If there is a plastic jack point cover in place, pull it off and you will see the square receptacle for the factory jack.
We will be lifting from here using a floor jack and a jack pad adapter tool.
Locate the rear torsion bar cover in the rear wheel well, just ahead of the rear wheel. We will be placing our jack stands under here.
First make sure both wheels are chocked on the side opposite of the one you will be lifting.
Insert the jack pad adapter into the square factory jack point with the round saddle plate facing down.
Use the floor jack to slowly raise the car via the jack pad adapter. You will see both tires on that side start to lift off the ground.
Pause for a minute and check that your wheel chocks are still in position. Raise the car just high enough to get a jack stand under the rear torsion bar cover. Slowly lower the car onto the jack stand, making sure the rounded torsion bar cover drops into the U-shaped top of the stand. Carefully keep lowering until the front tire on the same side reaches the ground. The car will rotate about the jack stand a bit as the front tire makes its way down.
Remove the jack pad adapter and roll the floor jack to the opposite side. Repeat the same process slowly and carefully to raise the other side and lower it onto the second jack stand. This is a good time to move your rear wheel chock to now support both front wheels. Proceed to step 3.
2C: Lifting the Entire Car
Note: Please read the above procedures for lifting either the front or rear end of the car before proceeding with this section.
First make sure both wheels are chocked on the side opposite of the one you will be lifting.
Lift one side of the car using the jack pad adapter tool inserted into the factory jack location. Lift high enough to slide both front and rear jack stands in place. Use the same front and rear jack stand locations already mentioned in the previous two procedures. Carefully lower the car onto both stands, making sure each support location fits securely into the top of each stand.
Carefully repeat the process on the other side and put wheel chocks away. You can also lift the rear end first, getting both rear jack stands on, using the “Rear End Only” procedure, then lift the front using the “Front End Only” procedure, to get both front jack stands on.
Proceed to step 3.
Step 3: Verify Stability on Jack Stands
Make sure all four jack stands are sitting squarely on the ground. Make sure the tops of each stand are centered and fully supporting their respective locations under the car. If you only lifted one end, verify that the wheel chocks are firmly in place on the wheels still touching the ground. Give the car a firm push or shake to ensure it is stable and will not fall over or roll. If you take wheels off, slip them under the body to give the car an extra column of support in case of a stand failure.
Now get at it and turn some wrenches.