Off Jack
 

If you use a floor jack under your Cobra frequently you probably know the trick of lowering the nose last and moving the jack to the side of the oil cooler scoop to clear it. This even needs to be done with a low profile floor jack. I have done this hundreds of times and it worked well for me until.................... the jack pad slipped out from under the tubular crossmember. Of course it only happened because I was twisting the jack with it still too high. It slipped off the tube and crunched into the front of the road race pan and beat it up pretty well. It also scratched the frame paint pretty well. After trying to get my attachments down out of my stomach and back to their usual residence I contacted the customer who was very agreeable and we changed his pan out to an original Aviaid road race pan so it looked like everyone was going to be happy. That is after I figured out you can change an oil pan in the car with a CSX frame. Even with it being a stroker motor it was possible with the crank in the right position for the pan to clear the 3" tubular trans crossmember. It did take some spacing under the trans mount with it up as high as possible against the tunnel. Having resolved that I wondered how I would avoid doing that again. Spending most of my time under tube frame cars and having seen the original Shelley jacks it was a simple solution. Jack pads made from sections of 4" pipe with an EPDM lining and either a stub or socket to fit your jack. Fast and easy to change over and very secure under tube frames. Especially when swivelling them. I have made them for mine and a couple of customers jacks also in different attachment styles as you can see. I have a stash of the curved plates if you want to make one for your jack or let me know what your jack measures and I can make them for you.
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/8924/jacksaddle1.jpg
http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/6058/jacksaddle2.jpg
http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/170/jacksaddle3.jpg
Don't get off the jack like me and be safe working under your cars.

This is a good post and a great idea. I have a square tube chassis frame so the profile of the tube attachment would not help me. But I am always cautious while rolling the car or swiveling the jack because what happened to you could be more disasterous than it was. Great idea there.

John

Brilliant idea. I'll have to look at the jacking positions on my ERA to figure out what would work best.

DD

Excellent Mick!

So..... does this mean you don't jack off any more?????

Hopefully not. Good idea from the square tube guys also. Look in the standard channel profiles available Channel Aluminum Chart - Engineers Edge and leave a little room for the rubber. I have found the round profile I made also works well on the rectangular tubing.

mickmate,

Genius! :cool:
Every time I lift, or lower actually, I get nervous.
I'm definitely getting one. Let me check my AC Hydraulic and get you some measurements.

mickmate, PM sent.

Great Idea Nick! :cool:

Mick,

PM sent...

Excellent idea. I'll be off to the scrap metal yard tomorrow to fab one for my floor jacks!

On that note, I've been trying to find an original style hydraulic jack for the trunk of my Cobra. Anyone know where I can get one?

You can occasionally find a Shelley jack that is similar and change the top to a narrow one of these. Correct original complete ones, let me know if you find them in a junkyard ;-)
Rodney yours is done.

Thanks, Nick!
:D

I've been looking for a Shelly jack (or even a King Dick) but have not had any luck. I researched and found that the correct jack is the Shelly Jack, LJ22 with a cradle (rather than an L) shaped jack pad. The only things that I find that are close are located in the UK and they cost an arm and a leg before shipping cost. This looks like a great idea to replicate and sell to the Cobra community, along with a jack handle and the correct clamp to mount the jack within a Cobra trunk. Motorsports International (located in El Cajon, CA) once offered this but they went out of business some time ago. What do you say Mickmate? You think you could add this to your list of projects?

I talked with Bill from MSI recently. He pops up occasionally on e-bay with something though there seems little left of the Cobra stuff. It would be a good little project, we will have to see if we can find any suitable jacks. It appears the 12DL is a more readily available earlier version.Shelley Jacks

Got it, Nick and Bonnie!
Very stout, clean and simple design.
Will be put to use!
Thanks,
Rodneym