Hi all, I am getting near to the point that I have to drop the rear end assembly on my 68 FHC. I don't have a lift, but I am considering the purchase of a QuikJack. If I do purchase the QuickJack, it would be almost exclusively for this task. Anyone have personal experience with the Quickjack?
Can some one tell me how high do I need to rase the car (minimum height) in order to be able to lower and remove the rear end?
Thanks,
Bill.

 

Hi Bill,
The Item I would be must concern about using any type lift when removing the rear suspension is that the car might tip forward. I know for a fact that if you remove the engine and the car is on 4 jack stands under the body sills, that it will tip backwards.

 

Thanks for the reminder Bob S.
At present the car is a roller with no interior, and no engine/trans. So yes, I have to be careful raising the car.. I'll put some weight on the front.
Thanks,
Bill.

 

I had actually ordered a QuickJack for my 1969 Series 2 FHC for the same reasons as you. Then I examined the jacking points on the car, only to realize that each side of the QJ is nearly 12 inches, wide yet wouldn't touch these spots without the accessory they sell that spans across the two jacks. The jacking points on the Jag just don't line up front to back. Also with the width of the QJ's themselves, it would make it nearly impossible to work on the engine, transmission, exhaust, etc. After coming to this realization, I canceled my order.

Bob

 

Hi TX69XKE,
Thank you very much for your input on the QuickJack. I'll stay away from it.
So, how did you resolve the issue of raising the car to remove the rear end and suspension assembly? How high did you have to raise it?
Have a Happy Thanksgiving and stay safe.
Bill.

 

Well, that's the bad news. I simply cannot fit a real lift system in my garage and I am considering doing the IRS work myself over the winter. Right now, my arsenal consists of a floor jack, several bottle jacks, a transmission jack and a multitude of jack stands. To be honest, I'm fearful of lifting my Jag high enough to snake the IRS out of the car. I've read a million posts on the task on the Jag-Lovers Forum and the consensus seems to be that without a jack, you should only jack up high enough for the IRS to come out the side of the car through the wheel well, as opposed to even higher to extract it from the rear. I am on the fence and not sure how I will progress.

 

My intension has been to raise the car just enough to remove the rear end out the side as you described. However, I am not sure how high the car has to be, and I don't want to start and then find out that I can't raise high enough. I have also been looking at a portable/movable two post lift (MaxJack I think). It bolts to the floor and it raises the car 48". When you are done you can unbolt it and move it against the wall. It costs about twice as much as the QuikJack, but for me it may resolve also the issue of reinstalling the engine by lifting the car and lowering over the engine. I'm just not looking forward to the expense.

 

This is an excellent multi-part post on rebuilding the IRS - Jaguar XKE E-type Restoration

 

Thank you. I had not read or seen this one. I'll have time to read it this weekend.

 

First of all, forget the lift. The assembly weighs 300 lbs and is very clumsy, so you really don't want it raised higher than jack height. Raise the car with the wheels off the ground. Install jackstands just forward of the radius arms, and use a large slabs of wood on the stands to spread the weight. To drop the axle, undo all the doo-dads: driveshaft, brake cable, hose, then slide a simple trolley jack underneath the pumpkin. Again, you can use a slab of wood to spread the load. Or use a transmission jack. Use the jack to offload the mount points, undo the mounts and the trailing arms, and drop the axle. Use your jack to slide it out. If the car isn't high enough, you may have to slide the axle out to one side.

 

Thanks mxfrank,
That is the kind of info I was looking for. I was hoping that I could raise the car enough with a jack to be able to slide the reared out the side.
Based on your info, a lift now would be nice just so I don't have to install the engine from the top.
Thanks again.
Bill.

 

I dropped the rear subframe on the '68 FHC that I had a number of years ago, by myself, in my garage using a floor jack.
In addition to the tips above make sure you break free the large radius arm ends from the body before putting it up on the jack stands, they tend to rust to the mounts and some persuasion is usually needed.
Jack the back end up as far as you can and place your stands as stated in the previous posts.
Follow the removal directions in the manual, especially which mounts to leave on the subframe and which ones to leave on the body.
Putting it back in, my wife operated the jack and I guided it back into position.
I now have a '69 2+2 and a QuickJack works fine on it.
I've pulled the engine and front sub frame while the car is up on the QuickJack but I did put support under the rear bumper mounts and the rear suspension to stop it tipping backwards.

Chers
Rick
'69 E-Type 2+2
'64 Austin Healey BJ8

 

I just dropped the IRS out last week to replace diff seals. An inexpensive motorcycle jack from Harbor Freight is arguably the safest, easiest and most adaptable tool for the extraction. The least expensive version (about $90) has a vertical structure which requires that the car chassis be raised for clearance under the boot floor, but that's pretty straight forward with a decent floor jack and stands. I raised the car such that there is 22" between the curved flange at the forward/side edge of the boot floor and the garage floor. Then slide the M/C jack into position. This distance allows clearance for the IRS, and the lowered motorcycle jack on 2 x 4 shims to be maneuvered/angled out the rear (and around the fuel tank sump).

The motorcycle jack makes a stable handy rolling work stand for a task like replacing diff seals. BTW, the more expensive MC jacks are virtually flat, thereby possibly avoiding a step or two.

 

And that rear suspension assembly is what you took out ? It looks as if it only went back in a week ago after a rebuild !!

 

One of the stub axle seals (installed by Fort Worth Gear and Axle some years ago) leaked immediately. The bottom photo was initial installation. The top photo was removal for repair last week (only 800 miles on the total restoration). I removed it myself because I don't trust that those incompetents wouldn't cause more damage than they are able to fix. Certified Idiots!

 

Also check out multi-part videos on YouTube on the subject.