I'm thinking about getting a trolley-jack. I change the wheels over twice a year (winter tyres), and increasingly I feel that it would be pleasant to have something with a more stabke feel to it than the jack supplied with the car.

 

I have no idea where the lifting part of such a jack would be positioned, though. The emergency jack goes over a downward-projecting seam - but I'm not sure that the ordinary steel pad on a trolley-jack would do that any good.

 

Has anyone any experience of the best place to locate the jack?

 

Thanks!

The best place is where you already use the scissor jack but with something similar to a ice hockey puck which has a groove cut into it. 

I bought one from machine mart, came complete with a rubber puck to protect the jacking points. 

 

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/c/trolley-jacks-bottle-jacks-transmission-jacks/

Or you could try one of these   https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6cm-Classic-Car-Rubber-Jacking-Pad-block-Tool-Hockey-Puck-Jack-Pad-Adapter-UK/263439786941?hash=item3d563c23bd:g:EyYAAOSwMl9aXbhj

Personally, I use:

- at the front: one trolley jack under the alloy bracket which supports the rear end of the lower wishbone on each side - the load then goes directly through the sub-frame.

- at the rear, I tend to put a thickish piece of wood under a flat part of the floor that has no pipes/cables near it and a trolley jack under that - so far (in 5 yrs) no issues/dents/damage
(I have 5x small trolley jacks, or 6 if I ever get around to replacing the seals on the 6th one! )

 

At the rear, I also found that a small bottle jack under the spring pan can make changing the shocks, and so on, much easier as you can then gradually decompress/compress the spring.

Edited 26 August, 20187 yr by jeallen01

My car is a Scout, so I suspect that a good deal of the structure underneath that is visible on other Octavias is hidden from my view. I bought a trolley-jack today, and I wish I had done so years ago: so much easier and more stable that then emergency jack in the boot. I can hardly wait until November for the fitting of the winter wheels!

 

For jacking points I'm just using the standard ones, and have cut an appropriately-wide slot in a 3.5"-square piece of wood to go between the jack and the car. It worked well today for the fitting of the mudflaps.

Although I went for one of the hockey pucks I Like overkill so I also went for the Golf-7 conversion
JackPads Wagenheberpunkte High für Audi A3, Skoda Octavia, Seat Leon, VW Golf 7:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JackPads-Wagenheberpunkte-High-MQB-Audi-A3-Skoda-Octavia-Seat-Leon-VW-Golf-7-/281938327511?hash=item41a4d577d7:g:lQEAAOSwx-9WxH8-
Note: the under body panels needed to be trimmed slightly to fit Octavia 3 5E
And a Jack Pad Adapters from ECS:
https://www.ecstuning.com/b-ecs-parts/jack-pad-adapter-priced-each/ecs10724/
ECS also do their own full conversion kit:
https://www.ecstuning.com/b-assembled-by-ecs-parts/jack-pad-adapter-kit/ecs10724kt/
But It didn't include the replacement under body panels and some people had trouble fitting them.

 

I am not sure if this would fit a scout, but there may be something out there similar

 

So I use two low profile trolley jacks, two chocks and four axle stands, and occasionally ramps.
So it’s Belt, Braces another Belt and two more Belts

I bought a cheap €20 trolley jack & it has a rotating metal piece with 90 degree grooves on the lifting face.

I put these directly onto the reinforced sill section where you would use the Skoda pincer jack & haven't had any problems.

Just mate it slowly & check the groove is aligned before taking the full weight of the car