Okay so i went to go jack up the car to put my new rear springs in. The haynes manual said to raise it up and put the jacks on the forward link (in front of the tire) where an arm links to. Sorry i dont know the exact terms right now and the book is in the garage. Itried jacking it twice: the first time one of the prongs on the jack was sitting on the edge of a hole and it chipped(made a loud noise too, freaked me out) the second time it actually slightly cracked the bracket! Where the crud do i raise it up. The side sills for the jack that came with the car get totally torn up when you use those so i need to find a different spot. Please help me, Jesus loves ya later

 

The best way to jack it up is to use a floor jack under the diff to raise it up then use jack stands under the frame rails just in front of where they go level with the ground.

However, the factory supplied jack should be used so that the two sides go around the seam like this [ | ].

There is an area that is a little bit different along the length that tells you where to put it.

Not sure what else to say.

 

i have an old skateboard that i put between the jack and the rail that way the skate board takes some the shock to even it out along the side instead of in one spot... plus my jack has 4 prongs in it that like to stab into the board which would resible my car.. i have never tried the diff housing i am doing a whoel rear swap so i need to know this info too...

 

Boog - keep in mind that you'll need to be able to drop the rear suspension down to get the rear springs out (and in), therefore, it's probably a bad idea to jack from the diff or the links.

IME, I jack the rear of the car with the jack 'head' under the lower shock mount when I need to change the rear tires - this amounts to the least amount of 'lift' to get the wheel off the ground.

IN YOUR CASE; you should be jacking at the lower link mount on the body of the car. Put a 1"x2" or a small piece of wood in there to help balance the load, and as you pump the jack up, you'll see that the rear suspension is allowed to drop down, thus making it much easier to get those rear springs out of there.

Once in the air, your job consists of getting a breaker bar or crowbar under there to help you get the old springs out. It may be helpful to take the rear wheels off to help you see where the spring perches are, and what the old spring may be catching on. The bottom perch is simply a flat plate with some indentations in it to keep the spring centered. The top perch fits around a bump stop which should be cut down a bit if you're installing lowered springs. The RB springs that I installed needed me to cut about 1/2" off of the bump stops on both sides to prevent bottoming out early. This will help in the long run, and you might also want to inspect the quality of the 'rubber dampners' at the top of the spring which seat it against the body. If these rubber rings are worn out or falling apart, your rear springs will make a lot of noise as they bounce up and down against the body.

Hope this helps, and if the springs are hard to get out of there - use patience, and undo the lower shock mount bolt (17mm). This will allow the suspension to sit on the arms and make spring removal much, much easier - do one side at a time so that you don't have to realign everything when you're done.

Good luck, report back if issues,

 

Sorry it's blurry...don't have a macro lens or scanner...hope it helps some!


From the Mazda RX-7, 1981 Workshop Manual.

 

Put the jack back in the car.

The factory jack is for changing tires, not getting under the car and working on it,

Buy or borrow a floor jack and a pair of jack stands. Jack the car up under the diff, place the jackstands under the forward lower control arm brackets, lower the car until it is firmly set on the stands. With the car on the stands, raise the rear end slightly and remove the tires and the lower shock bolts. Lower the axle and pop the springs out. Sometimes it is easier to rotate the spring on the perch so that the cut end of the spring is towards the back.

Assembly in reverse order.

 

Uh... I don't know... I may be wrong, but, uhhh... you just posted a Mazda copyrighted manual's pages on a public forum.

If a week goes by and you don't get sued or anything, will you start uploading the whole thing a page at a time ? Then the moderators can make a sticky out of it.

And then the Haynes manual after that ?

PS I got 'em both but I ain't that bold.

 

on the frame rails..... nuff said

 

I always put it right under the oil pan

J/K

 

Uhmm...
I am allowed to post it as long as it is hard to read.....that is why i posted it
blurry.

That's my defense! LOL

 

OMG this is soo nice .. I was just going to install my suspension in like a week or two .. I got the front jacked up , was wondering where to jack the rear .. then POOF .. I see the thread ! :p
lol

 

Um, they're already online. See the FAQ thread for details.