JACKING THE CAR

Southland Times, Issue 23182, 24 April 1937, Page 20

JACKING THE CAR

NEW SYSTEMS FOR MODERN VEHICLES There is one point which deserves some attention when a new car is being examined with the prospect of its purchase which most people overlook, but which is rather important. That is the provision made by the makers for jacking it up in the event of tyre trouble on the road. With the big overhang of the average modern vehicle and the deeply skirted mudguards and valances it is next to impossible to place an ordinary liftingjack beneath the axle in the oldfashioned manner, and if it can be achieved at all it is only at the cost of dirty clothes and frayed temper, as it is necessary to crawl right beneath the

car. Some makers have realized this point and have wisely made provision for the work of jacking to be done without going near the axles. By far the best of the modern systems is that hydraulic one with a hydraulic jack permanently installed at each corner of the car. Then, by inserting a lever in a socket near the driving seat and working it back and forth the wheels can be jacked up. A control previously moved into the right position allows all wheels to be jacked, or, alternatively, only the front or rear pair. Another good system embodies permanent brackets beneath the running boards into which a jack of special design is inserted on the appropriate side and wound up with the wheel brace.

A rather similar arrangement is a screw jack which fits lugs embodied in the bumper-bar brackets. With any of these arrangements it is hardly necessary even to bend down to place the jack in position, and the work becomes child’s play. Nevertheless, just a few makers.have not yet seen fit to install a sensible jacking system in their productions, and in going over the respective merits of different cars the jacking system should be treated as an important point and good marks given to those cars in which the makers have obviously shown some appreciation of the difficulties when tyre trouble is experienced.