stuartevans61
Enthusiast
Hello; I recently purchased a 2006 Dodge Viper and I want to jack it up safely. I am interested in replacing the exhaust, for my one catalytic converter is going bad. Any info would help........
Jacking up 2006 viper safely
- Thread starter stuartevans61
- Start date
Steve M
Enthusiast
Getting A Gen 3/4/5 Viper Up In The Air With A Jack And Jack Stands
If you have a lift, disregard what you see below.
For those of us with more archaic tools at our disposal, this post is for you.
So how do you get a Viper up in the air so you can actually get some work done on it? There are many ways to skin this cat - this is mine. The tools I list here are what I recommend. Most of them are not cheap, but when it comes to safety equipment (and a jack and jack stands are some of the most important), cheap stuff doesn't cut it in my garage.
Jack: AC Hydraulics DK13HLQ
Jack Stands: Esco 10498 and 10499 (you'll see the reason for the different sizes in the next post)
Other: Race Ramps Flatstoppers
I listed two different Esco jack stands above because I use both - 4 of the 10498s, and 2 of the 10499s. Basically, the 10499s are the baby stands - this is a game where 1-2 inches matters (I tell my wife the same thing), so the ~2" shorter height does help for one very specific part of my method (again, this will be explained in my next post).
Two pics showing the differences:
There's a rear jack point accessible through the belly pan, shown below (that’s a Gen 5 ACR – the Gen 3 & 4 cars don’t have that much underbody aero with which to contend):
The frame looks a little flimsy there, but it is plenty beefy enough to handle half the weight of the car. Seriously…it is very well braced.
There are a few different ways to get a jack on it. Some folks use a hockey puck. I fashioned one out of what was originally a Protech 1006 side lift jack pad - it looks a bit ghetto (the cuts were made with a hack saw), but it did work.
Ew.
That was before Doug Shelby developed a more elegant solution, which has been on my car for a while now:
Highly recommended.
Here are the main jack points you can use - they are made from pieces of angle welded to the frame, and are easily seen when you look under the car:
And secondary points that you can use when the need arises:
If you are going to use the rear jack point in the center of the car, you will need to get it up in the air at least 11-13 inches depending on what jack stands you are using. That doesn't sound like a lot, but with a lowered car, you will end up driving the bottom of the front bumper into the ground unless the front is raised some. That's why I use the Flatstoppers. You can most certainly find some other product or way to do this (like a 2 x 12 or two), but I already had the Flatstoppers on hand.
I used to be able to just drive the car onto them, but ever since I switched to lower profile 295/30-18 front tires (and lowered the car so it didn't look goofy), I can no longer do that without breaking off the little flaps that sit in front of the tires up there. Because of that, I have to jack the car up from each side to be able to slide the Flatstoppers under the tires. My car is actually low enough that I have to jack the car from the side using the rear jack points because the front points sit too low to get even my jack under there.
Steps 1-2: Get the Flatstoppers under the front tires to get the nose up a bit - if you can drive the car on, that's the easiest.
Step 3: Jack the car up by the center rear jack point so you can get jack stands under the rear main jack points. Once the stands are under there, you can lower the car down onto the stands, which has the added benefit of bringing the nose of the car up in the air just a bit.
Step 4: Jack the car up by one of the front main jack points so you can get jack stands on the exposed part of the frame close to the engine. The frame is stiff enough that the car will be pretty level side-to-side even though you are grabbing it on a corner.
For Step 4, the front stands can go here:
Lots of meat where the front of the frame is reinforced to place a jack stand or two.
Step 5: Repeat Steps 3-4 until you get the car as high as you want it. I only move the jack stands up one notch at a time - the last thing you want to do is get greedy and have the car slip off the stands.
It'll look something like this:
That's high enough to be able to pull the transmission in case you were wondering (you probably weren't though).
Step 6: Move the jack stands outboard to the front main jack points by jacking the car from the frame around the engine. This step is optional, but it helps to get the stands out of the way when trying to do things like changing the engine oil.
Now might be a good time for a beer - getting the car up in the air always stresses me out, and you are about to see why.
If you have a lift, disregard what you see below.
For those of us with more archaic tools at our disposal, this post is for you.
So how do you get a Viper up in the air so you can actually get some work done on it? There are many ways to skin this cat - this is mine. The tools I list here are what I recommend. Most of them are not cheap, but when it comes to safety equipment (and a jack and jack stands are some of the most important), cheap stuff doesn't cut it in my garage.
Jack: AC Hydraulics DK13HLQ
Jack Stands: Esco 10498 and 10499 (you'll see the reason for the different sizes in the next post)
Other: Race Ramps Flatstoppers
You must be registered for see images attach
I listed two different Esco jack stands above because I use both - 4 of the 10498s, and 2 of the 10499s. Basically, the 10499s are the baby stands - this is a game where 1-2 inches matters (I tell my wife the same thing), so the ~2" shorter height does help for one very specific part of my method (again, this will be explained in my next post).
Two pics showing the differences:
You must be registered for see images attach
You must be registered for see images attach
There's a rear jack point accessible through the belly pan, shown below (that’s a Gen 5 ACR – the Gen 3 & 4 cars don’t have that much underbody aero with which to contend):
You must be registered for see images attach
The frame looks a little flimsy there, but it is plenty beefy enough to handle half the weight of the car. Seriously…it is very well braced.
There are a few different ways to get a jack on it. Some folks use a hockey puck. I fashioned one out of what was originally a Protech 1006 side lift jack pad - it looks a bit ghetto (the cuts were made with a hack saw), but it did work.
You must be registered for see images attach
Ew.
That was before Doug Shelby developed a more elegant solution, which has been on my car for a while now:
You must be registered for see images attach
Highly recommended.
Here are the main jack points you can use - they are made from pieces of angle welded to the frame, and are easily seen when you look under the car:
You must be registered for see images attach
And secondary points that you can use when the need arises:
You must be registered for see images attach
If you are going to use the rear jack point in the center of the car, you will need to get it up in the air at least 11-13 inches depending on what jack stands you are using. That doesn't sound like a lot, but with a lowered car, you will end up driving the bottom of the front bumper into the ground unless the front is raised some. That's why I use the Flatstoppers. You can most certainly find some other product or way to do this (like a 2 x 12 or two), but I already had the Flatstoppers on hand.
I used to be able to just drive the car onto them, but ever since I switched to lower profile 295/30-18 front tires (and lowered the car so it didn't look goofy), I can no longer do that without breaking off the little flaps that sit in front of the tires up there. Because of that, I have to jack the car up from each side to be able to slide the Flatstoppers under the tires. My car is actually low enough that I have to jack the car from the side using the rear jack points because the front points sit too low to get even my jack under there.
Steps 1-2: Get the Flatstoppers under the front tires to get the nose up a bit - if you can drive the car on, that's the easiest.
Step 3: Jack the car up by the center rear jack point so you can get jack stands under the rear main jack points. Once the stands are under there, you can lower the car down onto the stands, which has the added benefit of bringing the nose of the car up in the air just a bit.
Step 4: Jack the car up by one of the front main jack points so you can get jack stands on the exposed part of the frame close to the engine. The frame is stiff enough that the car will be pretty level side-to-side even though you are grabbing it on a corner.
You must be registered for see images attach
For Step 4, the front stands can go here:
You must be registered for see images attach
Lots of meat where the front of the frame is reinforced to place a jack stand or two.
Step 5: Repeat Steps 3-4 until you get the car as high as you want it. I only move the jack stands up one notch at a time - the last thing you want to do is get greedy and have the car slip off the stands.
It'll look something like this:
You must be registered for see images attach
That's high enough to be able to pull the transmission in case you were wondering (you probably weren't though).
Step 6: Move the jack stands outboard to the front main jack points by jacking the car from the frame around the engine. This step is optional, but it helps to get the stands out of the way when trying to do things like changing the engine oil.
You must be registered for see images attach
Now might be a good time for a beer - getting the car up in the air always stresses me out, and you are about to see why.
Steve M
Enthusiast
A Cautionary Tale
So there I was in October of 2021.
Long story: a few years ago I installed a McLeod RST (in place of the Nth Moto triple carbon) to get more weight into the clutch assembly to help get my heavy car off the line at the drag strip. It had the intended effect, but failed after 12 passes. It wasn't the clutch's fault - I was warned that it might happen, but I decided to take the risk anyway. I was still pretty angry when it did fail though, and in order to save what was left of the drag racing season up here (which ends at the end of October), I decided to throw the Nth Moto clutch back in.
So up the car had to go on to jack stands.
I got the Flatstoppers under the front tires (Steps 1-2 above), and it was time to jack the car up from the rear so I could get the jack stands under the rear main jack points (Step 3 above).
At this point, I only had the 4 Esco 10498 jack stands (13.2" minimum height). I had done this many, many times before, but it makes me nervous every single time I do it. For whatever reason, likely being in a hurry, I must not have gotten the jack completely under the DSE rear jack pad, and the car ended up slipping off the jack before I could get the car high enough to get jack stands under it.
Crap. That was the start of a no good, very bad day.
The belly pan was supporting the weight of the vehicle, and I can assure you, it wasn't designed to do that. And to be clear, this had nothing to do with Doug's rear jack pad...this was completely my fault. I will say that I have since fabricated a new piece to replace the DSE jack puck to up the safety factor a little bit, but that is a story for another day...
Here's the carnage:
Yeah...that'll buff right out.
Thankfully (and surprisingly), the belly pan was the only damage the car sustained. None of the fasteners bent or broke, and the rear carbon fiber piece under the rear bumper is super flexible, so it bounced right back as soon as I released it from the belly pan fasteners that hold the two parts together. I was shocked at the lack of damage, but it was a huge wake up call for me - I've never had anything like that happen, EVER, and I've been turning wrenches for ~20 years or so. One small lapse in judgment is all it took. I got off lucky.
With the help of a friend's hydraulic press, I was able to get the belly pan bent back into a reasonable shape, but it'll never be the same after that one.
So that's why I now own two of the smaller Esco 10499s - they go under the rear jack points first. The 2" shorter height really does make that part of the process much safer. Once those are under there, I get the front sitting on the larger 10498s, and then move back to the rear to put the remaining two Esco 10498s under the rear jack points to level the car out.
Why am I sharing this? It's taken me this long to make peace with my stupidity, and I don't want it to happen to anyone else. Even something as simple as jacking a car up can be disastrous if you aren't careful. I don't even want to think of what might have happened if my head had been under there when it dropped.
Learn from my mistakes. Take your time, and everything will be just fine.
So there I was in October of 2021.
Long story: a few years ago I installed a McLeod RST (in place of the Nth Moto triple carbon) to get more weight into the clutch assembly to help get my heavy car off the line at the drag strip. It had the intended effect, but failed after 12 passes. It wasn't the clutch's fault - I was warned that it might happen, but I decided to take the risk anyway. I was still pretty angry when it did fail though, and in order to save what was left of the drag racing season up here (which ends at the end of October), I decided to throw the Nth Moto clutch back in.
So up the car had to go on to jack stands.
I got the Flatstoppers under the front tires (Steps 1-2 above), and it was time to jack the car up from the rear so I could get the jack stands under the rear main jack points (Step 3 above).
At this point, I only had the 4 Esco 10498 jack stands (13.2" minimum height). I had done this many, many times before, but it makes me nervous every single time I do it. For whatever reason, likely being in a hurry, I must not have gotten the jack completely under the DSE rear jack pad, and the car ended up slipping off the jack before I could get the car high enough to get jack stands under it.
Crap. That was the start of a no good, very bad day.
The belly pan was supporting the weight of the vehicle, and I can assure you, it wasn't designed to do that. And to be clear, this had nothing to do with Doug's rear jack pad...this was completely my fault. I will say that I have since fabricated a new piece to replace the DSE jack puck to up the safety factor a little bit, but that is a story for another day...
Here's the carnage:
You must be registered for see images attach
Yeah...that'll buff right out.
Thankfully (and surprisingly), the belly pan was the only damage the car sustained. None of the fasteners bent or broke, and the rear carbon fiber piece under the rear bumper is super flexible, so it bounced right back as soon as I released it from the belly pan fasteners that hold the two parts together. I was shocked at the lack of damage, but it was a huge wake up call for me - I've never had anything like that happen, EVER, and I've been turning wrenches for ~20 years or so. One small lapse in judgment is all it took. I got off lucky.
With the help of a friend's hydraulic press, I was able to get the belly pan bent back into a reasonable shape, but it'll never be the same after that one.
So that's why I now own two of the smaller Esco 10499s - they go under the rear jack points first. The 2" shorter height really does make that part of the process much safer. Once those are under there, I get the front sitting on the larger 10498s, and then move back to the rear to put the remaining two Esco 10498s under the rear jack points to level the car out.
Why am I sharing this? It's taken me this long to make peace with my stupidity, and I don't want it to happen to anyone else. Even something as simple as jacking a car up can be disastrous if you aren't careful. I don't even want to think of what might have happened if my head had been under there when it dropped.
Learn from my mistakes. Take your time, and everything will be just fine.
Steve M
Enthusiast
All that said, a lift is probably the safest way to jack up a Viper, but I've seen issues with all types of lifts, so nothing is truly 100% foolproof. Cables can snap or get out of kilter on 4-post lifts, cars have fallen off of 2-post lifts, cars have fallen off QuickJacks, etc.
Use your head, and if you are really concerned, have a buddy help you. It is much easier for someone to keep an eye on things if they aren't the one crawling around on the floor placing jack pads/stands or pumping the handle.
Use your head, and if you are really concerned, have a buddy help you. It is much easier for someone to keep an eye on things if they aren't the one crawling around on the floor placing jack pads/stands or pumping the handle.
stuartevans61
Enthusiast
Hello Steve: Thank you for the knowledgable info. I believe in safety all the time. My plan is to replace the exhaust on the car. I appreciate it
Zishan
Enthusiast
I haven't jacked my viper up yet, new owner, but I very much appreciate Steve M's thorough reply.
Steve M
Enthusiast
Happy to help where I can. For some, this kinda stuff is easy, but not all of us grew up wrenching on cars/trucks/tractors/whatever. I certainly didn't.
For me, the biggest mystery of this task was figuring out where to put the jack stands. The 4 pieces of steel angle that have been welded to the frame (highlighted in the pics above) are the ideal place from which to jack the car, but they are also precisely where you'd want to put the jack stands for maximum stability. It would be easier with the belly pan out of the way since it leaves a ton of the frame exposed, but you can only remove the belly pan once the car is up in the air. I've tried jacking the rear of the car by the belly pan bolt heads (with the pan still in place), and it ended up bending the belly pan slightly. I guess you could drive the front wheels/tires up on ramps in order to gain access to the exposed portion of the frame around the engine, but they'd have to be really low profile or custom made to clear the front bumper and air dam flaps that sit just in front of the front tires. The nice thing about jacking by the steel angle pieces is that they dig in to the rubber jack pad on my floor jack and jack stands, so there's much less chance of the car slipping off accidentally.
Again, what's shown above is how I do it, but I'm sure there are other good ideas out there. The reason I post the stuff I do is because I'm hopeful that others will be encouraged to do the same. For me, knowledge is something to be shared freely...in my case, I hope I'm giving others more than what they paid for it, and as always, I welcome any and all feedback. I've been playing this game for many years, but I'm always learning new tips and tricks.
Old School
Enthusiast
Just thought I'd mention that the rear access hole, through the belly pan, used for jacking is not there on earlier Vipers. Not present on my '03, don't know when they added it. I've thought about cutting one in mine.
Steve M
Enthusiast
Fascinating...that would make my method quite a bit harder to implement.
Anyone know when the access hole appeared in production? @Steve-Indy ?
Last edited:
Arnold Rod
VCA Venom Member
I used a 2 ton floor jack with a 5" minimum height. With race ramps.
You must be registered for see images attach
You must be registered for see images attach
Steve M
Enthusiast
Custom Rear Center Jacking Point
Following up on my own post above:
Today is the day to tell the story.
First - this is what I made to replace the DSE jack puck (the white paint on the frame is likely overspray from when they painted the stripes on my car):
Bottom line: I wanted something that mimicked the OEM jacking points. For me, they are ideal – they dig into the rubber pads on my jack and jack stands, which keeps them firmly in place as I’m jacking the car up. I’m sure there are better ways to do this, but I didn’t want to do any direct welding to the frame (I only have a cheap welder and very little welding experience), and I wanted something that could be removed quickly if necessary. What you see above meets both of those criteria. Oh, and it had to be strong enough to support half the weight of the car.
Materials list:
- 2.000” x 1.250” x 0.120” wall mild steel structural (welded) rectangular tubing
- 0.75” x 0.75” x 0.125” mild steel hot rolled angle
- 2 x ARP 1/4"-20 x 1.75” length stainless steel 12-point bolts
- 2 x ARP 1/4"-20 stainless steel 12-point nuts
I ended up buying a 3’ long piece of the rectangular tubing listed above so I could make a prototype and have plenty of material left over (and I did). I ended up drilling the through holes first, and then I welded a short section of angle steel to one of the short sides of the rectangular tubing. Once it was stuck in place, I cut it to the appropriate length (2.80”), and then lopped off the opposite short side of the rectangular tubing to get what you see in the pic above. For reference, the Viper’s frame member to which this attaches is 1.01” wide by 2.02” tall rectangular tubing (~0.100” wall thickness). The reason I bought the oddly specific rectangular tubing listed above is because if you remove one of the short sides of the tubing (I used an angle grinder with a cutoff wheel), you end up with a nice u-shaped piece of channel that is exactly 1.01” inside wall to inside wall; a perfect fit over that frame member.
All that’s left to do is make sure it is perfectly centered in the belly pan cutout, clamp it firmly in place, drill a couple holes through the frame, and bolt it in place (and paint it I guess – it didn’t just magically come out black). The bolts are overkill and make it a non-reversible mod (unlike the DSE piece), but I wanted this thing firmly attached since it is intended to carry half the weight of the car.
Here are a couple more pics for reference – yes, I know the welds are ugly, but they were done with a 120V Harbor Freight flux core machine in my garage, and I don’t weld for a living (but I do trust the welds):
And one more shot with the belly pan in place showing how far it hangs down:
For reference, the DSE pad hangs down 0.5”. This hangs down ~0.68” – a bit more, but definitely not the lowest part of the car. I felt like it was a good compromise between easily accessible and tucked up out of the way.
This is obviously not something I’d expect anyone to want to duplicate, but I can say that it has greatly decreased my anxiety when jacking my car up (which is what I did today). It ain’t pretty, but it does work quite well.
Following up on my own post above:
Today is the day to tell the story.
First - this is what I made to replace the DSE jack puck (the white paint on the frame is likely overspray from when they painted the stripes on my car):
You must be registered for see images attach
Bottom line: I wanted something that mimicked the OEM jacking points. For me, they are ideal – they dig into the rubber pads on my jack and jack stands, which keeps them firmly in place as I’m jacking the car up. I’m sure there are better ways to do this, but I didn’t want to do any direct welding to the frame (I only have a cheap welder and very little welding experience), and I wanted something that could be removed quickly if necessary. What you see above meets both of those criteria. Oh, and it had to be strong enough to support half the weight of the car.
Materials list:
- 2.000” x 1.250” x 0.120” wall mild steel structural (welded) rectangular tubing
- 0.75” x 0.75” x 0.125” mild steel hot rolled angle
- 2 x ARP 1/4"-20 x 1.75” length stainless steel 12-point bolts
- 2 x ARP 1/4"-20 stainless steel 12-point nuts
I ended up buying a 3’ long piece of the rectangular tubing listed above so I could make a prototype and have plenty of material left over (and I did). I ended up drilling the through holes first, and then I welded a short section of angle steel to one of the short sides of the rectangular tubing. Once it was stuck in place, I cut it to the appropriate length (2.80”), and then lopped off the opposite short side of the rectangular tubing to get what you see in the pic above. For reference, the Viper’s frame member to which this attaches is 1.01” wide by 2.02” tall rectangular tubing (~0.100” wall thickness). The reason I bought the oddly specific rectangular tubing listed above is because if you remove one of the short sides of the tubing (I used an angle grinder with a cutoff wheel), you end up with a nice u-shaped piece of channel that is exactly 1.01” inside wall to inside wall; a perfect fit over that frame member.
All that’s left to do is make sure it is perfectly centered in the belly pan cutout, clamp it firmly in place, drill a couple holes through the frame, and bolt it in place (and paint it I guess – it didn’t just magically come out black). The bolts are overkill and make it a non-reversible mod (unlike the DSE piece), but I wanted this thing firmly attached since it is intended to carry half the weight of the car.
Here are a couple more pics for reference – yes, I know the welds are ugly, but they were done with a 120V Harbor Freight flux core machine in my garage, and I don’t weld for a living (but I do trust the welds):
You must be registered for see images attach
You must be registered for see images attach
And one more shot with the belly pan in place showing how far it hangs down:
You must be registered for see images attach
For reference, the DSE pad hangs down 0.5”. This hangs down ~0.68” – a bit more, but definitely not the lowest part of the car. I felt like it was a good compromise between easily accessible and tucked up out of the way.
This is obviously not something I’d expect anyone to want to duplicate, but I can say that it has greatly decreased my anxiety when jacking my car up (which is what I did today). It ain’t pretty, but it does work quite well.
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