How to Jack Up a Frame for Car Alignment

Keeping your car in proper alignment is an important maintenance task. If your car alignment goes out, you will have steering problems that can contribute to unsafe driving factors which could cause an accident. Fixing your car's alignment starts with jacking up the car properly.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Inspect the undercarriage of the vehicle to check for damage or loose parts. You don't want to be in the process of jacking up your car and have something break and the car fall. This could not only cause damage to the car, but injury to you and others.

2. Decide where you will place the jack and jack stands, or use a professional alignment rack. An alignment rack is specially design to support the vehicle and allow for the wheels to be turned. If using jack stands, they should be placed on factory recommended lift points which can be found in your owner's manual. You can also call a mechanic or auto parts store to look up the information for you.

3. Slide the jack under the frame of the car and slowly lift it. This will be done either by a foot pump or a lever you would use your hand to lift with. Once you have lifted the vehicle just enough to get the wheels off the ground, get the jack stands under the vehicle in the points you identified earlier.

4. Test the security of the vehicle by giving it a slight shake. It should not shake a lot, if it does, you need to secure it better. If it doesn't, you can continue on with realigning your vehicle.