Jack Stands On 97 Continental

[mr_scott1968]

I am trying to change the front brakes on my 1997 Continental. The problem is: Where do I put the jack stands to support the vehicle? Looking at the axle, it does not look flat enough to put a jack stand under. Also if I use my jack on the side of the vehicle to jack the car up then I cannot put my stands there. Is there a better place to jack the car up or am I missing something here? Any help would be appreciated.

[Towncar]

I'm not intimately familiar with your 1997, but in some cases, I suspect yours too, you'll have to use a 2x6x15 (or so).

The 15" or so would depend on the width of the base of your jackstands, the wider the base, the longer your 2x6 needs to be.

Jack on one 'end' of the 2x6, and place the stands right next to the jack, on the other 'end' of the 2x6.

This method also protects your car from dents from the jack plate, and the stand cradle.

[mr_scott1968]

I just found a 'safe spot' on the frame and jacked it on up. I put the jack stands where the manual says to use the flat tire jack. I didn't this this was too safe but I got the brakes changed no problem.

I would still like to know where I could find this information for the manufacturer's factory approved jacking points. I have looked over the internet for the past 2 days and have not found anything for the 97 Lincoln continental about this.

[Towncar]

Well Mr Scott... I know of two places for Factory Vehicle data. I can't say whether the jacking or prop points are in there, but as long as you keep your 1997 Conti, you may as well have the data too.

One is the Ford Fleet website, your contents are in PDF format: <right click, save as>

1997 Continental Owner Guide/Manual (English) 9/13/2003 2413 KB
Scheduled Maintenance Guide 9/13/2003 108 KB
Warranty Guide 9/13/2003 103 KB

And the other is the Factory Service Manual on CD; <right click, save as>
1997 Ford, Lincoln, Mercury Cars 200mb <approx> ISO Format.


PS:
Page 209 of the Owners Manual shows the Scissors Jack points only.

[mr_scott1968]

Thanks a lot Towncar! That information was very helpful. The service manual shows exactly how to lift the car with a floor jack and a hoist. Does that CD cost anything or do they give you that information for free?
Once again thanks alot.

[Towncar]

Does that CD cost anything or do they give you that information for free?

If you referring to the CD in ISO format from fordcds.com, you may download and use it for free, once in your possession it belongs to you. The owner of the website spends money for keeping the site up and running, and asks "If you like what you've downloaded, please donate whatever you can" and he provides a Paypal link. If you don't use Paypal, I don't know how you can donate.

This CD (and many others) are also all over EBAY; if you'd rather have the Ford logos and stuff printed on the CD. Since Fordcds.com has the identical CD's as EBAY, the only difference would be the pre-printed CD face. The EBAY CD's are selling around $10 for your year.

So, yes.. you can consider what you downloaded free. I've left donations a few times at fordcds, but I'm interested in the DVD's too, and he doesn't directly host those.

On another note..
It's not mandatory to actually burn the ISO to a CD, but it is mandatory to have the CD (or ISO) available for your computer to run the Factory Service program's databases. What most of us do is keep the CD ISO's on our hard drives, then virtually mount them (sounds dirty ) so that the computer thinks their available in a CD tray. Alternatively, you'd have the actual CD in an actual tray.

I can elaborate on this virtual CD process if you'd like, but it's also very well known, and all over the internet.....
Well OK; ...basically we use a free software, many of them available, tell the software how many virtual CD trays we want, and those 'drive letters' are reserved and available to 'mount' a CD ISO. I'm told that WinVista does this without additional software, but I don't have direct experience with WinVista. My favorite, highly recommended for Virtual CD's is:
Slysoft's Virtual Clone Drive , the download and usage is completely free, no bullshit adwares or spywares, completely supported, and easy to use.
(I sound like a salesman for Slysoft )

Slysoft has some other fantastic CD and DVD software, highly recommended as well.
The others are low cost and lifetime supported.