[72bavaria]

What other safe lifting points are on this car besides the 4 socket points? I have to have the tires rotated and I dont want the person rotating them to lift the car incorrectly and possibly causing damage to the frame body or suspension

Thank you

 

[Del]

You have to be careful lifting on those side jacking points as I had one pushed up, tilted and pushing the floor up, by a tire changer using a whole car lift under those points. They will tilt, pushing the floor up if the original jack that comes with the car is not used. It is designed to react the induced moment caused by the designed in offset lift from the jack, thus keeping the lift socket horizontal. That jacking point is designed to react the vertical load only at the outer edge, not under the jacking point in general, as it is attached to the floor only, there are no reinforcing members except at the outer edge. The workshop manual say that if you use a lift or hoist, be careful to not damage the bodywork. The diagram shows no other lifting/jacking points. I guess they forgot that in the design of the car. Pity, as I have two good floor jacks which I use with the 164's. You might be able to use a board under a front member on top of a floor jack, but I haven't looked/tried.

One thing for sure, you have to make sure that the OEM jack is inserted ALL the way into the socket, as if you don't, you could end up having the upper part of the OEM jack tilt toward the car and push against it, potentially causing damage.

I now do my own tire changing with the OEM jack, even when I buy new tires, avoiding any potential damage. Pain/slow, but there you go. At least I don't have to do it often.

 

[Travis_k]

Floor jack under the dedion in the back, and in the front on the front control arms. That works fine for me. Changing tires at home is still a good idea though.

 

[AR4me]

I use the 4 jack points all the time - floor jack, 2-post lift, never had a problem. Of course, this is all on rust free So Cal Milanos. Not sure I would lift on A-arms as they are not fixed to the body but "suspended", and the body of the car would move as you lean on it with risk of bringing things out of balance and come crashing down. There is a single lift point at the front - the bracket around the front sway bar.
Jes

 

[72bavaria]

I really appreciate all your input. this is good information.

Thank you

 

[Brendan_LS]

I tend to NEVER lift any car (alfa or not) from any factory emergency jack point. As others have said, it is designed for the forces from the factory widowmaker jacks, and will cave when lifted from a conventional hoist. This is not just Alfa but most any unibody car that ive looked at seems like the steel here is just barely adequate

On the Milano this means going farther in on the front to the two massive frame rails which the a-arms are mounted to. Anywhere there will be fine, and will be safe. The front anti-roll bar mount thing always seemed too thin IMO. On the rear I generally use the De-Dion or the frame rail beside the fuel pump/fuel filter, as it is a strong box shape.

the Milano/GTV6 are probably the most annoying cars to jack up compared to anything else ive owned...

 

[Del]

Some are braver than I, even as a structural engineer. Our car has zero rust, in fact is basically as new yet, but there is no doubt about the weakness of the jacking points. Poor design. I looked at jacking under suspension points, and under the front, and I'd sure not rather do damage there. I'll just continue doing what I do.

 

[JoeCab]

I've never had a problem lifting a Milano by the 4 factory jacking points on a service lift. I think that the forces are pretty even when lifting by all 4 jacking points on a lift, compared to a floor jack that concentrates more force on the single jacking point you are lifting.

However, the solution may be what the Porsche guys do - they have these little pucks with protrusions that fit into the factory jacking points (see photo). You place your floor jack or shop lift under the round puck and the force stays exactly where the factory intended.

 

[Gubi]

Can't say I've had any trouble either. I just use my Harbor Freight floor jack and center the pad under the jacking point. None have bent yet.

 

[Brendan_LS]

now that I think of it...when I want to jack up one side of the car (to rotate tires etc.), ive had success placing the floor jack under the cross brace in which the torsion bars are mounted (more towards the outside). seems like its probably the thickest steel on the whole car, and its boxed in as well.

 

[Del]

The Porsche lifting doo-hickey is interesting but the Alfa jack IS designed to react/resist the moment caused by the offset lifting force (thus keeping the jacking point level), whereas the Porsche thing doesn't. It is that moment which has to be resisted, above and beyond the lifting force. In fact, that offset pad on the Porsche thing makes the induced moment even worse in a reversed direction, would tend to pull the floor down in this case whereas jacking with a floor jack under just the inboard end of the jacking point would be bad in the other direction. This is what happened in my case.

With the total car lift, if the lift pads are located under all of each Milano jacking point, then I suppose the lift force will be reacted by the outer edge of the jacking point, which is the only point which can properly react the lifting force, the inboard end being supported only by the floor, ie, not much at all.

My impression is that the Milano body is rather flimsy, and rather bendable.

 

[BradGTV]

ive also never had a problem, with lifting on a hoist on the factory points...

 

[AR4me]

Maybe bent floor boards are a result of careless placement of the jack or lift-pad Mistakes happen.
Jes

 

[Del]

I don't doubt that at all. My concern was that the rest of the underbody structure looked and acted pretty flimsy to me, not really providing an official safe place to jack. Seems the factory's advice was more or less, "just be careful, nothing really designed for it" as compared to the 164's.

 

[hotlegs32]

I would guess that over 50+ years of jack,or hoisting any Alfa- from a Giulietta, 101, 105, 115, 116, 119, 164, TZ, SZ, GTA etc, I have only on one occassion had any issues with using the factory jack points to lift an Alfa. Either on a hoist or a floor jack. And the only time there was an issue, turns out the floor was super rusty. Not very visible. Lower a arms in the front always work too. And on the de-dion or center of the differential. And I am sure that the number of Alfa's that I have personally jacked up is 1000+. Just be sure the jack point is not rusty and go for it. Way too much brain drain here.

 

[Del]

"Way too much brain drain here". I suppose.

I was only commenting on the fact that I had to repair damage done to our Milano when a lift was used at a major national tire sales outlet, and that the Milano chassis is not the stoutest in the world. I'm sure many owners have successfully hoisted/lifted/jacked up their Alfas with no problems through the years, even when just "winging" it any old way.

 

[oz3litre]

I have been wondering if a strong steel U- shaped thing to go over the top of the front sway bar mount with a couple of longer bolts would do the trick. It is a good point from which to jack up the whole front of the car, but the mount is a bit on the thin side.

 

[Typhoon90]

I dunno, my 90, which is fundamentally the same floorpan as an Milano/75, has plenty strong jack points. I've used a two post hoist and floor jacks under all four jack points on my car and they're as strong as any other factory jack point on any other car I've ever owned.

On these cars, a really good place to put the hoist pads is under the front subframe close to lower control arms and under the rear, on the subframes near where the body seam from the inner wheel arch starts to turn upwards, in line with the end of the sill/rocker panels.
There is also a jack point under the front (radiator) crossmember which is quite strong, I've used that several times, I don't know if Milano/75's have it.

 

[oz3litre]

I dunno, my 90, which is fundamentally the same floorpan as an Milano/75, has plenty strong jack points. I've used a two post hoist and floor jacks under all four jack points on my car and they're as strong as any other factory jack point on any other car I've ever owned.

On these cars, a really good place to put the hoist pads is under the front subframe close to lower control arms and under the rear, on the subframes near where the body seam from the inner wheel arch starts to turn upwards, in line with the end of the sill/rocker panels.
There is also a jack point under the front (radiator) crossmember which is quite strong, I've used that several times, I don't know if Milano/75's have it.

So the sway bar bracket is considered to be a jack point. I feel better about using it now. It could still be a bit stronger though.

 

[Typhoon90]

So the sway bar bracket is considered to be a jack point. I feel better about using it now. It could still be a bit stronger though.

There's actually a socket/hard point on the 90 in the middle of that crossmember, I have jacked on the crossmember itself there a few times before. I haven't jacked on the swaybar, right on the crossmember.
No issues at all, a piece of 4x2 would set your mind at ease, but I didn't have issues with just a floor jack head doing damage.
There were no signs of it stressing the body, no creaking, doors still opened and closed just fine etc.