Fellow wrenchers here?

bigb

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2018
Location
Arizona
TDI
2015 Sportwagon S
Wondering if a lot of you do your own work, maintenance or repairs, or both? I've done a lot of my own wrenching over the years and looking forward to learning all about my Sportwagen. First on my list will be a factory service manual and second is jacking and lifting, this is the lowest car I own and my big floor jack won't fit under it, and I think my ramps are too big as well. What are you guys using, the composite ramps and the Harbor Freight low profile aluminum jack? Need both jacking/supporting with wheels off and regular immanence with wheels on.
 

sprstu

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2005
Location
Minneapolis, MN
TDI
mk1 TD, GSW TDI 6spd
I have the HF low profile speed jack, not the little blue one but the larger grey one with the bigger foot pad. at stock height, and even most low cars, I can get under and it comes up very quickly. Going on 3 years of constant use and its fully functional.



I go in the from the side and hit the place that would go up with a lift. The front can come up high enough to get both front and rear off the ground for tire change. Coming in the front is very challenging and I have yet to truly find a good place.
 

Nuje

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Location
Island near Vancouver
TDI
2015 Sportwagen; Golf GLS 2002 (swap from 2L gas); 2016 A3 e-tron
I use the composite / plastic ramps for oil changes and the like. I use jackpoint jack stands to lift the car at the pinch welds, and then support them there. Pricey, but works well given that I don't have room for a lift where I am. Most tend to get by with a lot less fancy ($$$), mind you.

Service manual doesn't exist like they did for the mk4 (at least not that I've found). Instead, look at https://erwin.vw.com/

Sign up for a one-day subscription, make sure your high-speed internet connection is firing on all cylinders, and then download everything related to whatever VW cars you want.
 

mopower

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2007
Location
Midwest vandweller
TDI
15 GSW
Outside of some possible warranty repairs I will do as much of my own work as possible. DIY's are not as common on this platform yet due to the buyback but I've found most things I've needed so far - sometimes needing to look at non-US content since these cars/engines are very common outside of North America.
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
This is how I lift them:



:):) Sorry, couldn't resist.

There are some reasonable floor scissor lifts out there that you can leave in your garage and "park over" them when not in use. I used to have one way back when at home, worked great.
 

740GLE

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Location
NH
TDI
2015 Passat SEL, 2017 Alltrack SE; BB 2010 Sedan Man; 2012 Passat,
tons of DIY suspension stuff for TSI Golfs apply to the TDIs just gotta add a bit due to the unique rear suspension of the TDI,
 

adjat84th

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 13, 2008
Location
Virginia Beach, VA
TDI
'01 Jetta TDI/'15 Golf TDI
The quickjack is awesome. Lifts high enough to get a transmission out from under the car with a bit of strategic maneuvering while on a transmission jack. The composite ramps work just fine as well. If you lower the car, you'll need some 2x6 blocks to run up on first or the bumper will bottom out on the ramps.


Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
 

bigb

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2018
Location
Arizona
TDI
2015 Sportwagon S
Those are nice, I always ruled out that sort of lift, and most home garage lifts for that matter as I have one truck at 8,600 and another near 12,000 lbs. For the little I will work on the TDI and my low mileage Infiniti FX 35 I'll keep doing it the slow way.
 

bigb

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2018
Location
Arizona
TDI
2015 Sportwagon S
I use the composite / plastic ramps for oil changes and the like. I use jackpoint jack stands to lift the car at the pinch welds, and then support them there. Pricey, but works well given that I don't have room for a lift where I am. Most tend to get by with a lot less fancy ($$$), mind you.

Service manual doesn't exist like they did for the mk4 (at least not that I've found). Instead, look at https://erwin.vw.com/

Sign up for a one-day subscription, make sure your high-speed internet connection is firing on all cylinders, and then download everything related to whatever VW cars you want.

I bought the thick rubber/plastic or whatever they are jack stand adapters that are slotted for the pinch welds and fit most standard jack stands. So far they have worked well on my Infinity and I don't see why they won't work on the TDI.
 

larrydk

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2015
Location
Brookfield
TDI
Sportwagen
I'm very lucky to have a full lift at work with a full supplement of tools. I've done all the interval maintenance to this point and many brake jobs. If I can do the work, I'll do it myself, I've always found that I like the feeling of knowing that I personally checked the torques and levels to ensure the job is correct
 

bigb

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2018
Location
Arizona
TDI
2015 Sportwagon S
I'm very lucky to have a full lift at work with a full supplement of tools. I've done all the interval maintenance to this point and many brake jobs. If I can do the work, I'll do it myself, I've always found that I like the feeling of knowing that I personally checked the torques and levels to ensure the job is correct

That makes all the difference, a nice place to work and the right tools. It makes working on your stuff enjoyable and rewarding. I built a 1200 square foot garage about 6 years ago and I have really been enjoying it. Over the years I have accumulated 2 rollaways full of tools and a lot of metal working tools.
When I built the garage it included a 200 square foot tool room and a small, covered outdoor area for dirty work like grinding and painting. It's not a "dream" garage with spotless white walls and painted floors and diamond plate cabinets like some guys have but it's perfect for me. I'll take my plywood walls over drywall any day.
 

mheat

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 16, 2003
Location
Shawville, Quebec
TDI
15 GSW, 03 JSW
I got a Quickjack as well, and it works really well on the Sportwagon. Just had to cut some notches in the rubber blocks to fit the lifting points. Great for getting the skidplate on and off and doing the oil filter change, and nice to be able to change out all 4 snow tires at once.
 

740GLE

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Location
NH
TDI
2015 Passat SEL, 2017 Alltrack SE; BB 2010 Sedan Man; 2012 Passat,
Would it be possible to store quick jack under the car in the garage? IE able to drive over them if they were centered under the car? space is kinda a premium in our garage.
 

bigb

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2018
Location
Arizona
TDI
2015 Sportwagon S
I got the low profile floor jack today for $89 with coupon and the ramps for 25% off.
 

adjat84th

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 13, 2008
Location
Virginia Beach, VA
TDI
'01 Jetta TDI/'15 Golf TDI
Would it be possible to store quick jack under the car in the garage? IE able to drive over them if they were centered under the car? space is kinda a premium in our garage.
You could, they're only about 2" tall when fully lowered.
 

petee_c

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 2, 2014
Location
Heidelberg, Ontario, Canada
TDI
15 Golf TDI, was 06 Jetta TDI, 15 q7 tdi, was 11 Q7 TDI
What capacity did you get? What does one of those go for?
mine was shipped for around $2000 + HST from costco.ca Was about the best price around for a Maxjax at that time.

It is rated for 6000lbs. I have worked on our q7 TDI with it... It barely fits, arms are fully extended...

Runs on standard 110v, the pump is now mounted on the back wall, and I added extra hoses that go up to the ceiling.

I get 48-54 inches of lift depending on what pads I use, and if I add a hockey puck or 2.

Pic of old q7 halfway up on lift... it has 2 height safety settings 24" and the 48" one The q7 can go up to the heigher height, as I have a 10' ceiling in the garage.
 
Last edited:

Nuje

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Location
Island near Vancouver
TDI
2015 Sportwagen; Golf GLS 2002 (swap from 2L gas); 2016 A3 e-tron
Nice!!! One of these days I'm going to get around to cleaning my garage, levelling the floor, and then....!! :D

Speaking of the floor, looks like you poured "special" concrete for the MaxJax stands (?). Did you have to hammer out the existing concrete?
 

bigb

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2018
Location
Arizona
TDI
2015 Sportwagon S
My vehicles have always been very big and heavy so that left me out when it came to the light duty lifts. Thinking about one now though, but it would still have to allow room to park my Superduty or my Express 3500 over it...they get the garage at night and the TDI sits outside next to the Infiniti FX-35.
 

petee_c

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 2, 2014
Location
Heidelberg, Ontario, Canada
TDI
15 Golf TDI, was 06 Jetta TDI, 15 q7 tdi, was 11 Q7 TDI
Nice!!! One of these days I'm going to get around to cleaning my garage, levelling the floor, and then....!! :D

Speaking of the floor, looks like you poured "special" concrete for the MaxJax stands (?). Did you have to hammer out the existing concrete?
MaxJax needs 4" of good concrete to hold the wedge anchors. I drilled a test hole with a 1/2" bit and measured, and I was just at 4", however I rented a SDS drill and 1"(?) bit to do the actual holes, and the hammer action of that drill may have broke out some of the concrete on the bottom side. Left me with about 3.75"

I talked with Dammar and ran my plan to cut out a 3x4' section under each post. I dug down and made each section 12" deep and dug out from under the floor about 4" on all sides to lock the new concrete to the old floor.

Each post now sits on a pier each measuring 3x4x1'. It's been fine for the past the 7+ years. If your garage floor is 4+" thick and good compression rating, you should be fine.

I did the concrete work myself, rented a concrete saw, and bought a small load of mixed concrete. The concrete added about $500 to the lift cost.
 

Mike in Anchorage

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2009
Location
Anchorage, AK
TDI
2016 Touareg Lux, 2015 Golf Sportwagen SE, new 4 Sept 2017;2009 VW Jetta TDI Sportwagen (Ruby) sold to VW on 22 SEP 2017
MaxJax needs 4" of good concrete to hold the wedge anchors. I drilled a test hole with a 1/2" bit and measured, and I was just at 4", however I rented a SDS drill and 1"(?) bit to do the actual holes, and the hammer action of that drill may have broke out some of the concrete on the bottom side. Left me with about 3.75"
I talked with Dammar and ran my plan to cut out a 3x4' section under each post. I dug down and made each section 12" deep and dug out from under the floor about 4" on all sides to lock the new concrete to the old floor.
Each post now sits on a pier each measuring 3x4x1'. It's been fine for the past the 7+ years. If your garage floor is 4+" thick and good compression rating, you should be fine.
I did the concrete work myself, rented a concrete saw, and bought a small load of mixed concrete. The concrete added about $500 to the lift cost.
With recent memory and consistent memory jars, how would the two point [in the concrete] and the four point [base of the car] do in a magnitude 7.0? I'm still getting the willies each time I'me even in the garage working on the interior with the car on the floor if an aftershock hits. Are there stabilization alternatives?
 

petee_c

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 2, 2014
Location
Heidelberg, Ontario, Canada
TDI
15 Golf TDI, was 06 Jetta TDI, 15 q7 tdi, was 11 Q7 TDI
With recent memory and consistent memory jars, how would the two point [in the concrete] and the four point [base of the car] do in a magnitude 7.0? I'm still getting the willies each time I'me even in the garage working on the interior with the car on the floor if an aftershock hits. Are there stabilization alternatives?
I don't know what the earthquake rating is.

I also have jackstands that extend up to 60" if I'm doing something like hanging off a big breaker bar

Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk
 
Top