I would like to change out my snow tires and do two wheels at a time either on the side or on an axle. It looks like there is a cone shaped thing on the back that I can use as a jacking point, what about the front is there something in the front center that I could use? If I were to use the side is there a jacking point somewhere in the middle on the side of the unibody or just the ones in the front and rear?
The photo in the linked thread below shows the jack point in front. It is located in between the front wheels. But, unless you have a very low profile floor jack with a long handle or use low profile ramps to raise up the front end off ground first, it is not reachable from the front. Please show me where the floor jack suppose to go! | Page 2 | PriusChat I do the swapping of the tires one side at a time. Place the floor jack in about the middle of the front door, more toward the front side than at the middle point between the front and rear wheels. To protect the pinch weld on the rocker panel, I use a heavy-duty slotted rubber jack pad or a magnetic jack pad. It will raise one side of the car and both wheels off ground to do the tire swap.
The front jacking point is located really far into the front of the car to be really useful with most floor jacks.
Low rise ramps, say two layers of 2x on the flat, help with the front, hopefully allow jack handle enough travel to start moving it up. it is nuts though.
My rear wheels always go up enough to rotate my tires on one side from just jacking from the front side pinch weld jacking point with a floor jack and a pinch weld adapter. I'll also use the front center jacking point and jackstands, car ramps, etc. as needed. But for a simple front to back tire rotation, the front side jacking point is all that I use. Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
Thanks! I ordered one of those adapters for the floor jack. Looks like we might get another bit of snow, so I'm dragging my feet anyway
In preparation for a long trip this weekend, I changed the snow tires yesterday. Of curse, as I finished removing the snow tires, mixed precipitation with some sleet/snow started to fall from the sky. Luckily, no accumulation. Here is the way I jack it up one side at a time, both front and rear wheels off the ground.
I just did mine tonight. I bought that same contraption for my floor jack and jacked it up right around the middle, it was cake. I got my last downhill ski day in this morning and changed out two sets of snow tires this evening so we should get a foot of snow next week. Or black flies.
You should limit your jacking on the pinch welds to the factory recommended locations fore and aft, where they are reinforced, doubled and crimped as well as spot welded for extra strength. Jacking from the middle is not recommended. As mentioned, both wheels come off the ground when jacked from the front location. Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
^ That's my jacking MO. Specifically: 1. Chock rear wheels fore and aft. 2. Release parking brake. 3. Jack up front at Owner's Manual proscribed front jacking point. 4. Settle front onto jack stands*. 5. Jack up rear at Owner's Manual proscribed rear jacking point. 6. Settle rear onto jack stands*. At the end of the above excercise the whole car is up; you can swap wheels however you want. * I do not use the scissor jack proscribed jacking points for the safety stands: they are flimsy, unreinforced. I did do a rear corner with the scissor jack one time (swapping on the spare when I had a flat), and even that one use in the rear dimpled the car body inboard of the crimped seam. The scissor jack does not bear on the sharp crimped edge; it cups around it, bears on the car body, inboard. I position safety stands per the oil change link in my signature.
I usually "break" loose the lugs before lifting and, conversely, snug them before lowering to the ground for torquing. Invariably, when installed by a shop, I need a breaker bar to release them. I slather lithium grease on the threads before installing so as to ease subsequent removal. I also carry a small section of galvanized pipe with the Toyota tool kit for use as a lug wrench (breaker bar) sleeve.
One of my favorite tools and one of my best purchases has been the Quickjack that I purchased as a Black Friday promotion in 2018 for $999 delivered. Subsequently, they sold at Costco for the same price up to the end of last Summer. They cost a lot more, now, but is still worth it, if you do a lot of work on cars. All tires are raised off the ground for easy tire rotation. 18 inches is a lot of lift for working under the car.
