A New Perhaps Better Way To Hold the Prius Up For An Oil Change

I've always done that with my wife's Hyundai.

 

One disadvantage of using the wheel ramps versus jack stands is that the car is still on its suspension, so it will move a bit if you tug or push on it hard while trying to loosen bolts, filters, etc.

 

What is the issue with the Rhino ramps? I drive my cars up on them all of the time. Then set the parking brake and chock the back tires. Never had a problem.

There are many on here that use the ramps and I have not heard of an issue yet.

 

You would have to jack the car way up in order to slide the ramps underneath as the suspension drops as it is lifted. By the time you were able to get the ramps underneath the car would be precariously high.

 

I used a combination of ramps and jack stands. I drove on to the ramps then I jacked up the back this gave me allot of room and allowed me to open the access panel.


Side view jack stands place at tire changing jack points.



Floor jack at rear jacking point.

There is no need to get a pinch weld adapter or whatever you call it for your floor jack. Toyota was kind enough to provide two floor jack jacking points one front and one in the back, check your owners manual for details.


Posted from my iPhone via the Tapatalk app.

 

Me too. I use this method for many years and no issue. Set secure the parking brake and block the rear wheels are good enough . Of course don't do the under body job alone. Must let some one know you are working under the car body and those members come to check you time by time is OK.

 

Rhino ramps are the answer for me also. I have used them for oil changes with my last three cars.

When changing transaxle fluid I used Rhino ramps for the front and jack stands for the rear because the car needs to be level to get the fluid level correct.

 

Would the Rhino Ramps raise the car high enough to swing open the oil flap all the way? I have been raising my car with a jack then resting the car on jack stands high enough to allow full access to the oil drain plug and filter. The ramps don't look like it would raise the car high enough.

 

2010priusowner,

There are idiots everywhere. Most of the reviews were positive.

If you cannot figure out how to safely drive a vehicle up on these ramps, you should not be using them.

 

The Rhino Ramps will raise it where you have to bend the oil flap a little to get it out of the way. It is tight but works. It could use a couple more inches to give more working room. But it is easier than hydraulic jacks and jack stands for changing oil.

 

Already been pointed out, but: when you jack up the front end the suspension relaxes through a lot of travel before the tires finally lift off.

Personally I'm using a 3 ton jack with an unloaded lift height of 21". I think I might be able to get enough lift to slip in ramps, but it would be close.

I used ramps a few decades back but switched over to jacking up and settling it down onto jack stands. Still, with the Prius, I was not happy with the way the jack stands acted under the front scissor jack points .

They don't look to be any thicker than the rest of the rocker panel, I found the jack stands had an unnerving tendency to shimmy forward when you settled the car down onto them.

I found this recommendation, support points on the body rails, much more stable and secure:

http://john1701a.com/prius/documents/Prius_Maintenance_Changing-Oil.pdf
(on page 6)


I've tried this once, just for practice, and then put the back end on jack stands just on the rear scissor jack points. Since the rear points are putting less load, and because the car is back to level, this combo seems to work quite well. So to summarize:

First: front jack stands on the sub-rails, then raise the rear to level, setting it on the rear scissor jack points.

 

Nice writeup, thanks!!

But one additional safety thing I have always done when working under cars that are up on jack stands is to leave the floor jack under the car with me. Out of my way, but close to me and jacked up so its load pad is just underneath something structural. That way if the car topples off the jack stands, it lands on the floor jack rather than on me.

 

I'll do that, as long as it's not going to be in the way of something, say the plastic aero panel being removed. Also, and I should stick to doing this, though I've been goofing off: I've always got at least one stack of 4 tires (either reg or snow, depending on the season) handy, I'll put them in stacks of two under each rocker panel, near the front jacking points, for life insurance.

 

Those first two pics may be from an earlier Prius model (note the absence of the plastic shield), but the 3rd gen architecture is very similar. When I tried it out I went back and forth between the computer pic and the garage to find the spot. It is very similar, the same rails etc. The rails dip downward near the end (as you can see in the pics), so when you jack up the front their underside is near horizontal. It gives a nice wide bearing surface, much more solid than the rocker panel edge.

BTW, I picked up a spray can of black Plasti-Dip a couple of weekends back: I'm going to try coating my jackstand cradles, see how that goes. Hopefully doesn't just get chewed up immediately.