My owner's manual shows the jack points for using a floor jack and in the warnings says, "When raising the vehicle, do not put an object on or under the jack." They also have a picture showing the floor jack with what looks like a small square block sitting on top of the round cup of the floor jack and under the car. So, which is right, the picture or the warning? I imagine if you are supposed to put a block there, maybe it's so you don't damage the undercarriage.
It sounds a little "lost in translation". I have a floor jack with a cup style cradle, and I picked up an additional cradle which has a flat, hard rubber face. I'll typically use the latter cradle with the the front jack point. On the back, at least on my 3rd gen, the jacking point is kind of high up, so I switch back to the round cradle, but put on it a squarish block of 2x4, and on top of that a hockey puck. I don't think it would be safe to stack any more items than that. I've found with previous vehicles just using the steel cradle can chew up the jacking points a bit. I would just put the jack in position, raise it up and see how it's fitting. You can't go wrong with a flat faced hard rubber cradle, for almost all applications.
Here is what I do with my gen 2: Jack: Jack stand: And I stick my home made wood ramp under the car for extra safety if I crawl down there:
The manual says where to place the jack, but not where to put the jack stands. Was thinking about putting them at the jack locations on the rail where you are supposed to use the Toyota jack. Any idea where your supposed to put them?
I need to jack up one side for rotating the tires and was thinking about just putting the floor jack in the middle on the inner square frame rail (not the outer sharp rail for the Toyota jack) and putting 2 jack stands at the 2 Toyota jack points on the sharp rail. Think that would be a good idea?
I don't know how it compares with the 2010, but if it's similar, and I think it is: I've been putting jackstands at the front on that inner square frame rail, pretty much as far forward as they'll go. The rail kind of dips down near the front, so when just the whole front is raised, that portion is still close to horizontal. It works well looks very solid. Previously I put the front jackstands on that outer knife edge bearing point, but it does not inspire confidence. And when you settle the car onto the stands at those points, the stands almost kick out. I typically raise the whole front, settle it onto jackstands at those inner rails, then raise the back and settle it onto jackstands at the outer, sharp jack stand points. The back is much lighter, and since the car is back to horizontal at this point, it seems to work well. BTW, I find this method, raising the whole car, most efficient for tire rotations. You might want to cross-over tires during rotation, even though the manual says not to. Many other car manufacturers do recommend cross-over rotation, and tire manufacturers as well. Unless the tires are directional, of course.
