Has your Prius C fell off the jack stand while changing a flat tire?

You need a dial gauge with a magnetic attachment to determine if the disc has not been damaged. Too much run out means that the disc needs to be replaced.

 

Or, you can mount the wheel back on the hub, put it in neutral, and see if the wheel/disk spins freely without interference from the brake pads.

If it does, then drive around and apply the brakes. See if you can detect any shaking of the steering wheel, or vibration in the brake pedal when the brakes are applied. If yes, then you will need to replace the front brake disc(s).

Also, be mindful that the brake disc might be undamaged, but damage to the wheel bearings or other suspension components might have occurred.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

It goes without saying that you should always jack the car on a level, even surface.

Also, when you jack the car up, stop when the tire is almost off the ground, and most of the weight is off the wheel. Loosen the lugnuts, jack the car up, then remove the lugnuts/wheel.

After you remount the wheel or spare, put on the lugnuts, but don't snug them so tight that you risk moving or rocking the car. Lower the jack until the tire makes contact with the ground, but most of the weight is carried by the jack. Tighten the lugnuts in the proper sequence to spec, then lower the jack all the way.

If the procedure above was followed, it would be unlikely to have resulted in the car falling off the jack, and if it did, there would have been a wheel on the hub.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

I'm glad that you are okay.

Fwiw, it happens VERY OFTEN.
However, people don't like to admit that they made a mistake.

Simply:
You should always use the parking brake when jacking up the car.
The Prius is a FWD car. The front wheels provide "park".

If you lift the front of the car, and the car is on any angle at all, or the jack is at any angle at all, or someone leans/pushes the car, then there is nothing that is preventing the other three wheels from freely moving forwards or backwards.

In New England, where flat level ground is a myth , it's something that people learn all too quickly.
Often, without the parking brake on, as they start lifting the front tire (or rear tire on a RWD car), the car moves forward/backwards/etc.
Or, as soon as someone tries to remove a lug nut, the force they put on the tire, moves the car moves forward/backwards/etc.

If you think you may have to replace a tire, it's also a good idea to carry a collapsible wheel chock.
Such as:

Code:

https://www.amazon.com/Torin-Steel-Safety-Wheel-Chock/dp/B002E1AYW2
BIG RED TD3553 Torin Steel Safety Wheel Chock: Foldable Tire Stop, Red, 1 Pair
$10.68

or

https://www.amazon.com/MASION-Safety-Chocks-Camper-Trailer/dp/B09C24S4Y9/
MASION Heavy Duty Safety Wheel Chocks for Camper, Trailer, RV, Truck, Car and ATV - Foldable Tire Stop, Durable, Non-Slip (Red, 2 Pack)
$19.99

Fwiw:
Your car is likely fine.
Fwiw, at worse, you would've bent the front bottom "lower control arm".

If broken or damaged, the rotor or bearing would've very likely been damaged to the point where the wheel couldn't be turned 360 degrees.
It's very unlikely that a rotor would "bend a little" from being dropped.
A rotor would bend to the point where the rotor would bind on the brake pads.

Rotors warp from heat, or from having the wheel improperly torqued to the rotor.
That's very different.


Check the Lower Suspension Control Arm on both side. They should look the same. Look at the curve sections. The curved sections should be smooth. They should not have bends in them.
If you want, feel free to take a well lit, in focus, easy to see picture of the control arm, and post it here.

Code:

Some links:

https://parts.olathetoyota.com/v-2013-toyota-prius-c--one--1-5l-l4-electric-gas/front-suspension--suspension-components

https://parts.olathetoyota.com/oem-parts/toyota-suspension-control-arm-left-front-lower-4806959135

https://dz310nzuyimx0.cloudfront.net/strapr1/6a2552e713b374d8dd6555a9fd2b1f8b/f053f9141b3aeebdcded650376ee3021.png

Good Luck!

 

I rather agree with @xliderider. Try it and see how it works.

Just for clarity of communication, the car comes with a jack, not with any jack stands.

And I think the car is probably OK, and I'm very glad you're OK although I imagine it was a different story for your underwear. Scary stuff!! A friend of mine once had both left wheels come off at the same time while driving in Honduras.

 

I was just reading the first post and getting ready to say the same thing.

And that's really important, because you can find all kinds of good safety advice telling you to make sure the car is on jack stands before you work on it. You use the jack to lift the car to get the jack stand(s) under it, and then work on it. You generally avoid working on a car held only by a jack, unless you're doing the simplest possible thing like an emergency tire change at the roadside, and then you do it very, very carefully.

And the reason for that is just as these posts illustrate: jack stands have wide bases and are made to be stable; the jack is narrow, less stable, and can either fail or fall over and drop your car.

And for people to really benefit from that safety advice, we need to be careful enough with the words so nobody thinks they're using a jack stand when they're using a jack.

 

No, you're not an idiot.
You didn't know that the car would move, because the front tires are what "lock" the car in park.
There's a massive difference between not knowing something, and doing the same foolish/dangerous/bad thing over and over and over.

The rotor/disk/brake splash shield is a little dented. BFD.
The ball joint has a noticeable scuff mark on it. However, it's near the edge, and is at the strongest/thickest part of the ball joint (the edge).

Fwiw, I thought that all Toyota vehicles had bolt-on ball joints.
I just checked, the Prius, Prius Prime, Prius V, all have bolt-on ball joints.
But, the Prius-C has press-in ball joints. That's surprising!

I didn't think that the Prius-C would have enough projected sales/profits, to justify that added design expense. It costs money to do any design change.
That cost has to be recovered by the number of sales, and the cost savings. Or, by the number of sales, and the likely increase in sales because of that feature (lower weight, more functionality, etc).
Imho, interesting, from a product/profit/market point of view. Imho, doesn't make any real difference in the car. Toyota ball joints typically last 200K++ miles.

Good Luck.

 

Looks good, fortunately no one was injured, just chalk it up to a "live and learn" experience.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Owners manual recommends to chock diagonally opposite wheel fore and aft. In lieu of chocks, just set the parking brake real solid.

 

Either the backing plate gets bent or it doesn't, that's about the only consequence from a wheel-off in one of these.

If you don't hear the backing plate grinding against the disk, it's fine. If you do, grab it with pliers and bend it. That's it. They built the car (and nearly every other) to survive this specific injury because it happens fairly often.

 

I dropped a little bent metal wheel chock; I think from an old Chevy, 18" 2x6, couple of trash bags, and work gloves in the spare wheel well.
1. Apply both parking brakes and place the car into park.
2. Chock the tire, opposite and diagonal to the flat.
3. bust the lug nuts loose.
4. lift the car; use the 2x6 if you have an uneven or soft base to jack from.
5. Once the tire is off the ground, grab the fender and check the stability of the car in the air BEFORE removing the lug nut and tire.
This should ensure that you can safely remove and replace the tire, even when a semi-truck blows by at 65 mph.
If you follow the above procedure; this shouldn't happen again.

Good Luck and hope this doesn't happen again...

PS. Compact spares should always be placed on the rear axles. If you have a front tire flat; you need to pull one of the good rear tires and put the compact spare there. Your compromising safety, emergency braking, and handling by placing the compact spare on the front axle.

 

It may be good policy, but I don’t recall Toyota saying anything about this. If I’m doing this by side of road, I’m just gonna put the temp spare where the flat was, and drive directly to somewhere where I can repair/replace the flat. Via secondary roads, no freeways.

 

What your doing is fine and prudent - but many people forget they have a Temporary Donut in place and drive like they stole it. When I was in high school; working for Pep-boys - several people came in looking to replace their donuts tires, because they were bald.

 

Similar story here, which I better not divulge.