I am getting ready to rotate my tires and install the mud guards and have a question please. Looking in the manual it shows where to use a floor jack on the front and back...and says you should use jack stands as well when working on the car..but it does not show where to place the jack stands. Does anyone have the proper placement for a jack stand for each wheel once the floor jack is using the one spot on the front and back allowed? Thanks. Also..funny thing in the 2008 owner's manual...it says DO NOT USE THE FLOOR JACK INCLUDED IN THE VEHICLE.
The rail that runs along the length of the body has a couple of pairs of notches where the supplied jack is supposed to be placed when raising the car. I would put the jackstands at those points, assuming that the jackstand has a notch to fit the rail. Can you please scan the page from your owner's manual that says not to use the jack, and post it?
The 2008 Owner's manual show the proper places to use with a floor jack, find this on page 362. On page 363, under When raising your vehicle, a bulleted item says Lift up the vehicle using a floor jack such as the one shown here in the illustration. (The illustration shows a 4wheeled floor jack) The next bulleted item says Do not use the floor jack that was supplied with your vehicle. I guess I never looked, was a cheap floor jack included or is it a scissor jack? ZC1
OK, I think I understand the issue now. Both the rear and the front of the Prius have a central jacking point that allows you to raise up one axle (two wheels) at a time. Those jacking points are intended for a hydraulic floor jack. The jack supplied with the Prius is intended for use when lifting one corner of the car at a time. That jack is placed between a pair of notches that can be found on the rail that runs along the length of the body.
Thanks for the help. They make jack stands that are notched? All I have ever seen are unnotched Guess I will have to try looking new places. About the warning - DO not use the jack that came with the car - You have to admit it is funny! After 3000 miles I have to say I am really more impressed with this car every day. This is the first new car I had that did not need to go back to the dealer to fix something....everything is right.
As an FYI, someone posted a long time ago that toyota uses the "rubber bricks" that are notched to fit perfectly with the welds to lift the prius by the frame without damage. If you have the energy, I would hunt a pair of those down, or even make a set from stock hard rubber.I never found a good spot to jack up my (totaled) prius with stand and not cause some paint chips or deformation. The rubber bricks would have been helpful.
I was lifting up the front end of the prius today so I decided to take a few pic a some of the jack and jacking points that I use.
I think the issue is that the included jack is not designed to be "man-safe". It's fine for lifting a corner of the car as long as you don't place your body underneath. A sturdy jack stand without hydraulics should be used whenever you're placing yourself in harm's way.
Here's a place where you can get both a notched pad for the hydraulic jack to be used on the pinch-weld rail, and a rubber cover for a jackstand to go in the channel next to the rail: New Page 1 (side lift jack pad) New Page 1 (jack stand pads)
There was a Gen 2 owner, and I believe PriusChat member (Hobbit), who posted alternative front-end jack stand placement locations. I found our Gen 3 to be very familiar, adopted those locations (was NOT impressed by the jack stand cradles taking weight on the flimsy crimped-steel knife-edge recommended for scissor jack location by Toyota. Then after a bit of a look settled on alternate location for rear-end safety stand placement. Again I believe 2nd gen is very similar. Anyway, this is third gen, but I believe it'll do for second gen as well. Twice a year for the last 15 years or so I've had the whole car up on safety stands, when swapping between snow and all-season wheels, and at least 30 additional times had the front-end only up for oil changes and what have you:
