Tact

iTrader: (1)

I know there are jacking points, both sides, front and back. There is also a jacking point in the front to raise both front tires at once, and there is a jacking point to raise both rear tires at once.

My question is what is the proper way to lift one entire side, both front and rear tire at once? I need to swap my front driver's tire with the rear driver's side because that tire in the front is making my car pull to the left. I know it's that tire making it pull because I swapped it from the right side.

I have the jack that came with the car and I can jack it up either on the front or back at the proper spots, raising one tire, but where do I place a floor jack to raise the other end? If I had two jacks like the one that came with the car i would have no problem. I just don't want to damage something not raising it up at the proper points.

Dawa

iTrader: (5)

first of all, if you going to jack up a car and then be working around/under it, you need to support the car with jackstands. you never work on a car that is only supported by the scissor jack or hydraulic jack. people have died by doing so.

Dawa

iTrader: (5)

secondly, jacking up only one side of a vehicle usually isnt advised, either. whether you do it or not, thats up to you. i can tell you that the 'safety notes' or whatever that came with my jack stands specifically tell you not to support only one side. they say to support either the front, the rear, or the entire car.
if you think about it, if you are supporting a car on one side with jackstands, the cars rails (or whatever the manual suggests you support it at) will not sit evenly on the jackstands.
anyways, this is the RIGHT/CORRECT/SAFE answer.

however, there are many tire shops that do tire rotations for free. try that route

Tact

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for your post. I use jack stands any time I work on a car. I'm just swapping one side of the car's tires from front to back, so I really don't want to suspend all four tires. I just wanted to know of an easy way to raise one side.

Has anyone used the frame under the car to raise the side? Is it safe to not damage the frame?
I really don't want to take it to a shop to do this simple tire swap. I just don't want to do damage to the car.

oldgrump

I'm sure you've thought of it already and are wanting to save the extra step, but I would just use the "rotating tires for dummies" method and make temporary use of the spare. It's another step but it's safe and murphy proof and only about another five minutes. You may find that when you jack the front up at the front side rail jacking point that when you get the front tire clear of the ground that the rear tire has cleared the ground, or has almost cleared the ground, as well. With most FWD cars because of the weight distribution, when you jack the front there is very little weight riding on the rear wheel on the same side.

Dawa

iTrader: (5)

^ I wanted to suggest the same thing. takes a little longer but is definitely safer

dreyfus

I've done this for years with a floor jack without any adverse affects. There is a point near the center (lengthwise) of the car where two frame pieces seem to overlap. It's the same on both sides of the car. That's where I put my jack. I raise the car enough to rotate the tires on one side, then repeat the process on the other side. Of course all safety precautions about chocking and not working under a non-jackstand-supported vehicle apply.

My wife has the car at the moment but when she comes back I'll try to post a picture of that spot.

Tact

iTrader: (1)

Actually, I never thought of using the spare and rotating the tires.

I'll try jacking the front end first and see what it does to the rear tire. If it raises it off the ground as well, then I'll use my floor jack to support the rear for stability to make the quick swap.

I'd like to see pics of this spot if you have time to post it. Honestly, the rail that protrudes down and lengthwise to the car, appears to be a cover to the frame, and not the actual frame. It doesn't look thick enough to be the frame. Am I correct?

oldgrump

The body frame rail has four jacking locations and the exact jacking point is indicated by two notches at each of the those jacking locations. Those are the approved jacking points for accomplishing the jacking of the car for changing a flat "in the field" using the jack supplied in the trunk. Those four locations can also be used to jack the car using a floorjack as well, but one has to be careful in locating the jack pad to ensure that it is not contacting anything but the frame rail. I use a two dollar hockey puck (with a slot cut in it) between the metal floorjack pad and the frame rail (or whatever I'm jacking on). That plastic rocker moulding piece that runs along the frame rail does not protrude lower than the frame rail itself, so as long as you have the pad of the floorjack centered on the frame rail, the plastic moulding should not get damaged. Your Owner's Manual basically explains the process. Just ensure that you are on level ground, in Park, parking brake applied "hard", and block the opposite corner wheel (I keep a couple of bricks for this purpose). I guess that you don't have a full size spare?

Tact

iTrader: (1)

I do have a full size spare. If I can't get comfortable in jacking the entire side safely, as to not damage the car, then I'll just use the spare to rotate the tires.

Tact

iTrader: (1)

Instead of jacking the entire side up I just replaced the bad tire with the new spare, and made the bad tire the spare. The tires had about 10K miles on them so I don't think it made a big difference.

dreyfus

Okay, here is the driver's side jack point I use to jack up the driver's side. It's where the two frame pieces overlap just this side of the exhaust hanger. Whenever I rotate my tires, this is where I put my floor jack. There's a similar point on the passenger side too. I've never had a problem in over five years of working on the car this way.

As everyone has said, don't go under the car unless jack stands are properly in place.

Tact

iTrader: (1)

dreyfus, thanks for taking the time to post the pic. Now, please tell me where you place your jack stands. I looked in the manual and I can't find where the proper/safe spots are.

dreyfus

I always place my jack stands at the normal jacking points just center of the wheel wells (where the notches are). I actually don't use stands when rotating tires - I just keep my body from under the car where I would be pinned should my floor jack fail.

You should also be able to put jackstands anywhere along the frame that I pointed out in the photo. In my mind the time spent placing & removing them puts you at more danger than just avoiding being under the car in the first place.

Tact

iTrader: (1)