scout356

I want to rotate tires, front to back, and want to use floorjack to lift left side, then the right side. But when I examined underside for safe jacking point, I couldn't see anything "safe." The manual shows rear jacking point, but that is for lifting rear wheels at once. I want either a central point on each side where I can raise both wheels with one lift of the jack, or second choice to lift front or back, then place jackstand, then use floorjack on other end.

I hesitate to make an educated guess only to find that I'm bending sheetmetal instead of stressed member. Anybody with experience on this?

Thx. Rick, Capitola, CA. '09 RX350

rcy

There should be central point at the front middle to raise the entire front end.

Do this (raise the car from the front centre lift point), place jackstands on the front sides (there are lift points there just under the front of the front doors (look in your owner's manual in the section for changing a flat tire). Then lift the entire rear from the rear central lift point and move all your wheels.

There is no central point on the sides for lifting the entire side at once. Just the front side lifts point (under the front of the front door) and the rear side lift points (basically under the rear part of the rear doors).

mandyfig

If you want to lift the whole car, please use 4 jack stands. Safety is the most important thing.

AS mentioned, jack up the front, slide stands. Jack up the rears...SLIDE STANDS. Then you are free to do whatever you want.

Relying on a jack to hold your car, is mighty risky.

mandyfig

Hydraulics can fail. Steel to steel and ground will not.

salimshah

Always try to keep 3 wheel on ground and at minimum 2. [The wheels on the ground MUST be chocked to prevent any roll]. Keep in mind the vehicle moves in an arc when you lift. The floor jack has roller and needs to located such that it can roll. I Always kick in the spare under the lift point as added security. Also never jack-up in a way that you compress a spring [steel to steel is ok but steel -spring - steel in NOT].

Raise the back from center rear with a floor jack. Place the jack-stand on the rear side you are interested in. Lower the FloorJack. Move the the floor-jack to the front and lift only the front-side.

Note: Do not use the scissors jack instead of the jack-stand. When the vehicle moves in an arc, the scissors jack may tip.

Salim

salimshah

I would not trust the 3 way split pipe jackstands [Pipe in the middle is cut in 3 places and each piece is spread out to form a leg].

The Ground again needs to be looked at. Concrete is fine, but asphalt and dirt may not be good.

^^Lessons learnt by bad experience(s).

Salim

mandyfig

I have not been chocking my car when lifting. And yes the car moves in an arc. I need to be using the chocks! And heck I have 2 sets of them, sitting in the storage room, collecting dust!

It is a bit of a bother, but you do not want to learn the hard way (as Salim can testify!)

And as Salim mentioned, the floor can be a factor.

salimshah

When my boys turned 9 and 12, I had a flat tire. I thought this would be an excellent opportunity for a show and tell.

I did not chock the planted wheels.

Everything went fine, till I try to fit the spare. As you all know the spare is inflated and to fit it on, you have to raise the jack a bit more [the flat come off with the jack being tad lower]. Luckily I had the inflated spare propped on the hub.

Then the car rolled.

Kids were sent inside, I stuck couple of 4x4 at strategic locations and choked the wheels and put the jack back on. All the while the propped up spare kept the car from falling on ground.

All that was damaged/bruised was my ego. To this day my kids remind me of HOW NOT to change a flat.

Salim

rcy

Yeah, forgot to mention that. I've been spoiled by my jack which locks mechanically at any selected height. so it becomes like a jack stand. Still, since the rear is being lifted from the middle of the car, throwing two jackstands under the rear side lift points isn't going to hurt, and may in fact save more than the vehicle.

rcy

Also, if you have a full size spare (on a matching alloy wheel) you should include it in the rotation, and by doing this, you only have to lift one corner at a time. Depending on how you're going to rotate (that's another entire post of arguments), you lift the corner, remove the wheel, toss on the spare and now the removed wheel just moves to whatever the next tire you're replacing is. The final wheel removed becomes the spare.

mandyfig

I have to check out my spare...it has been ages....I never rotate the spare...especially now that I have the 7 spoke rims. The spare has the 5 spoke...

mmlex1987

Follow the other posters recommendations, be safe, not sorry.

salimshah

For folks who do not have the pressure monitor, they need to check the air pressure in spare. A flat spare is dead weight being lugged around.

Salim

metal

This is the way I intend to do mine...one corner at a time using the spare.