Jacking / Lifting points on your Prius

[2009Prius]

Thanks very much for the detail answers to all questions and concerns!

Originally Posted by Patrick Wong

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The suspension cross member should have a symmetrical shape. If you see that part of it is dented in (presumably from your jack) then maybe the part was damaged by your jack. If you take and post some photos then we can comment on that.

The "large bend" I was describing ought to be something related to the suspension since it straightens itself back once the car is lowered back. But now I do worry if I dented around the center area of the cross member. Unfortunately I don't have the "before" photos for the obvious reason, only the "after" ones:


The darker color around the long slot may have been where I jacked.

Some other angles:

Originally Posted by Patrick Wong

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Regarding the noises that you heard, its hard to say what it was without hearing the noises. Maybe you did not set the parking brake tight, and you are hearing a rear brake shoe slipping against the brake drum?

I reset the parking brake really hard and tried jacking up from the side as you suggested. The noise came back and definitely somewhere from the rear. This time I had sandbags both in front and behind the rear tire. The noise could also be the suspension spring I guess?

Originally Posted by Patrick Wong

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If you are using a full-size floor jack with a normal length handle then it should be easy to lift the Prius but the jack might not fit under the front center jack point at the suspension cross member.

Yes it is a small Sears 2-1/4 ton jack.

[2009Prius]

Originally Posted by Speedwing

Prius Tire Rotation

Post #28 Pinan has a great picture. I actually use the same point but back around 8 more inches so the jack is at the point of the weld for the frame piece coming off at a 90 degree angle toward the outside of the car. This point lifts the whole side for easy tire rotation.

Is this the 90 degree weld you meant? (Lower right part of the picture)



It looks good except the channel seems made out of very thin sheet metal (see lower left part of the picture where the channel ends). I suppose the channel has another (stronger?) channel behind it so it's OK to jack up from here?

[Patrick Wong]

The suspension cross member looks OK to me. I'm a bit dizzy after looking at the car upside down...

If you are going to raise up the entire side of the car (which amounts to ~1,500 lb.) using just one jack point, I suggest that you use a piece of 2x4 wood (1 ft. long or more) to spread the load across that rail. That will reduce the chance of damage to the rail.

[2009Prius]

Originally Posted by 2009Prius

... I reset the parking brake really hard and tried jacking up from the side as you suggested. The noise came back and definitely somewhere from the rear. This time I had sandbags both in front and behind the rear tire. The noise could also be the suspension spring I guess?

...

I finally figured out what the noise was. It was the tire(s) rubbing on the garage floor.

[2009Prius]

Originally Posted by Patrick Wong

... If you are going to raise up the entire side of the car (which amounts to ~1,500 lb.) using just one jack point, I suggest that you use a piece of 2x4 wood (1 ft. long or more) to spread the load across that rail. That will reduce the chance of damage to the rail.

2x4 was too thick so I ended up using a piece of one inch thick oak. Worked well. Thanks!

[hobbit]

Yeah, how'd you get the car to stick to the ceiling like that?
.
_H*

[2009Prius]

Originally Posted by hobbit

Yeah, how'd you get the car to stick to the ceiling like that?
.
_H*

I just pushed really hard.

[ivanbg]

I place the jack stands in the front under the sub frame, and in the rear under the frame rails. If you look at the other side of the muffler (diver side), the frame rail is covered by a plastic peace, but Toyota has left a rectangular hole in so you can place the jack stand trough it.

[ivanbg]

This post is for pinch weld placement of jack stands.

You can also get jack stands that have a groove in the center for the pinch weld, like the ones in this forum:Jack stand placement - Zilvia.net Forums | Nissan 240SX (Silvia) and Z (Fairlady) Car Forum or the second picture in this forum is a good example: http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/...?threadid=5845
This is a video example: http://www.ehow.com/video_4978617_ti...pump-jack.html

If you are putting a jack stand that does not have a pinch weld groove in the middle, be sure to place it were the the pinch weld is reinforced. This is usually where you place the car jack.
Example: http://www.techguys.ca/howto/images/floorjack_08.jpg but the problem that you run into then is were do you place the car jack to lift the car. Or http://www.iwsti.com/forums/how-inst...ackstands.html

I personal do not like using the pinch weld. The sub frame and rear frame rails are a lot stronger looking at a structural aspect of the vehicle. If you are not sure where the sub frame or rails are, you can Google them, but make sure the vehicle is of a unibody construction.