A decent -- economical -- FLOOR JACK

You have a farm? with lots of dirt and land?? hell I would buy a shovel and make my own ramps

Anyways, if you buy a floor jack, you would need to get jack stands too. You can't go under the car while it's on the floor jack, in fear of crushing yourself under it.

 

harborfreight.com see if you have a nearby store. Make sure you get one that goes high enough. I now have two that are worthless due to max height issues.

 

What caused the scolding and was it justified?

I would not recommend Harbor Freight because I would avoid buying the cheapest possible tools. Those can cause damage to the part being worked on and may cause damage to yourself if the tool breaks while under load.

As a hobbyist it would be reasonable to buy tools from Sears Craftsman, Home Depot, or Lowes. Costco also offers a reasonable floor jack and jackstands. You can get decent quality tools for much less than the Snapon professional tools are priced at.

A floor jack and jackstands combo allow you to do much more than ramps. The latter is good primarily for draining engine compartment fluids while the former allows you to, for example, remove tires for access to brake and suspension work.

The Prius is low enough so that you cannot use ramps with a particularly high angle of attack. Ramps that will fit the front of the car will only give you a few inches of rise above the paved surface. This further makes use of such ramps unsuitable for many repair tasks.

I own a set of standard ramps and they are useful only for SUV or minivan type of vehicles such as my Highlander Hybrid. The rise angle is too great to fit my Prius or Mustang GT convertible, so the air dam will hit the ramp before the tire starts to rise up the ramp.

 

Hi Kris-
I'm a scardy cat under the car. I double up on the jack stands by leaving the jack in place also and also placing blocks of wood under the tires. If I really need the car high I double up on the jack stands.
To many scary stories of cheap jack stands failing. Yikes. Maybe why your guy was scolding you he doesn't want you to get hurt and we don't either. Be safe.

 

How does one "double up on the jackstands to get them higher"?

SCH-I535

 

I think Ed is saying that if he wants to raise up the car to the full extent of the jackstand's reach, he will use two jackstands on each side to share the load.

I personally think it is sufficient to use one good pair of jackstands supplemented by the hydraulic floor jack on the side of the car that I will be under.

If I want to raise up the car on my standard ramps, I will jack up each side of the car and place lengths of 4x6 under each front tire. Then I will place the ramps between the tire and the wood, and drive up the ramps. That procedure allows a reduced rise angle on the ramps so the car's front air dam will not hit the ramps.

 

DO NOT USE a floor jack while working on a vehicle.

I needed low rise stands to clear the low front end on my Gen III. They work well with my CMax too. Got them at a national chain auto parts store for about $30.




Parking downhill as pictured will give you slightly more working room.

 

Probably not in Oregon.

If your dad's jack stands are in decent shape, they'll do.
They don't have to be pretty.

I'd go to the nearest retailer (Harbor Freight, Wally, Tractor Supply, Rural King, etc...) with the Prius and get the largest jack that will fit under the car and into the budget.
It doesn't have to be an aluminum rapid pump "racing" floor jack that people buy as garage candy.
Sears makes a 2-1/2 ton old school iron unit for about $45, although you can get a jack that will suffice at some place like Harbor Freight for $29.

You'll be able to determine in the parking lot if the jack will work on your Prius, and that might save you a round trip.

I'd start saving for the ramps. (about $45)
They're worth it, and if you have acreage.....you'll need both.

Good Luck!

 

This is the minimum jack I'd recommend. You want to get a jack that lowers by turning the handle. The $45 one you will have to remove the handle and turn a square bolt (an absolute pain). Cheap tools are a pain in the rear. Don't waste your money on them.

Sears.com

 

Tha's the exact same jack I have too from Sears. Works & lasted so far very well.

Kris's problem may be she may not have alot of paved driveway as she lives in the boonies and that jack is kinda hard to roll around in dirt. It would get messed up quickly. The roll around jacks tend to naturally weep a little jack oil and in dirt would become a mess. Unless you don't mind hosing the jack off every use then it would be ok.

But if she has a paved driveway this particular jack is a must for diy. Buy a bottle of jack oil too.

 

I've been crawling under cars supported by jackstands for decades now. And it never gets easier: every time, there's a moment when I'll look up and wonder if this was maybe not a hot idea, lol.

Anyway, one thing I do now: someone down the block was cutting up a tree trunk. I picked up a section, about 1 foot diameter by 1 foot long. I make a point to push that item under a main cross piece, just aft of the the engine bay, before I crawl under.

Another thing I do is keep my cell phone on me.

My current jack is a 3 ton cheapy. I got it for it's high lift. It's ok, the release is activated by rotating the handle counter clockwise. Only thing is the release is kind of hair trigger, you really need to crack it gently to get the car to come down gradually. Better quality jacks likely do better in this regard.

 

Like the tree trunk and like the cell phone even better. Have to remember that one.

 

Lol I love your posts.

But really the only thing that can hurt you other than sprained muscles tool wise is cheap sockets cracking and flying off in bits and sharp pieces. When you get up to 80-100 ft lbs and maybe using a cheater bar or really wailing on
taking off a stuck nut make sure your using name brand sockets ( no harbor) and anything over 120 lbs (wheel bearing castle nut) use name brand impact sockets. Always wear eye protection.

That and try not to let a car fall on you. That's my motto.

 

Good, that incident should scare you. This is a very serious issue.

I strongly suggest that you need to think carefully about how the issue happened. This is a probably a question of technique, just like the issue you earlier raised regarding lifting a car with a scissors jack and having the car fall off the jack. It is not necessary for either event to occur.

If wheel nuts come loose, the likely explanation is that you did not tighten them properly to begin with, or you did not have the nuts centered on the wheel holes before tightening.

The wheel nuts should be tightened at least hand-tight while the tire is still raised up. Then after the car is lowered to the ground, the nuts should be tightened to the correct torque value (76 ft.-lb in the case of Prius.) Start with one nut. Then move to a nut which is diagonally across, to spread the load. Then move to a third nut diagonally across, etc. Once all five nuts have been tightened, go around the five nuts once more to check that all five are still tight.

 

And if you have a locking nut, it should be the last nut tightened. Also, the first nut loosened. Try doing the mental aerobics: which nut should you start with, to progress through a criss-cross tightening pattern that ends with the locking nut? Gets involved with a 5 nut pattern.

One time I snugged up nuts while the car was raised, lowered it, forgot to torque them, and the car was driven off. About 1/2 hour later it came to me, was on my phone asap, they torqued them and all was good. But it scared me: it's too easy to have a lapse. A checklist or some sort of ritual is worthwhile for things like this. Maybe: set the torque wrench on the steering wheel, as a reminder.

 

lol....was waiting for the socket to explode. This guy's an idiot.

Btw, easy method to never let this happen. Pop the center cap off the wheel the one with a Toyota emblem on it and fill it to the brim with synthetic wheel grease and pop the cover back on. It keeps that castle nut/spindle end from becoming a crusted corroded beyond repair mess.
Did that 7 years ago and the nut looks pretty good.