Ridiculous Front Lift Point

My lowest (ever) vehicle to jack is my ZR1 and the highest was the custom lifted Tacoma I bought my Son for graduating college. You need different tools for different jobs.

 

the regular ramps will not work, only the ones specific for low rise cars will work.

 

17 degrees works and has a little buffer. I'd guess the limit is around 19 or 20 degrees. The old-style metal ramps might not work, but most plastic ramps should work fine. I have a standard set of RhinoRamps that I probably got at Home Depot several years ago.

 

Maybe just experiment with some 2x lumber, cobble something that works. 3~4" lift might be enough. Jack design may be a factor too: some jacks can roll under just fine, but when it's so far back the handle's under the car, handle swing range can become problematic: there's not enough clearance to raise/lower handle, get the jack started.

 

it is good to know that 17 degrees work. I see that most of them are 17 now.
6 years ago the standard ramps did not work with my gen 4 prius, but gen 4 is lower by 2 cm than gen 5.
The ramps that I bought and work with gen 4 and 5 have 10 degree slope and are two piece design.
MotoMaster Car Maintenance Ramps, Heavy-Duty & Low-Profile , 16,000-lbs, 1-Pair | Canadian Tire

 

yes the problem is the handle. the the 3 ton low jack from costco fits under the car but it is the handle that has no space to be pumped - it is like 1-2 cm.

 

I have an older Sonoma 3 ton jack. Bought it clueless, on boxing day, for $69 CDN. Dumb luck: the handle on it starts pumping with just a slight amount of lift.

Maybe 2 years back bought another 3 ton jack at Canadian Tire, and it's handle needed a lot more lift to get started. Also had a crazy-strong spring on the handle. First time used, under the car and raised, the handle pulled out, and it's socket snapped up to vertical. Now what...

We survived, I returned it.

 

The manual clearly calls for Front to Rear tire rotation - no cross rotation.

 

I have been putting 2 jacks on one side and doing the tire rotation per the manual. I also have ramps for the oil change.

 

The US manual, yes. The European one shows cross rotation.

I don't think there's any deep significance there - I'm going to guess that they don't want liability if a US person does a cross rotation with directional-tread tyres.

I've been cross rotating the original summer set, and front-to-back on the directional studded winter set.

 

Interesting. I’d always cross-rotated our Honda, per manual, then didn’t, with our previous, again per manual. Googled the following:

why does toyota not recommend tire cross rotation in north america

Yields some explanations. Think I’ll just carry on per manual.

 

https://mprtools.com/cdn/shop/files/712nUIy58-L._AC_SL1500_140x.jpg?v=1744992408 This jack is similar to the one I have
I always frt to back tire rotation
With similar Jack as above both wheels are clearly off the ground
Chassis on new cars are very stiff
Oil change Jack goes under to the frame no problem
Even my Miata being low slightly under 3” no problem with this jack

 

Okay, interesting information. I will consider crossing mine too. The wear rate on my Toyos, so far, has been pretty low.

 

Found myself wondering, so just checked - "original" Japanese manual also shows cross rotation. US is the odd one out.

 

I think they just have low expectations of people in the US.

 

PSA: if you're purchasing directional tires at Costco, perhaps doubly so if it's loose rims (my usual modus operandi), check you've got two rights and two lefts before leaving. With me at least their batting average is zero for two.

Further explanation: if you've got a set of four directional tires mounted, and you're looking at the outside face, the directional arrows should be two clockwise and two counterclockwise.

 

I have several cars that can't use the central jack point. So just jack up one side and put the front jackstand under a frame member, which is more secure than the jack point anyway.

 

Due to not enough clearance? I’ve encountered that and resorted to running the car up low-rise ramps first.

 

I got similar ramps to this to gain a bit of height for using a jack on a low clearance car. They're inexpensive, compact, light, and store easily

https://a.co/d/2TMsovM