Finally found the ideal "pinch weld" jacking block

I used the supplied scissor jack once, at the (lighter) rear proscribed jacking point. I observed the slot on the scissor jack is deep enough that the weld-seam doesn't "bottom out" in it, only gets lateral support. It bears on the sheet metal behind,d and a single use dimpled it in a bit.

I prefer to raise either the full front (or rear) with the central jacking points. Then put safety stands (with conventional cradles) at the flagged points. both the front and rear zones are heavier gauge, reinforced.



I can see using something like the linked pads if I wanted to raise one corner with the floor jack, but I never seem to be doing that.

 

Got these from Amazon:

View attachment 161892

View attachment 161893

 

Looks like something one can make out of scrap wood in about 5 minutes using a table saw or 15 minutes using a hand saw. I never use blocks. I just lift at the jacking points and support the corner I lifted with a jack stand where the subframe attaches to the body. Been doing that for the past 35 years or so. This Prius is no different.

 

If you (for example) just raise the front,, the pinchwelds are all the more precarious. I did that once, the first oil change (of about 16 now), didn't like how it was behaving. Here's a shot of my preferred front bearing points and the jack stands, location per the previous image. These are the main underbody rails, heavy gauge, and they go through a bit of a downward radius near the front end, so it's very easy to find a "flat spot" for the jack stand cradle, whether the front end is tilted up, or the car is raised and levelled:



Another shot of the front points:



I'll see if I can dig up a similar pic of where I put jack stands at the rear. Again, it's per the mark-up in the pic I posted above. It is very close to the rear pinch weld jacking point, just inboard, on a very heavy gauge hump of steel.

 

The block seems nice, my only complaint is that it is priced about the same as a 600 year supply of hockey pucks at my current burn rate.

 

I too like pinch weld jacking pucks/ blocks.
I made 4 out of 8 rubber hockey pucks.

 

I use a hockey puck (without a groove), to reduce my floor jack's travel on the rear/central jacking point.

Sorry for being the troll of this thread, but I don't like jacking up flimsy cleaver edges.

 

looks good /
but not $85.- good.... /

 

It looks good enough to try and replicate from some wood scraps. Could you publish the dimensions? Those slots look about 3/4" wide or so. As I said, I never really worried about that and most cars I owned had pinch welds, but this looks like it could be useful.

 

When I bought the ones I did from Amazon, I made sure the larger one fits into the place where the original jack pad was. The smaller one fits into the place where the original pad is in my smaller jack, but is smaller in diameter than the original pad on that one. I personally use the central lifting points like Mendel does and I originally placed jack stands where the pinch weld lifting spots are, but tried to avoid from having them carry a load. Then I purchased some sort of polyurethane jack stand slotted pads for the stands and pinch welds, but haven’t used them yet.

 

Thank you, that's very helpful. I may create one and try it. As I said, I never felt the need for one, but maybe there is something I don't knot I didn't know...

 

More coffee, more coffee...

These blocks are intended to be used only in a floor jack cradle, not atop a safety stand? This is another deal-breaker for me: I'm never inclined to lift one corner with a floor jack; I'll do either a full front or rear lift.