Jack points

See “Positioning a floor jack,” Owner’s Manual (PDF), page 579, and the Repair Manual (more info), under General: Introduction: Repair Instruction: Vehicle Lift and Support Locations, which has information that applies when using a swing arm or plate type lift. It also says to use safety stands with rubber attachments, presumably to avoid damaging the weld seams or their finish.

 

See this thread. Please show me where the floor jack suppose to go! | PriusChat
My comment #25 (front) and #29 (rear) show a photo of the jack points. Rear jack point is easy to identify. The front is the though one. It is really far from the front.

 

Take a look on Amazon or eBay, for example, for "rubber pad for floor jack." You'll see numerous hard rubber pads with a slot to protect the pinch weld seam. I've used one for years; it works fine. One interesting one is aluminum with magnets to hold it in position while the jack is placed. There are rubber pads for jack stands with slots to protect the pinch weld. Also, under the Prime, are strong suspension-to-body points that will work with the floor jack.

 

Apart from the front and rear central jacking points (shown in the manual, mentioned by @Elektroingenieur, thread linked by @Salamander_King), the other issue is safety stand positioning.

I'm really sceptical of the viability of the proscribed scissor jack locations, for use with safety stands. With or without rubber bits. If you use the scissor jack I think you'll see it's actually bearing on the body, behind the pinch-welded seam. And likely indenting it, even with one gentle use.

I should have a look at a Prime (and/or reg fourth gen) at dealership, I'm pretty sure I could find good points for safety stand cradles. If it's similar to third gen:

Rears adjacent to the oval locator pin openings. Fronts at the leading edge of the main underbody rails.

 

The rear jack point was easy to find and use with a 2 ton floor jack. The front one looks like it must be way back--almost even with the wheel wells. Too far for my jack.

 

Yeah, the front jack point is waaay in. See the pic in my comment. Please show me where the floor jack suppose to go! | Page 2 | PriusChat My low profile jack can not reach.

The only way to use the jack point is to use a ramp made of 2x10 or something. I have not made it yet. Someone may chime in with their DIY low profile drive-on ramp.

 

@jerrymildred made 3" lift ramps, allowed him to roll a jack to the front point and afforded enough clearance to get a floor jack handle lifting. I agree though, 4th Gen and Prime front jacking point is a design fail.

 

I just ordered a pair of low profile ramp shown below. I could have DIYed something like Jerry made with scrap pieces of lumbers. But I figured ready-made ramps would be lighter and easier to handle. Wasn't that expensive.

 

2nd generation is way back there, too.

Those do look much easier to handle! Will they fit under the car? I made mine so that, if I need to work in the garage, I can pull the car forward a bit, slide my ramps in behind the front wheels, and back onto them which keeps me out of the rain. My garage is WAY too small for my liking.

 

I will let you know. This ramp is supposed to be a "low profile" drive on-ramp. I have a regular steel made ramp but those are too high and too steep of angle for my PRIME and for my son's Honda to clear the front bumper. The spec said the hight of the ramp is 6 1/4".

 

The ground clearance is only about 4.8" which is another of my annoyances.

 

Oh, S**t! I must have had a major brain fart. For some reason, I had Prius with 6.5" ground clearance in my mind. That number had to be for our SUV. Yeah, it is not going to fit under the PRIME nor my son's Honda CRZ. Well, I can still cancel the order, but I think I am going to try using them in front of the car.

 

Huh, I didn't know that. Interesting. Looks like the same cross beam, aft of the engine bay.

 

Yup! It's only a few inches closer to the front than the Gen 4.

 

Salamander King, I have a 2017 Prius Prime and use the Rhino low profile ramps you shared a picture of for it all the time. They fit under the bumper and up against the tire as they should, and the ramp is gradual enough that the car can be driven up on them no problem. FWIW I have also used them on earlier (2011, 2012) Priis!

 

Yeah, I never returned it. I have it. But the rump is too high to fit under the car behind the front wheels. I suppose it works fine in front of the front wheels.

 

I have a set of Rhino ramps from before low profile was a thing. They work fine for my Prime.