Jack Stand Placement & Jacking

August 1, 2002

Greetings,

I own a 2003 Toyota Corolla LE and am wondering about jack stand placement.

My question is:

Where do you put jack Stands once you've raised the front of the Toyota? I put them on the side where you would jack up the car. Is this correct? I used a hydraulic jack to raise the car; I raised it from the center front towing bar. My jack fit perfectly around the bar & it's a 3 1/2 ton jack so I was able to raise the entire front end. I just want to be sure I'm placing my Jack Stands in the correct place. Again, I placed my jack Stands on the sides where you would use your standard OEM jack to raise the car. I tested the placement by pushing, pulling, bouncing the car and it seemed to hold fine. I just want to be sure before I go crawling under the thing. :-)

Also, where would you raise the rear of an Corolla? Is there a towing bar in the rear center as well?

Thanks! Any opinions would be appreciated!

August 3, 2002

Greetings,

Just wanted to let everyone know that I’ve found the answer to my question...and I was right. I ended up talking with a master mechanic from a local dealership and here’s what I found.

Use only the jacking points listed in your owner’s manual to support your vehicle. The jack Stands should be placed on the sides of the vehicle behind the front tires where the jacking tabs are located. This is the same place you would jack your car up using the OEM jack.

For jacking your vehicle (from the front) using a hydraulic jack:

Use the towing clip locating in the front center of the vehicle just behind & beneath the bumper. Make sure your jack is rated to support the weight of lifting the entire front of the vehicle at once.

Jacking your vehicle from the rear using a hydraulic jack is a little tricky. You have to jack one side at a time by place the hydraulic jack on the tab as far forward as possible – leaving room on the tab to place your Jack Stand beneath. The tabs should be located just in front of the rear tires…but always refer to your owner’s manual if in doubt.

About the Jack Stands: Find a pair with low profile saddles. The ones made with deep saddles don’t work well for modern cars that have to be supported at the jacking tab. If the saddle is too deep, the top ends of the jack will dig into the side of your car. Not a good thing.

My own opinion:

I looked at over a dozen different jack stands and it came down to just two that I liked…and one other for those looking for inexpensive stands. Also, a lot of brands were eliminated because the saddles were too deep.

Carolina - 3 Ton Jack Stands. Double welds. Weighs in at 25 pounds for the pair! Solid stand. I paid $59.99 for a pair. These are the jack stands that I ended up buying. I bought mine at PepBoys.

Lincoln – 2 or 3 Ton Jack Stands. Made in USA. Very Solid. Very Nice. Very expensive. The 2 ton Jack stands start at $89.99. You can get these at PepBoys as well.

OK – Now, I would not buy these but they were the best looking cheap ones I could find. So, if you can’t afford the Carolina’s or Lincoln’s check these out.

Larin – 4 ton Jack Stands. The single welds scare me. Even though these are 4 ton stands their minimum clearance is 12 inches so they’d work great for a small car or sedan. Cost $19.99 at AutoZone. Menard’s also has them, but I could not find the 4 ton. I would not buy the 3 or 2 ton stands. These stands just don’t look like high quality so going a little over by getting the 4 ton stands is a good thing.

One more thing:

Anyone who puts their life in the hands – literally - of a set of $9.99 2-ton jack stands is asking for trouble.

Safety:

Make sure the car is in park and the emergency brake is on.

Never take the tires off the vehicle if you are going to be working underneath. If your doing a brake job, finish that first and then put the tires back on before crawling under to change the oil filter or oil, etc.

Always use two sets of ‘Wheel Chocks’ to stabilize the tires that remain on the ground. That’s a total of 4 wheel chocks – two per tire – one in front of the tire and one at the rear of the tire. You can get these at Sears for about $6.00 a pair.

Once your vehicle is on the Jack Stands, use your hydraulic jack as a failsafe by placing it under the towing clip with just enough pressure to push against…don’t lift it off the stands…just a little pressure against the clip. This way, if a Jack Stand fails, your hydraulic jack may take the load and give you enough time to get out from underneath the car.

Before getting underneath, push, pull, bounce your car. If it’s going to fall, you want it to fall now, before you crawl underneath.

In closing:

This is what I found doing my own research. Do your own research…it’s your neck going under the car. All above stated is just my humble opinion.

P.S. The hydraulic jack I ended up purchasing was a 3 ton Craftsman for $49.99. It’s made for SUV’s but works great for smaller cars as well. Yep, I paid more for my Jack Stands than I did my jack!