[Guest]

Getting ready to rotate my '05s tires (factory Bridgestone Dueler's). I've never had the car up on stands. Are the lift and jackstand points in the manual? Are there better ones you all know that aren't?

Should I go with a cross-rotation or just front to rear? The latter will allow me to only have 1/2 the car in the air at one time.

My floor jack lifts to 14.75", is that going to be enough to get all 4 wheels off the ground, and stands underneath?

TIA,

-kj-

 

[Derek]

Hi KJ,

I am going to move this topic to the 4.2 DIY/Mod. section; as you will get better and more accurate responses for your 4.2 RAV. I am not too sure whether the 4.1 and 4.2 RAVs have similar jacking points. Thanks for stopping by in the 4.1 forums .

 

[Guest]

Thanks! Sorry for the mis-post!

 

[Alsone]

The jacking points are shown in the user manual just before the DIY Maintenance - tire rotation section.

As for axel stands, I'm not sure but I would choose the strongest point nearest to the jacking site. I think from memory the rear jacking sites are under the base of the spring housing and that theres a strong strut running forwards to the body from these that should fit an axel stand if the base of the housing doesn't.

Please check though as I accept no responsibility for the accuracy of this - the onus is on you to read your manual and decide for yourself where to jack / support.

Al.

 

[philrav4]

Sorry, but it sounds like that you have no idea what you are doing.
It is better and safer to take it to a shop.
A tireshop should be cheaper.

 

[erns]

I have a 2003 Rav 4.

I use a floor jack and jack stands.

This is a picture of the rear jack point.

I use the bolt head for my jack point.

 

[waltrav]

kjarrett, How many stands do you have? and do you have only one jack?

When i lift my RAV i usaully put 2 Jacks in the front jack points Shown by Luxeon and the manual and one hydrolic Jack to lift the whole rear positioned on the Rear Differential.

Then i put 2 stands on the sides. I also taped flooring Rubber on the stands so they do not scratch the metal.

In the future i will buy a second hydrolic jack for the front (no more jacks) and 2 more stands for the sides.

And in the far future when i build a custom home i will finally have a pit built into my floor of the garage. I wish i had it now :roll:

 

[waltrav]

In this pick you can see i used my 2 stands as backup for the front jacks and at the back i used wood ontop of concrete blocks for backup of the center Hydrolic Jack. The stands work well at the front of the car along the rails but i believe at the back the rails go up over the gas tank so you may have to put them under the Jack flanges at the back. Just remember that they are on the suspension and if you are usind a center Hydrolic Jack on the Diff. and it should fail then the car will drop a few inches.

 

[Guest]

Thanks guys! Huge help. I have a high quality floor jack and four 5,000 lb. jackstands that I use all the time on my Pontiac Grand Prix. See below:

I think I just need to climb under there and get it done! I'm sure the pics will make more sense once I'm under there.

I will probably raise the rear first with the one jack, put the stands underneath, then raise the front and put those stands in.

Will let you know how it goes!

-kj-

 

[Alsone]

I will be joining you in this adventure shortly as I need to get all my wheels refurbished so my RAV is destined to stand on axel stands for an entire week!

I can only recommend the manual as reference for jacking points.

I recently bought myself 4 x 6 ton axel stands and a 4x4 High Lift 3 tonne Trolley jack.

I have yet to try the axel stands but they look good, strongest I've seen in the UK:

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/product.asp?p=020110006&r=2048&g=107

Look weaker in the picture than they are in real life - they are BIG!!

Also my jack:

Edit: Link Removed - see comments in my post below as to why.

Al.

 

[waltrav]

Alsone, now's a good time to do other work on it iif your RAV going to be on stands for a week. :wink:

 

[Alsone]

Yup working on it.

I've got a reversing sensor kit with 8 sensors - 4 back, 4 front.

Sprayed them up today with my air brush (tip - best way to touch up anything small is with a hobbyists air brush as it gives ultimate control and low paint flow prevents runs and allows a nice progressive build up of colour).

Just got to work out how to mount the left had rear inner sensor as the bodywork is curved - think I need to manfacture a bracket from metal or plastic, attach it to the fog light housing and then colour code it to match. Damn new cars, always cause you work unless your buying brand new!!

Al.

 

[Alsone]

EDIT:

Just tried the jack - it won't fit under the RAV!!!

Obviously, RAV chassis too low. So swopping it now for this professional model as only £14 more and has a similar lift height but a much lower minimum profile:

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/product.asp?p=020110280

Al.

 

[Guest]

Well having just finished the rotation I have to say, the 'flap' thing that is the rear jack point is very odd, how can that little piece of metal support the entire end of the RAV ... obviously Toyota designers aren't stupid, it's just really weird to me.

Related question, once the car is in the air, where do you all put the jackstands? On the frame?

-kj-

 

[waltrav]

Related question, once the car is in the air, where do you all put the jackstands? On the frame?

Like i previously mentioned. I put 2 behind the 2 front tires on the Rectangular body Rail. As for the the back the Rail goes under the gas tank. So you could place them under the rear jack mount points and lower the center Hydrolic Jack until the suspension loads.

Cheers, Walt

 

[waltrav]

Just tried the jack - it won't fit under the RAV!!!

Obviously, RAV chassis too low. So swopping it now for this professional model as only £14 more and has a similar lift height but a much lower minimum profile:

I have a Canadian Hydrolic Jack that works fine. Then i bought a more expensive Michelin Jack and the Arm curved and kept on hitting the bumper. So i returned it and will get another like my first.

 

[nouse4aname]

Sorry, but it sounds like that you have no idea what you are doing.
It is better and safer to take it to a shop.
A tireshop should be cheaper.

I don't know about that. Certainly trust myself more than some kid working a summer job at a tire shop getting trigger happy with the air impact wrench and overtorquing the lug nuts.

I follow the manual's recommendation of rotating the spare in and going front to back.

 

[philrav4]

Sorry, but it sounds like that you have no idea what you are doing.
It is better and safer to take it to a shop.
A tireshop should be cheaper.

I don't know about that. Certainly trust myself more than some kid working a summer job at a tire shop getting trigger happy with the air impact wrench and overtorquing the lug nuts.

I follow the manual's recommendation of rotating the spare in and going front to back.

Doing it yourself is always good if you know what you are doing.

I worked in a few tireshops for more than 10 years and never had a kid working just a summer job. Maybe you had a bad experience in a GAS STATION before?

 

[nouse4aname]

Sorry, but it sounds like that you have no idea what you are doing.
It is better and safer to take it to a shop.
A tireshop should be cheaper.

I don't know about that. Certainly trust myself more than some kid working a summer job at a tire shop getting trigger happy with the air impact wrench and overtorquing the lug nuts.

I follow the manual's recommendation of rotating the spare in and going front to back.

Doing it yourself is always good if you know what you are doing.

I worked in a few tireshops for more than 10 years and never had a kid working just a summer job. Maybe you had a bad experience in a GAS STATION before?

Taken various cars to all sorts of places, not once have the lug nuts been properly torqued by anyone else than me.