1. A real hockey puck will not compress nor conform to an object set on top of it.

2. Depending on the manufacturer [and model?] pinch welds may or may not be reinforced so the jack can be applied directly to the pinch weld. How does one know if the weld is strong enough to support the car's weight, inspect the jack that came with the car.

If the jack's pad is flat such that it acts directly on the pinch weld, you may use other jacks that do the same. Some of these pads have shallow slots/sides that do not touch the floor pan but do prevent the pad from sliding off the weld.

If the jack pad is such that it is slotted and the the weld slides into the slot but the weld DOES NOT touch the flat/horizontal part of the pad, ie such that the "sides" of the slot touch the floor pan on either side of of the weld, the weld is not lifting/supporting the car's weight, the floor pan is. One should not apply any jack directly to the pinch weld, some un-reinforced welds will bend. How to know which will bend, try it. You will only know of the damage after it is done.

3. A hockey puck with a slot cut into it may be tall enough to apply the jack's [or jack stand's] force to the floor pan, they do work with generation 9 Corollas. A hockey puck without a slot would only be useful as a spacer to get extra height if one has the reinforced pinch welds.

4. Some [all?]all North America Toyotas have central jacking points front and rear. These are so much easier to get up on jack stands and thus safer. Some one posted Hondas in other countries have this feature. WHY NOT HERE??????

 

[QUOTE=nomenclator;1381444]The slotted hockey puck does work when the vehicle's floor pan is strong enough to support the car's weight, ie the supplied jack acts on the floor pan at the designated locations.

I have seen two cars with bent up floor pans when someone used a jack and/or jackstand on a floor not designed to be used that way, no idea how many did not bend.

I have seen nonreinforced pinch welds not not fazed by by being used for lifting/supporting [most of them at the end without the engine/transmission]. . I have seen a number that were bent. No idea how the owner would know the outcome prior to trying it.

 

I've got a trailer hitch on my rear tow hook.

Any idea on where else to jack up the rear?

Or is it safe to jack on the hitch, under where it's attached to the tow hook?

 

You can always use the standard reinforced jack points on both side rails of the car. These are the safest spots. I don't know about the tow hook as a jack point. I'd rather not test it.

 

I've used the rear tow hook multiple times as a jacking point with the no I'll effects. I'm not sure about the tow hitch question though.

 

The tow hook is the official rear jack point from Honda

I am going to be doing suspension work, so can't do the side jacks

 

Yes if you first roll up onto ramps, then you can get the lift pad of the rolling jack underneath the front-center lift point of the car – even if the car has been lowered as evilchargerfan's car has been lowered, apparently.. That's the way I used to do it and it worked. However I found driving onto my 40 mm high ramps to be a pain. Instead of using ramps as ramps, last time I jacked up the front of the car I switched to just jacking up the car first at one front pinchweld jack point, and then at the other,and each time sliding the same piece of 2 x 12 inch lumber that I had used as a ramp,. under each tire. That extra 1.5 inch of height under the tires (about 40 mm) was enough to allow a rolling jack to get under the car whether I drove up onto the lumber, or slid it under the tire after jacking it up.. After aligning the jack's saddle under the car's front lift point, the first few pumps of the jack handle were, however, rather short pumps. I think jacking up the 2 front wheels one at a time is easier than driving onto ramps. When it comes time to let the car down, I let the tires down onto the same pieces of lumber. Then I just drive backwards a few feet, to get the car off of the lumber, same way I did when I used the lumber as ramps.. I beveled one end of each piece of lumber, the rear end, so as to make driving off of it (or onto it if I were to use the lumber as a ramp) smoother.