Bottle jack too short for my 4R Trail 2015

E

Everglades999

New member
Yesterday, I had flat right front tire and pulled on the side of the road on an even concrete sidewalk
What I though would be a 5 minutes job turned to be a hassle.
First it took me 5 minutes to be able to insert the tool in the chamber to lower the spare tire. Dumb deign?
Second, after I carefully installed the stock bottle jack and lifted the car, I was able to remove the tire (Stock ones) but was unable to fit new tire as the lift was 4 to 5" short.
AAA cam and helped,but wondered what would happen if I would have been in the middle of nowhere.
I can buy a floor jack, but wanted to know if this is a serious design law or if I did something wrong?
Ben.
 
Register to hide this ad
Get the Double Ram (huh huh) bottle jack by Torin if you need a bottle jack.

You can use a hi-lift, too, but those need to be mounted to the outside of your truck and all will rust to hell.
 
KidVermicious said:
They do?

OP, I'm confused, and I think you did indeed do something wrong. Which tire went flat, and where did you put the jack when you lifted the truck?
Click to expand...

You need to mount them to a solid off road bumper, rock rail, etc.

They make adapters to attach them to recovery shackles, and hooks and chains to attach them to hard points on the frame--but a hi-lift wasn't initially designed to be used with an unmodified truck and depending on how you use it and where you attach it, you can ding body work.

I've seen people use the jack to winch a wheel, put a stand under the truck, uncouple, swap wheel and tire, then put the wheel strap back on and lower it after removing the jack stand...
 
Copy, with the reference to rust I thought you meant it had to be stored outside.

For a truck with stock or just barely oversized tires that doesn't get offroad frequently, a hilift is a poor replacement for a properly sized jack. It can work without sliders or bumpers to use as hardpoints, there are hooks that let you lift straight from a factory bumper if it's metal, or you can use a Wheelmate to lift the wheel directly. My recovery bag has a Wheelmate and a small jack stand in it and I'm covered, but the jack and the bag are only in the truck when I'm headed off pavement. I don't carry all that crap around town, and I don't recommend the OP do either.

philsey said:
.
.
.
.
Click to expand...

Guess I need more caffeine. :tea:
 
OP- I would would just carry around a couple blocks of wood to put under the factory jack for situations like that. The other option is a bottle jack like mentioned earlier.

That being said, I've had bad luck with the street oriented OEM tires most vehicles come with. I usually swap the OEM tires for something tougher as sort of a prevention method that seems to work good.
 
Public Service Announcement:
Immediate Release for All New Owners (and some old ones)

DO NOT BE LIKE THE OP!
When you get a new vehicle, any vehicle, the first thing you should do is familiarize yourselves with EVERY PIECE OF EQUIPMENT of the VEHICLE! This includes, but not limited to, the spare tire!
In your driveway, remove the jack, let down the spare, extend the jack! Is it too short? No, not on level concrete but any "sinkage" of the jack or any slight deviations of the ground will render it too short! You will find this out in your driveway! Carry a small block of wood! Easy! Take Five Minutes!

Don't Be Like This Guy! Read the owner's manual! Try stuff out! Test things! Be prepared!
 
1engineer said:
Public Service Announcement:
Immediate Release for All New Owners (and some old ones)

DO NOT BE LIKE THE OP!
When you get a new vehicle, any vehicle, the first thing you should do is familiarize yourselves with EVERY PIECE OF EQUIPMENT of the VEHICLE! This includes, but not limited to, the spare tire!
In your driveway, remove the jack, let down the spare, extend the jack! Is it too short? No, not on level concrete but any "sinkage" of the jack or any slight deviations of the ground will render it too short! You will find this out in your driveway! Carry a small block of wood! Easy! Take Five Minutes!

Don't Be Like This Guy! Read the owner's manual! Try stuff out! Test things! Be prepared!
Click to expand...


1engineer = Frankie MacDonald.

BE PREPARED!!


 
Last edited:
Oem bottle jack is indeed long enough for a stock set up. The manual lists the correct locations to put the jack.
 
I thought he said bottle of Jack..... FAIL!
Jack-Daniels-Drinks.jpg
 
Everglades999 said:
Yesterday, I had flat right front tire and pulled on the side of the road on an even concrete sidewalk
What I though would be a 5 minutes job turned to be a hassle.
First it took me 5 minutes to be able to insert the tool in the chamber to lower the spare tire. Dumb deign?
Second, after I carefully installed the stock bottle jack and lifted the car, I was able to remove the tire (Stock ones) but was unable to fit new tire as the lift was 4 to 5" short.
AAA cam and helped,but wondered what would happen if I would have been in the middle of nowhere.
I can buy a floor jack, but wanted to know if this is a serious design law or if I did something wrong?
Ben.
Click to expand...

The 5th gen Bottle jack extends quite a bit. I as surprised how much the 4th gen actually extends (it is a dual sleeve bottle jack.) It almost is able to completely lift my 4th Gen with 33" tires and a 3" suspension lift.

The 5th Gen unit should be the same design as I don't think Toyota changed it for many years., so if you're not able to lift a STOCK 5th gen with your bottle jack, it is either not being extended enough and/or you are not lifting on the frame.

This is the 4th Gen Unit fully extended to a little over 19" tall:

20141005_152727.jpg

I also want to point out that Toyota has been doing this spare tire set up for their trucks and SUVs for a while (as do other brands) to help prevent spare tire theft among other reasons including, but not limited to creating more cargo space, utilizing a full sized spare, ect. Particularly on our SUVs, Toyota made the access hole only usable with the tail gate up on a lot of models so people couldn't just buy spare tools and steal them in parking lots as easily. Then with the issues Toyota had with cable winches for the spare tires in salt band states Toyota switched to a chain set-up (which is also a bit harder to cut than the cable.)
 

Attachments

  • 20141005_152727.jpg
    20141005_152727.jpg
    131.3 KB · Views: 12,494
Last edited:
OP, please open your owner's manual and read up on the factory jack points and how to use the stock bottle jack. I used to have an 07 FJ with the same bottle jack with a 3" lift and 285 tires, and all I needed was a 1/2" thick piece of plywood for the jack to sit on, and it was tall enough to change tires on my lifted FJ, so youre doing something wrong.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Members online

No members online now.
Total: 7,013 (members: 0, guests: 7,013)

Forum statistics

Threads
278,316
Messages
3,554,120
Members
248,016
Latest member
Advally Service

Share this page

Trending content

Back
Top