The toyota manual does not address this aside from showing jack points. What I'm attempting to do is rotate my tires but I need all 4 suspended at once. If I jack at the recomended points obviously I cant place the stands in that same location. Is there a safe or recomended place to jack the truck in the center allowing me to place the stands at the jack points? And with 2 stands where in the rear can I lift thats stable to do the full rotation without droping my rig on its rotors or worse yet my foot. ouch!
Am I making this harder than it seems. I invested in a jack & stands and dont want to pay to have this done @ Jiffy Screw. Please help.

 

I guess you could rotate your tires yourself with 2 jack stands and a jack, but it seems like a PITA lot of extra work. The place I bought my tires from will rotate mine for free, so I don't sweat tire rotation, but I would suggest getting 2 more jack stands and saving yourself some time and possible pain and/or money in the long run.

My 0.02



EDIT: Black steelies, no center caps, the place is owned by a friend of mine - read on

 

Find a sturdy spot in the center of the chassis, something solid in the front and the rear. Jack it in the middle...and place the jackstands. and start jacking...simple

 

Actually I would be personally sweating more. The guys that rotate tires never pay attention to the torque specs which is important esp. on aluminum wheels and also so you do not warp the rotors. And they never remove the center caps which results in major paint chipping/scratching.

Although I have not yet used stands on the 4R I think I would put them under the front crossmember and under the rear axel. Am I correct, please advise as I am getting 3.5 ton stands soon to go w/ my Craftsman $22.50 3-ton SUV jack. Thanks.

 

Agree with you 100%. I've read loads of stories of 4Runners developing vibration over time, and the cause seems to be improperly torqued lug nuts.
I've rotated my tires 3 times so far (I have 21k on the truck now) and they're wearing even and I have zero vibration at any speed.
Since I'm using the method recommended by the manual (front to back and back to front, NO side swapping), I only need to have 2 wheels off the group at one time.
This is very siple to do with 1 jack and 2 stands. First, I lift the back from the rear diff and set the rear axle on stands (so now both rear wheels are off the ground. Then, I lift the front (only one side) by the frame, close to front wheel. This puts 2 wheels on one side in the air. Swap front to back and back to front and repeat for other side.
Whole process takes about 15 minutes.. not bad at all.
Never lowered front on jackstands, but crossmember is what I would use.

 

Frame!

 

Why do you need to take all the tires off at once?????? Just take 2 off at a time and switch them.

When I remove all my tires I use a combination of 4 Jack stands (corners of frame rails), 3 Hilifts, 2 Hilifts for both sides of TjM, one Hilift for the rear (hitch) for leveling. I have some chopped steel beams and other steel stock for extra height for the jack stands or jacks. Using these allow my truck to sit very steady. I have a 10 ton hydrolic bottle jack, floor jack, box full of hydrolic rams and 4 factory bottle jacks that can be used for other things while my truck is off the ground.
DO NOT USE cider blocks for a jack stand, they will break causing more problems especally if you are under it...

 

I have to agree with Erc - swapping front to back, and not side to side, makes things a lot easier and safer. If you really want to have all 4 tires up, you can do it, but it's best to use 4 jackstands.

Jack up the front as recommended in the manual, then place one jackstand on the frame driver's side, just behind the front wheel, and another stand opposite on the passengers side.

Move the jack to the rear axle, and jack up the rear. Put the other two jackstands on the same frame member that the front stands are on, but put them on just in front of the rear wheels.

Those are the 4 points that I use when I put my 4Runner on a lift.

This is much safter than trying to use 2 jackstands and the jack, as that will make your 4Runner into a tripod and prone to tipping when you start removing wheels. Not to mention you should never work on a vehicle while suspended by a jack. If you place jackstands on the jack locations shown in the manual, I'd be concerned about taking a tire off and having the 4Runner tilt in the opposite direction (think of the 2 Jackstands like a balance beam).

Remember to loosen, not remove, all lugnuts while the tire is still on the ground - it'll be a PITA to have to re-lower the truck to keep the tire from spinning.

The most important things to remember are to keep the vehicle level while it's on the stands and watch the front while you're jacking up the rear. Having a vehicle up on 4 jackstands isn't something I'd recommend, but as long as your careful it should be OK.

I'd definitely recommend doing your tires yourself. Most monkeys put the lugnuts back on with air tools. There's nothing wrong with using an impact wrench and torque bar, but you want to puut the lugnuts to the wheel by hand, and after they're hand tight then use the impact wrench to get the proper torque. Most monkeys use the impact wrench from the beginning, which applys uneven pressure and can easily warp rotors.

When you do it yourself, most don't torque it down, but I recommend it.

~Bill

 

You may need 6 ton stands + wood blocks to reach it.

 

Note that the factory 4runner manuel, Haynes and most tire manufactors (unless directional tires) recommend the same rotation for best wear and longest tire life from back to front and front criss-crossing to back making it necassary to have all wheels suspended. I just hate having to baby sit some tech to do it properly. Its difficult to find someone who treats your ride like its thier own. We care enough about our rigs to inform ourselves and share information on this site to try to do things correctly and learn from others experiences. I have found that if you want it done correctly do it your self or pay the big buck to the stealer.

Anybody else do thier own rotation?

 

I do my own. Very easy.
Loosen all lug nuts while on the ground.
Jack up under A-arm and put jack stands under each.
Jack up back under diff.
Remove all tires. Bring back ones forward and cross front ones when going to back.
Reinstall tires and lug nuts.
Let down and torque lugs.
Recheck and tighten lugs in a couple days.
I have never had a problem doing it this way. It is stable with 3 points, just don't climb under the Runner. I an using jackstands and a jack that cost $25 together from Wal-Mart. I always cross rotate because I found the tires feather more if not done this way. This would probably not be true with "street" tires though.

 

"Jack up the front as recommended in the manual, then place one jackstand on the frame driver's side, just behind the front wheel, and another stand opposite on the passengers side."

These recomended jack points are on the sides of the vehicle and not in the center which only allows you to place one stand(1 side), lower, jack other side, place stand, lower. This has you rocking the rig while on one stand. Sketchy! Therefore the need to have a stable point in the center(front & rear) so that the truck can be lifted and lowerd squarly and safely on both stands at once.(repeat on rear).

 

Normally, I use a 4-point lift when I need my wheels of the ground, but when I put on my brake pads I just used jackstands, as I only needed 2 wheels off the ground. And that's exactly how I did it - I jacked up one side, put the jackstand in place, then jacked up the other side and put a jackstand there.

The bracket on top of the jackstand was nearly a perfect fit for the frame rail - it nestled it quite nicely.

I didn't notice any rocking of the rig while I was jacking up the second side.

I did it like that because I was using the jack that comes with the truck, so it wasn't practical to try to use a center point in the front.

Sketchy? I don't know - but that's what I did, and my previous post is what I'd do if I didn't have access to the lift. I personally wouldn't trust a 3-point lift - I saw a car once up on 3 points, and it wasn't stable at all.

~Bill

 

I find getting the truck off the ground the easiest, its getting those darn 33's lined up and onto the hub thats a PIA, maybe my "muskles" just arent big enough :pat:

 

That part blows.........If you line the highest lug to the highest hole on the rim at some angle, the rest line up easier. My 305/70s mt on steelies are increadibly heavy and give me a hernia every time I look at them

 

I put them under the lower balljoints, there's a stud head thing on the bottom that sort of holds the head of the stand. works for me. if I'm working on the suspension and need to be able to flex the arms up and down then I put them under the front-most crossmember towards the outside or just on the frame rails. when I put them on the frame rails I usually put a 2x4x4 between the stand and the rail. and then I lay the tires under the frame rail just behind the jack stands for added precaution.