Where to place the floor jack

[Husker Soze]

Just an FYI. Jacking any vehicle on the centerline is not stable and can lead to serious injury or death. Always jack on the recommended jack points and use jacks stands if you are working in the wheel well or under the vehicle.

I don’t disagree, but where do you place your jack stands if you’re using the jack point?

Not everyone has 4 point lifts at home or can splurge on a Quickjack lift.

 

[gman1868]

I don’t disagree, but where do you place your jack stands if you’re using the jack point?

Not everyone has 4 point lifts at home or can splurge on a Quickjack lift.

There are subframe rails under the vehicle where you can place jack stands. When you buy jack stands for your Telluride, look for stands with the largest possible flat plate on the top.

 

[Husker Soze]

There are subframe rails under the vehicle where you can place jack stands. When you buy jack stands for your Telluride, look for stands with the largest possible flat plate on the top

Maybe you can take detailed pictures and post it so we can have a visual reference.

I’m sharing the info of what I know works for me, that may help others as well.

I’m not buying new jack stands for my KT if I know my current stands work as designed.

 

[gman1868]

Maybe you can take detailed pictures and post it so we can have a visual reference.

I’m sharing the info of what I know works for me, that may help others as well.

I’m not buying new jack stands for my KT if I know my current stands work as designed.

I did a Google image search, here are a couple examples that show the subframe rails:
https://www.tellurideforum.org/data/attachments/2/2744-96f7c8a8f9edd2c04db51fbff02d6cab.jpg
https://www.tellurideforum.org/data/attachments/2/2743-862336a0f319400bc9a13326703a6117.jpg

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[Paul B. Henson]

So it seems like the consensus is that it is "unofficially safe" to lift the entire rear end and entire front end via the suspension crossmembers? This thread is a few years old and a few different people seem to have reported doing so. I assume if one of them suddenly caved in their crossmember they would have come back to report it .

The front crossmember seems basically flat? But the rear one looks like it has a limited area to place a jack? How big are your jack cups, they look like they completely fill the flat spot. My jack has a 5" pad, I'm worried it's going to be too big to fit there. The pad is removable, I guess I could get a 3" pad if I need to.

Generally when I need a vehicle off the ground, I lift the front end, place jackstands, then lift the rear end and place jackstands. However, given the offset lift point in the rear, I wonder if it would be better to chock the front wheels and lift the back first? Otherwise, when I lift the back the front would just be on firm jackstands rather than front tires with suspension movement, and the uneven lift might be problematic.

Thanks...

 

[Point37]

So it seems like the consensus is that it is "unofficially safe" to lift the entire rear end and entire front end via the suspension crossmembers? This thread is a few years old and a few different people seem to have reported doing so. I assume if one of them suddenly caved in their crossmember they would have come back to report it .

The front crossmember seems basically flat? But the rear one looks like it has a limited area to place a jack? How big are your jack cups, they look like they completely fill the flat spot. My jack has a 5" pad, I'm worried it's going to be too big to fit there. The pad is removable, I guess I could get a 3" pad if I need to.

Generally when I need a vehicle off the ground, I lift the front end, place jackstands, then lift the rear end and place jackstands. However, given the offset lift point in the rear, I wonder if it would be better to chock the front wheels and lift the back first? Otherwise, when I lift the back the front would just be on firm jackstands rather than front tires with suspension movement, and the uneven lift might be problematic.

Thanks...

not sure...haven't had all 4 wheels off the ground at the same time but i have used both unofficial jack points shown in the photos in this thread to lift front and rear...but if i don't need to take wheels off i'm using ramps...if i had to get the car up evenly and not take the wheels off i'm using ramps on one end and jacking the other end up and placing jack stands on the pinch welds with pucks and using the jack as a backup...guess i've never had to take more than 1 wheel off as i don't bother rotating tires...i do the same with my subaru...front tires wear faster than rears so i replace the fronts a couple times before the rears

 

[ultimate175]

I've used both points mentioned in this thread to get all four corners on jack stands with no issues. My jack has a 5" plate I think. The biggest problem I had was that the rear member jogs upward and is further from the ground, so I was at the limit of my jack height to get stands on the rear pinch welds high enough to keep the tires off the ground when the jack is removed. The suspension travel is not your friend in this situation.

 

[Point37]

I've used both points mentioned in this thread to get all four corners on jack stands with no issues. My jack has a 5" plate I think. The biggest problem I had was that the rear member jogs upward and is further from the ground, so I was at the limit of my jack height to get stands on the rear pinch welds high enough to keep the tires off the ground when the jack is removed. The suspension travel is not your friend in this situation.

i've had something similar happen to me...had to put the jack on top of some plywood pieces to get some extra height

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[Paul B. Henson]

Thanks for the feedback. So I bought the service manual, and it actually has a section labeled "Lift Points And Precautions For Lift". It has the same 4 pinch weld spots as the owners manual, but also has a bullet labeled "Precautions for Floor Jack" which says "Do not install the floor jack except for the front subframe, rear crossmember, and lift points."

So evidentially the rear crossmember is an official Kia supported lift point. I'm curious though in that case why they put that exhaust hanger support right in the way . Do they expect you to cover it with the jack pad? I'd be worried it would break it off.

The other point in this thread is the front crossmember though, not the front subframe? There is sadly no diagram for the bullet point <sigh>, so I'm not sure exactly what they mean by front subframe and whether or not it would have a good point on it for lifting the whole front. Any thoughts?

I measured the flat area in the middle of the rear crossmember from where it starts to angle up on the driver's side to where the exhaust hanger pops up on the passenger's. It's about 4.25". If you have a 5" jack saddle, I'm not sure how you're lifting from there without pushing on the hanger. Plus the rear diff is right there too if you have AWD, so you couldn't really center the saddle without hitting it.

I looked for a 4" saddle but couldn't find one to fit my jack, I ended up ordering one that's 4.8" at the saddle and 4.5" across the top of the pad. Hopefully it will slide in far enough between the left edge and the hanger cylinder to get a good bite. Or I might cut a slot out of it for the hanger bracket so I can center it but not apply force to the bracket.

My jack has some pretty good height, one of my other cars is a 4x4 Chevy Colorado with a lift on it, the lift points I use on it are probably already higher than the bottom of the Telluride rear cross member and I have no issues getting it off the ground, so hopefully I won't have a problem there.

The running boards are getting here soon, so should find out either this weekend or next when I install them . Although it sounds like a running board bracket is going to get in the way of one of the pinch weld locations, so I'll have to see how that goes. There's supposedly enough room for the factory scissor jack, so I'm crossing my fingers there will be enough room for the jack stand. I shouldn't ever need to fit the floor jack there.

It shouldn't be this much trouble just to lift up a car 8-/.

 

[Paul B. Henson]

I was poking around the service manual looking at random stuff and found a section "Removing the sub frame", the part they show is what I was calling the front crossmember. So both the front and rear lift points shown in this thread are officially supported per the Kia Telluride service manual...

That's good, I would *not* want to have to tell my wife I just screwed up her brand new car .

 

[gregorian79]

Thanks for the feedback. So I bought the service manual, and it actually has a section labeled "Lift Points And Precautions For Lift". It has the same 4 pinch weld spots as the owners manual, but also has a bullet labeled "Precautions for Floor Jack" which says "Do not install the floor jack except for the front subframe, rear crossmember, and lift points."

So evidentially the rear crossmember is an official Kia supported lift point. I'm curious though in that case why they put that exhaust hanger support right in the way . Do they expect you to cover it with the jack pad? I'd be worried it would break it off.

The other point in this thread is the front crossmember though, not the front subframe? There is sadly no diagram for the bullet point <sigh>, so I'm not sure exactly what they mean by front subframe and whether or not it would have a good point on it for lifting the whole front. Any thoughts?

I measured the flat area in the middle of the rear crossmember from where it starts to angle up on the driver's side to where the exhaust hanger pops up on the passenger's. It's about 4.25". If you have a 5" jack saddle, I'm not sure how you're lifting from there without pushing on the hanger. Plus the rear diff is right there too if you have AWD, so you couldn't really center the saddle without hitting it.

I looked for a 4" saddle but couldn't find one to fit my jack, I ended up ordering one that's 4.8" at the saddle and 4.5" across the top of the pad. Hopefully it will slide in far enough between the left edge and the hanger cylinder to get a good bite. Or I might cut a slot out of it for the hanger bracket so I can center it but not apply force to the bracket.

My jack has some pretty good height, one of my other cars is a 4x4 Chevy Colorado with a lift on it, the lift points I use on it are probably already higher than the bottom of the Telluride rear cross member and I have no issues getting it off the ground, so hopefully I won't have a problem there.

The running boards are getting here soon, so should find out either this weekend or next when I install them . Although it sounds like a running board bracket is going to get in the way of one of the pinch weld locations, so I'll have to see how that goes. There's supposedly enough room for the factory scissor jack, so I'm crossing my fingers there will be enough room for the jack stand. I shouldn't ever need to fit the floor jack there.

It shouldn't be this much trouble just to lift up a car 8-/.

which running boards did you get? if they are the canadian (all black) ones, I can tell you a story about those

 

[Paul B. Henson]

which running boards did you get? if they are the canadian (all black) ones, I can tell you a story about those

The Black Horse Premium Running boards, model PRK376. Tried to post a link to them but it said the message was too spammy?

The all black canadian ones are oem kia, right? Those seem to attach differently, you pull off the molding under the door and they replace it? The ones I got use brackets that attach underneath, the annoying thing is you've got to cut slots in the plaster cover underneath so it can attach over them.

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[G-207854]

Thanks for the feedback. So I bought the service manual, and it actually has a section labeled "Lift Points And Precautions For Lift". It has the same 4 pinch weld spots as the owners manual, but also has a bullet labeled "Precautions for Floor Jack" which says "Do not install the floor jack except for the front subframe, rear crossmember, and lift points."

So evidentially the rear crossmember is an official Kia supported lift point. I'm curious though in that case why they put that exhaust hanger support right in the way . Do they expect you to cover it with the jack pad? I'd be worried it would break it off.

The other point in this thread is the front crossmember though, not the front subframe? There is sadly no diagram for the bullet point <sigh>, so I'm not sure exactly what they mean by front subframe and whether or not it would have a good point on it for lifting the whole front. Any thoughts?

I measured the flat area in the middle of the rear crossmember from where it starts to angle up on the driver's side to where the exhaust hanger pops up on the passenger's. It's about 4.25". If you have a 5" jack saddle, I'm not sure how you're lifting from there without pushing on the hanger. Plus the rear diff is right there too if you have AWD, so you couldn't really center the saddle without hitting it.

I looked for a 4" saddle but couldn't find one to fit my jack, I ended up ordering one that's 4.8" at the saddle and 4.5" across the top of the pad. Hopefully it will slide in far enough between the left edge and the hanger cylinder to get a good bite. Or I might cut a slot out of it for the hanger bracket so I can center it but not apply force to the bracket.

My jack has some pretty good height, one of my other cars is a 4x4 Chevy Colorado with a lift on it, the lift points I use on it are probably already higher than the bottom of the Telluride rear cross member and I have no issues getting it off the ground, so hopefully I won't have a problem there.

The running boards are getting here soon, so should find out either this weekend or next when I install them . Although it sounds like a running board bracket is going to get in the way of one of the pinch weld locations, so I'll have to see how that goes. There's supposedly enough room for the factory scissor jack, so I'm crossing my fingers there will be enough room for the jack stand. I shouldn't ever need to fit the floor jack there.

It shouldn't be this much trouble just to lift up a car 8-/.

Where did you obtain the service manual? I've been trying to find a copy but not sure where to get it

 

[Paul B. Henson]

I got it from www (dot) factory-manuals (dot) com (sorry for the bad format, the forum never lets me post a URL, always says it's too "spammy")

It's not a classic "manual" though; Kia provides their service information through an online portal that requires a subscription. Basically this company buys a 24 hour subscription on your behalf, and then downloads all of the pages relevant to your specific vehicle and generates a PDF out of them. It's a little goofy, but it does have all of the service information in it.

 

[KMiles]

I got it from www (dot) factory-manuals (dot) com (sorry for the bad format, the forum never lets me post a URL, always says it's too "spammy")

It's not a classic "manual" though; Kia provides their service information through an online portal that requires a subscription. Basically this company buys a 24 hour subscription on your behalf, and then downloads all of the pages relevant to your specific vehicle and generates a PDF out of them. It's a little goofy, but it does have all of the service information in it.

I've been looking for an online service manual for the 2024 Telluride and can't find one for non-pros. Does this one provide updates and access to Technical Service Bulletin's? I've used alldatadiy for all of my online manuals previously and it was great as it is always up to date and has the TSB's.

 

[Paul B. Henson]

I've been looking for an online service manual for the 2024 Telluride and can't find one for non-pros. Does this one provide updates and access to Technical Service Bulletin's? I've used alldatadiy for all of my online manuals previously and it was great as it is always up to date and has the TSB's.

No, this is a one time dump of the official kia service online website. If you wanted ongoing access to new stuff/changes, you'd have to subscribe to the web site on an ongoing basis.

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[MrMCar]

PBH, you bring up some excellent points, you're a thinker and it shows. To add to your excellent inquiries/discoveries.

When trying for a big lift and placing the vehicle on 4 jackstands; there's a tendency for the vehicle to creep (most usually towards the jack, now at the other end of the vehicle) and possibly fall off the jackstands. This happens because the floor jack does not lift straight up rather, in an arc. This happens despite the wheels on the jack. The jack most usually stays stationary.

Wheels get pitted and bearings dirty. Most work in a driveway and NOT a billiard table smooth surface. Therefore the jack most usually stays still and it will drag the vehicle towards it. Use CAUTION.

Of note; Hockey pucks make great additions to a quality round flat surface of most floor jack. Most notably at the folded sheet metal seams at the factory jacking points. The hockey pucks are so well received that in my business (now retired) most of the W/D's sold them in a dozen pack. We had them on every lift, to supplement any lift point.

Bent, molested and/or chipped paint on the lower seams is a future rust point. I've seen it for decades. YMMV.

 

[KMiles]

No, this is a one time dump of the official kia service online website. If you wanted ongoing access to new stuff/changes, you'd have to subscribe to the web site on an ongoing basis.

Thank you Paul!

 

[KMiles]

This is what I use with my jack. It is machined aluminum with a nylon insert and it has magnets in it. It works great.