Tercel jacking points question

I would not put the jack stand next to the jacking point along the pinch weld unless the stand has a slot to accommodate the pinch weld. If you lower the car so that the pinch weld itself rests on the jack stand, you will bend the pinched metal. The jack that comes with the car has a slot in it so that the weight of the car rests on the flat metal on either side of the pinch weld.

In front, good spots for jack stands are where the suspension, engine, and/or transmission are bolted to the undercarriage.

In the rear, good spots for jack stands are where the suspension is attached. If the car has a solid beam between the rear wheels, the beam is a good spot.

Thanks for the advice. The car does have a solid beam between the wheels. My only remaining question is, with one wheel lifted off the ground using a scissor jack, is it safe to go under the car to position the jack stands? I'll chock the wheels, of course, and put on the parking brake and put the car in gear.

It is never safe to crawl under a vehicle supported only by a jack. That said, I will reach under a vehicle making sure that only my arm is under the vehicle to place a jack stand. I'm not sure that you can lift a vehicle enough with a scissors jack to actually get jack stands underneath, unless they are very low stands.

Place a jack stand under the axle or control arm for the wheel you are working on and then jack it done some so it is being held in in two places for added safety as they will not both fail at once.

Thats way I would put it under the control arm. My son has a Tercel and we just did a brake job on it the way.

I didn't realize the control arm was strong enough to support that much weight.

The lower control arm holds the weight of the arm and road stress. It is quite strong.

Unless I am stuck somewhere, I use a hydraulic jack and jack stands. I got my jack a the Evil Wal-Mart for $39, it has a safety bar that goes into a hole under the jacking arm. I jack the car up, and then use jack stands that have a wide enough top to accomodate the 'frame rails', underneath the car. These are stmpings in the steel floor pan the look like frame rails. I jack the car, place the jack stand, insert the safety bar and then lower the car until it contact the jack stand, and then raise the jack to make sure all of the weight is neither on the jack or the stand.

And block the wheel opposite from the corner of the car you are jacking, too. Yeah, I'm paranoid, but even a light car weighs well over a half a ton.

I did my brakes and my exhaust on a '95 Tercel this way.