floor jacks

Check out Craftsman tools. While they have some more expensive jacks, they have a Craftsman one for $29.99 and one for $39.99.

I would not "cheap out" on a floor jack. If you place it on anything other than level, the side plates on the jack that support the car need to be heavy duty (thick steel). Thin plates will bend as soon as you start lifting on an angle and it will get real scary, real fast. I know this from personal experience. Don't skimp on a jack and don't trust it to get under the car without a jack stand or stands as well. Please.

You carry a hydraulic floor jack in your car all the time just in case you get a flat?

You bet! Takes me 3.5 minutes to change a tire, instead of 5 minutes to find and assemble all the parts of the scissor jack assembly (or bottle jack in my 4runner, but the same applies), 3 minutes to crank the damn thing up in between curses at how stupid it is, 3 minutes to change the tire, 2 minutes uncrank, and 5 more minutes to disassamble and pack everygoddamthing away again. I can also quickly lift the entire front or rear end of my Previa off the ground if I need to, though the 4runner is too high. I'll never go back, though I usually bring the scissor jack along too. Those numbers may be slightly inflated but a compact, sturdy floor jack is well worth the weight and space, to me. I go into a lot of remote places. YMMV and apparently it does.

I think I'll go look at the Craftsman 50524 they have on sale this month. Its a 2 1/4 ton with 15" lift for 29.99.

HiLift jacks are great, and I thought about mentioning it to the OP, but with the plastic bumpers and side cladding on a Previa, I did not think there would be a place to lift from.

HiLifts are also great for raising a double-width wooden garage door with broken springs!

I had to look up HiLift to see what the heck it is. In the old days thats what we used to call " a jack", lol. I didnt even know they made those anymore.

You're right that wouldnt work so well, and it wouldnt be as quick. I picked up one of those Craftsman jacks today, it looks plenty sturdy for my purposes but I havent tested it yet.

A HiLift jack operates on the principle of the old bumper jacks. Their advantage is that you can lift a vehicle over high obstacles like downed trees, boulders, etc.

You might also want to cut a piece of steel or 3/4" plywood to place under the jack if you are jacking in soft ground.

Yeah, I use a sheet of steel even on my driveway, to protect it.

Smart move!

I have a concrete driveway and apron in the rear of the house, so I do all my work there. I also have a pair of really nice jack stands I got somewhere (place throwing them out of something...) and another pair I got when I worked at CarQuest, and another beefier pair I use for working on the Supra (GVWR 4400 LBS...). I also bought a REAL jack for about $100; got sick of the bottle jack (going through some of the rusty hulks I used to have around here) and definitely tired of the scissors jacks! Geeze, by the time you got the car off the ground (esp the Supra) it was Nap Time!!!

I also have a set of 4000 lb each ramps and I either jack the car up and put it on the stands or the ramps, and usually use 2 sets of stands...just in case! Got some 6000 LB stands at a local parts place for about $39.

Saftey is a good thing!

I put the steel sheet under the jackstands especially. They are driveway killers, especially in July when the asphalt is mushy

We have asphalt in the front of the house, and I only do things like change out flats there...if I have to. The last one I was able to move the car down back.

The concrete is nice and hard, and the asphalt is soft (relatively) even in winter..the jacks will sink into it. I've left my Supra on the stands for two or three days before with no consequence.

Um...but try to get rid of the oil stains!!!