At front I use jack under cill hardpoint and when wheel is off I fit axle stand under where main suspension arm attaches to body,
I think where the main suspension arm attaches to body must be just of the edge of my photo of the underside, a bit nearer the top than the bottom of the picture. I guess that, if I can get a jack under there, with some plywood padding, there’s no reason why I shouldn’t jack the car from that point so that I’ll be able to lower the car onto an axle stand under the cill hardpoint.
The rear of the car is much lighter than front (fuel tank is forward of car centre) so on rear you can use a piece of wood between axle stand and cill.
Do you mean you just position the axle stand as close to the jack as possible, although it might be beyond the hardpoint section of the cill? (I always use slotted, shaped wooden blocks to take the load between the axle stand and cill.)
Surely if you have 5 wheels there is no need to jack up more than one wheel at a time. I have never rotated tyres as the ones on same axle wear at same rate anyway, and on Honda seem to wear evenly across the tread as well. I just replace the worn ones in axle sets, most all season and winter tyres have directional tread pattern with rotation arrows on sidewall and have to stay on same side of vehicle, so can only move between front and rear anyway.
There are two reasons why I’d rather get the whole car up on axle stands. One is safety - if I only jack next to one wheel, most of the weight is balance between the lifting point and the wheel diagonally opposite. I bought a scissor jack in case we need to change the wheel at the roadside, but it has a very small, and so unstable, base. With the trolley jack, I’d be uneasy about it staying up, and also there is a possibility that it might roll on our sloping concrete drive. I could change a wheel whilst keeping well clear of where the car could fall, but would feel very uneasy checking brake discs, etc. But a car on four axle stands (or axle stands at one end, with the other end on chocked wheels), is very stable.
My other reason is avoiding unnecessary work. Our Jazz was supplied with Michelin Energy Saver + 185/60R15 84H tyres, which aren’t directional (otherwise I’d need two spare wheels, I might have the wrong one in the car if we found a flat tyre, and I don’t suppose it would be worthwhile). With previous cars, I’ve always found that tyres wear somewhat unevenly between the two sides; I guess that’s due to roundabouts and other features associated with driving on the left, rather than the extra weight of the driver on one side of the car. The first time I rotate the tyres, I’ll want to put the unused spare where the most worn tyre is, and that one should become the new spare. But to cycle the others as well, jacking only one wheel at a time, I’d need to fit a wheel temporarily, and remove it again when I’d freed the intended one.
I stopped using trolley jack on our tarmac drive when body of jack refused to move on the tarmac (wheels hitting gravel or digging in) and instead the arm decided to move in relation to car body as the jack was raised, I may use a trolley jack on smooth concrete garage floor but non of our cars has ever been in the garage (that is for motorbikes and garden stuff).
As I mentioned above, our drive is concrete, and rather rough for the trolley jack’s small steel wheels, but I do manage OK despite the slope. It’s a long time since there was room to put the car in the garage and work sheltered from the weather on a smooth, level surface!
You’ve been really helpful, thank you, but I’d be grateful if you could confirm that I’ve understood you correctly, particularly regarding using a jack and then axle stand at the rear.
with thanks,
Chris