Is lifting at the LCA harmful?

as long as I've been working on vehicles, guess I should know this but...when working on my previous vehicles, I've often just jacked a wheel under the LCA when doing a tire or brake, and after lots of miles, done no damage that I could ever see. instructions/videos always show lifting at the frame points though. before I go do my 4Runner brakes, just thought I'd see what the collective wisdom has to say.....any reason to NOT lift at the LCA?

 

LCA gets tight for both a jack and jackstand, is the main negative I can think of. It's also kind of slippery and sloped.

I like lifting the tires via the LCA (a lot less jacking), but it just depends if you can make it stable enough to do the work. Rotating tires, I might just use the factory jack and no jackstand (wheel is off and on quickly. For brakes I'd want something more stable.

 

^^^ This. Too tight for a jack in there.

 

You mean jack it up, then lower it onto stable jackstand(s), right?

Then yeah, you can lift with the LCA. I usually lift as near to the pivot point as possible, and put a scrap of plywood or 2x4 between the jack and LCA. I also have a low profile 3 ton jack from HF (and Craftsman jackstands) because my wife's old car (Honda Fit) was very low to the ground and needed to be lifted for oil changes.

 

No harm whatsoever. Think about the scenarios during a normal drive down the road. LCA's are made to withstand uneven driveways, potholes and the occasional road gator. Having a floor jack underneath them does no damage.

 

Right ↑ pretty sure I've heard in videos they're built to withstand constant weight of vehicle so it's all good to the gravy baby

 

Just rotated my tires today, incidentally, and there's no way I'd jack using the LCA itself (way too smooth and sloped). I tried the LCA mounts on one side, then just the frame rail on the other side, and the frame rail was easier and seemed safer. Unsurprisingly, that's what the picture on the jack says to do, too.

 

I'm with you. I could see jacking from the LCA just to get the vehicle on a stand at the frame or something or otherwise for something that involves leaving the tire on and not getting under the vehicle. Most vehicles the LCA is better to jack from and won't slip but the 4runner is too smooth for comfort.

 

It's doable with stock suspension as the LCA is more or less level. If you have a 2-3" lift, the LCA is too sloped to jack safely - the jack is likely to slip off.

You can jack from the transmission crossmember if you stick a piece of wood between the crossmember and the jack head to spread the load.

 

I often find it easier to lift the entire front end using the center jack point listed in the manual, which is the round circle on the front skidplate. The skidplate has a pad built into it that spreads the load across the front engine/suspension crossmember. If your skidplate is not sound due to rust or damage, I would remove it, and use a block of wood on the same spot to protect the crossmember. Once it’s up, then I place jack stands on the frame rails right in front of the transfercase/transmission crossmember. These lift/stand points are explained in the manual.

Personally, I would not use the transmission/transfer case crossmember as a lift point or for stands. It’s a bolt on crossmember, and it’s in the middle of the vehicle, so you would be trying to lift almost the entire weight of the vehicle on it. I’m not sure the crossmember itself or the 4 bolts would be able to take it.