Raising Car to Replace Brake Pads

Video Transcript

"MARK BLOCKER: Okay. In this segment, we're going to cover jacking the vehicle. There are basically two different types of jacks that are most commonly used in the automotive industry. One is the scissors-type jack and that's jack that's most commonly found on most vehicles today for the emergency jack for using--for lifting the vehicle, for changing a tire. As you can see by their size and weight, they're designed to be compact for emergency use, to change tire if necessary but they can be used to lift the vehicle up and we can set it on blocks or something stable to work on it with. So, I'll go through this method of using this jack and in the second method, we'll cover with a floor jack and go over the benefits of that and an industrial-style floor jack and the different applications for it. So, in this segment, we'll cover jacking the vehicle with your emergency or spare tire jack that comes with the vehicle. Okay. If you're unfamiliar with your car or haven't jacked it up before, the jacking procedure can be found in the owner's manual and that's usually found in your dual box and you can go in there in reference and it'll show you exactly where to place the jack and how to use it correctly to raise your vehicle. The only exception we have is we're going to use the jack to raise your vehicle and then we're going to put blocks underneath it and lower it back down and set it on the blocks or a jack stand and that's going to provide as a stable platform to work on the vehicle with. When you're changing tires, just remove the tire, put the tire back on, the jack is capable of holding the vehicle but it doesn't give a real stable, sturdy environment that allows us to work under the vehicle. So, if you're unfamiliar, just check your owner's manual and that will give the information on the jacking points. On this particular vehicle, the scissors jack is made to fit into a notch in the front and it's just behind the wheel right there and you'll find a large metal seam that runs down and that seam will run vertical and it places right in that notch there and you're just going to crank it upward in position and it will fit into that notch to raise the vehicle. Now, before we jack, we want to make sure that we have the vehicle in park and the emergency brake is set which we've done in earlier segments. Okay. In jacking the vehicle, to make the jack raise, you simply crank the nut in the right position. You can use your star wrench or the wrench that came with the vehicle. But as you'll see, you can only get so much movement and then you have to remove it and turn it until the jack starts to go up. As the jack is going up, the scissors collapse and that'll raise the height of this position up to where you'll have clearance later. But to make it easier, if you've got a ratchet from your tool set, a three-quarter-inch socket and a ratchet will make it much easier and quicker to raise the vehicle. And just slowly, while you watch, make sure that your jack goes into the nut. There we go. I'm cranking it clockwise, as you see, it's connected and it's starting to raise the vehicle. As you're jacking up, just watch over everything. Make sure that everything is going smooth. And we want to continue to raise the vehicle with this jack just about as high as the jack will get it. The higher we can get, the more working clearance we're going to have down here once the wheel's removed to get access to the brakes. Please watch our next segment on the part two of jacking the vehicle."