Flat tire. No spare.

[R1SFamilyGuy]

Never changed a tire myself so sorry for the n00b question…
What’s a jack puck vs a floor jack? I thought all cars were the same and some jacks were more powerful than others

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[usulio]

Never changed a tire myself so sorry for the n00b question…
What’s a jack puck vs a floor jack? I thought all cars were the same and some jacks were more powerful than others

I can take this one. The jack puck is a little hockey puck that sits on top of the jack and kind of plugs into the vehicle. Rivian recommends using them in specific spots when jacking the truck. Most vehicles don't have this but I think Teslas do as well.

You can buy 3rd party jack pucks if you want to have them yourself, or check that the tire place you go to has them (Discount Tire supposedly does).

This is a jack puck:

 

[R1SFamilyGuy]

I can take this one.

appreciate it!

This is a jack puck:

I recognize the circular gap in the plastic panel from when I installed my running boards. Makes sense. Thanks!

so, all jacks are the same, more or less; jack pucks are vehicle dependent. Right?

 

[usulio]

so, all jacks are the same, more or less; jack pucks are vehicle dependent. Right?

Uh, like everything else I guess "it's complicated". Jack pucks are definitely vehicle dependent, if the vehicle even uses jack pucks in the first place. I only heard of Tesla and Rivian using jack pucks.

Each vehicle will usually have multiple possible places you can jack up from. Rivian recommends the jack puck option but says you could remove the plastic along the sides and jack from the frame rails. I think people have maybe used the control arms inside the wheels too. (not advice)

You are right that jacks themselves are not vehicle specific (like you don't buy a Rivian jack or a Tesla jack). But there are lots of types of jacks and not all jacks will work for all vehicles. There would be a lot for you to research there if you're curious.

 

[Captain JB]

So then the pucks do NOT come with our jack and tire change equipment??? thx much

 

[jeeden]

So then the pucks do NOT come with our jack and tire change equipment??? thx much

You have a jack that is capable of jacking one wheel on the Rivian to change a tire with the spare tire kit. They do not offer you a setup for jack pucks to raise the entire vehicle off the ground into a rotation nor multitire change.

A lot of shops are going to drive on lifts that have swing out arms with different ends on them since so many cars have specific jacking requirements. A lot of shops will jack it up off the suspension (the lower control arm) is not something you want to do with a bottle jack or a scissor jack since the suspension moves and it can slip out. It's fine on a drive on lifts though

The whole thing really comes down to shops that know what they're doing and ones that do not. If you see a bunch of Porsches or other unibody vehicles with special Jack points going into a place and it gets good reviews they probably know what they're doing. If you go to jiffy lube or the bunch of airgun jockeys they're just going to lift the thing off of anything that looks sort of flat and plastic You're going to run into a problem.

 

[Captain JB]

Thanks so much! I appreciate your time. JB

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