Honda Ridgeline Jack Points: Where to Safely Lift a Unibody Truck

Sooner or later every Ridgeline owner who turns their own wrenches has to get the truck off the ground — to rotate the tires, swap a flat, check the brakes, or drop the spare. And this is exactly where a unibody truck bites people who treat it like a body-on-frame pickup. There’s no ladder frame to grab. Put the jack in the wrong spot and you fold a pinch weld, dent the floor pan, or worse. This is the reference we point people to before they slide a jack under the truck. When you’re done here, cross-check your exact model in the generations & fitment reference.

Why the Ridgeline is different

The Honda Ridgeline is a unibody truck. It shares its bones with the Pilot and Odyssey, not with a body-on-frame half-ton. That’s a big part of why it rides so well — but it also means the structure that carries the truck’s weight is the body itself, not a pair of steel frame rails you can jack under almost anywhere.

On a traditional pickup you can put a jack under the frame, the axle, or a leaf-spring perch and be fine. On the Ridgeline, most of what you see under there is stamped sheet metal, a subframe, and suspension components — none of which are lift points. Get this wrong and you don’t just scratch something; you can crease a rocker, bend a floor pan, or let the truck shift on the jack. The fix is simple: lift only at the reinforced points the engineers built for it.

Where the factory jack points are

The Ridgeline’s jack points are the reinforced pinch-weld seams that run along the bottom edge of the body, just inboard of each rocker panel:

• One behind each front wheel
• One ahead of each rear wheel

Look closely and you’ll usually find them marked — a small notch, an arrow in the plastic cladding, or an obviously reinforced section of the seam. The factory scissor jack that came with the truck has a slotted head that’s shaped to capture that seam so the jack can’t walk off it. That slot is your clue to what a proper lift point looks like.

Your owner’s manual is the final word. Jack-point locations and markings vary by generation and model year. Treat the description here as how to find them, then verify the exact spots for your truck in the manual before you lift. The manual also shows where the factory jack and tools are stored.

The tools, and where the factory kit lives

Every Ridgeline left the factory with a scissor jack, a lug wrench, and a small tool bag — typically tucked under the rear seat or in a storage well, depending on the generation. That kit is designed for a roadside tire change at the pinch-weld points, and it works. But for driveway work — brakes, rotations, anything that keeps the truck up for a while — a proper floor jack and a pair of jack stands are safer, faster, and far less miserable to use.

If your used truck came without its factory jack and tools, that kit is one of the easiest OEM pieces to replace secondhand — use the buttons above to pull live listings.

How to lift it safely, step by step

1. Park on level, solid ground. Concrete, not gravel or a slope. Set the parking brake and put the transmission in Park.
2. Chock the wheels that will stay on the ground — front and back of a tire on the opposite corner. If you’re lifting the front, chock the rears, and vice versa.
3. Find the correct pinch-weld point for the corner you’re lifting (see above). Clear away any road grime so the jack seats cleanly.
4. Use a pinch-weld pad. A flat floor-jack saddle can fold the seam. A slotted pinch-weld jack pad captures it and spreads the load — cheap insurance for the body.
5. Lift slowly and watch the truck, not just the jack. It should rise straight up. If anything looks like it’s flexing or the jack is leaning, stop and reset.
6. Set a jack stand under a rated support point as soon as you have clearance, then lower the truck onto the stand and leave the jack in place as a backup.
7. Never go under a truck held only by a jack. A jack lifts; a stand holds. This is the rule that has no exceptions.

The one rule that matters most

A floor jack — or the factory scissor jack — is a lifting tool, not a holding tool. Hydraulic seals fail, seams slip, cheap jacks creep down. The moment any part of you goes under the truck, its weight belongs on rated jack stands, with the jack left snug as a secondary support. Buy stands rated well above the corner weight you’re lifting, set them on a solid point, and give the truck a firm shake before you trust it.

After the wheel is off

While you’re under there for a wheel-off job, it’s the perfect time to knock out the related maintenance:

• Brakes. With the wheel off, you’ve got a clean look at the pads and rotors. If they’re due, see the brake upgrades guide and brake pad types explained, then browse brakes.
• Tire rotation and fitment. Rotating in a star pattern evens out wear. If you’re changing wheel or tire sizes, read the wheel & tire fitment guide first and browse wheels & tires.
• Torque to spec. Snug the lug nuts by hand, lower until the tire just touches, then torque in a crisscross pattern to the factory spec in your manual (commonly around 80 lb-ft on the Ridgeline — verify your year). Re-check after the first 50 miles.
• Routine service. Up on stands is also when the oil, filters, and underbody checks get done — the maintenance schedule & parts checklist has the full list.

How to buy the tools

• New floor jacks, jack stands, and pinch-weld pads: Amazon Automotive carries the full range of driveway jacking gear — buy stands rated well above your truck’s corner weight.
• The OEM Ridgeline jack, lug wrench, and tool kit: eBay Motors, via the search buttons above — if your used truck lost its factory kit, this is the cheapest way to make it whole again, and a slotted OEM scissor jack is purpose-built for the pinch-weld points.

Lift a Ridgeline like the unibody it is — only at the reinforced pinch-weld jack points, always onto rated stands — and every brake job, rotation, and roadside flat becomes a routine, safe job instead of a bent rocker and an expensive lesson.