Mas35NYR

Where's Taco Bill and his "How-To" guide when ya need him?

Pics please for clarification: Block placement on dif? Jack Stand placement front and rear? Anything else you care to photograph...

Dixie_Flatline

Pardon the preschool drawings (not to mention the rust and dirt!), but you should get the idea. Two pieces of wood. One is not transparent wood, but I made it transparent in this drawing to make it easily udnerstood.

Depending on the jack's lift plate, you could just use the brown piece of wood and make sure the lift plate covers the piece of wood as well as the differential body next to it.

My current jack has a really big lift plate and I don't think I'd need this, but my last jack was a tiny Torin and the lift plate slipped without the wood block. It was my first time using a jack, and I learned fast.





Picture without pieces of wood to make it much easier to understand:

Dixie_Flatline

And the normal rear jackpoints, right in front of the axle, just like it says in the manual. That's the gas tank there, supported by the tank straps.

Yes the pictures are upside down. Put a block of wood across the flat section as illustrated, you don't have to, but as you can see in the second picture, if you don't you'll get rust where the numbskull (me) let the nonpadded jackstand support the weight of the rear of the car.

UMich97

Thanks Dixie_Flatline, definitely helpful. I'm a little hesitant to jack it up from the rear diff, just seems like if you're not perfectly centered, it could create quite the mess. What I might do, is the front end one side at a time and then use two floor jacks for the rear, one on each side, this way it's easily balanced and I can just put the jack stands onto the axle once I get it up.

Dixie_Flatline

Yeah, I mean, if you can put stands under the axlehousings, you're good as gold. But if you're doing anything on the suspension components, you need that thing free ... and you can't jack from the axlehousings.

The differential's not a bad spot to jack from at all, just gotta think things through the first time and be vigilant of all the moving parts.

But if all you're doing is popping the wheels off, you'll be fine. Good luck to you! And make sure to post pics of the calipers when you're done!

MadGT

With the paint brush....

Shotokan1509

Ya know, it would be nice if a company made cups that fit common axles for this exact purpose, sure you can get boards and make it work but there is always that slight hesitation that the boards will shift. Of course it would have to be on the cheaper side or everyone would just stay with the boards.

825LTRGT

Just be real careful. I looked under mine yesterday and noticed the the sheet metal behind the LCA mounting point (the area with the holes) is not strong enough to support weight. The metal on mine moves.

Cavero

Lift the front by the frame just behind the front wheels and put the jackstands at the jacking points they show you in the owners manual (on the pinch weld where it's doubled up just behind the front wheels). For the rear, I use the lower control arm mounts on the underside of the body (use a block of wood if you wish, but I don't) and then use the pinch weld again for the stands. The LCA mounts may get a little flattened but it doesn't do any harm.

I've lifted by the diff before and lets just say...IT DID NOT END WELL. It's very easy for the jack to slip off. My advice is don't do it. There are plenty of other good points to lift from.

Stoenr

How not to do it, lol. Typically I would not have done it this way, but I have limited equipment at home. Most work is done at the shop on lifts, but with the time required for the caliper painting, I had to do it at home.

It stayed like up overnight, thank god, lol

Cusp

Yeah, those things work the best. Drive it over the floor lift. Position the pads under the hard points and push the lever over to the UP side. Is two feet enough? How about 7 feet. LoL. The only catch is, not many home garages are so well equipped. I use a floor jack and 4 jack stands to get the whole car up.

UMich97

Well, I'll be painting the calipers this weekend, so hopefully all goes well.

John, I don't think I'm as much of a risk taker as you are....that's crazy! Glad everything turned out well.

UMich97

OK, so I kind of cheated a bit this weekend, but it worked out. I just did one axle at a time, but did two Mustangs. So, I got the front end up on one and the rear on the other....painted those calipers. Then switched and did the opposite end of each vehicle. The rear of the vehicles I lifted by the jack points, and then put the jack stands under the axle. Here's a picture with the '99.

The front I lifted by the jack points and then put the jack stands under the frame rails. Here's a picture of the '08.


It was a long day, but I think both vehicles turned out pretty good.

S197...



SN95...



Sorry the pics aren't the best, but I just tried to quick take a few yesterday and it's been raining all day today.

NastyStang113

This is the best way in my opinion short of a lift for jacking up your car, especially if you're lowered. Ramps (Walmart sells Rhino Ramps) with piece of wood 6x1, 8x1, etc to smooth out the incline. Than, I jack the rear up by the differential and place jack stands on the axle (under the spring perches). Than I'll use a jack with a piece of wood to jack from the center of the OEM K-Member and place jack stands on the outside edges of the center of the K Member.

How in the world did the jack slip off? Sorry but I don't see it happening unless you were doing something wrong.

Cavero

Simple. As the head of the jack moved up, it also moved back like any floor jack. for whatever reason, maybe the asphalt was too soft that day, maybe the caster wheels weren't aligned right, maybe the parking lot wasn't totally level, the jack itself didn't roll to allow the head to stay in place and so it pulled itself off the pumpkin. Down goes the car and bend goes the swaybar, panhard rod, and panhard rod support. I made sure it was centered, I was smart enough not to be under the car, but there was just nothing for the head of the jack to really hold onto. In an ideal world it would have worked, but there wasn't much tolerance for error. I can tell you, $700 in repairs ain't worth it.

Dixie_Flatline

Mine did the same thing and I had a block of wood between the pumpkin and the jackplate as well, luckily I had stands under the axle tubes and it didn't end badly, just scared the living cripes out of me, especially since it was the very first time I ever tried putting the car up in the air. The block of wood actually dragged right off the pumpkin.

Lesson learned that day was to put the jack on the front side of the diff plate (just behind the pinion), with a block of wood, of course. Much sturdier and there is much more surface area: nothing moves, save for the jack wheels.

EDIT: jackstands on the axle tubes wasn't an endpoint option for this since I was swapping LCAs, I just didn't trust the jack and had stands under the axle tubes for insurance... lucky me. Sucks to have had to bite that bullet, Cavero. :-(

NastyStang113

And what kind of jack is this?

The axle can actually be loaded to install LCAs. Just have to do one side at a time.

Cavero

This is the same type of jack I was using


I was waiting to get the car high enough to put jack stands under the pinch welds, but if only I had thought to put them under the axle tubes, I could have saved myself some pain.

At the same time, I found out it's cheaper to replace suspension stuff with Steeda parts than stock Ford (hence my sig), and that's what got me to start upgrading my car with more than just a CAI and tune.

NastyStang113

I found the problem. LOL

TheIrishMan

I like the way you think.