Are there safe jacking points on the 2003 Escape so I can get both front or rear wheels off the ground at the same time with a floor jack? I suspect not, but I thought I'd ask.

Also, where are safe places to put jackstands? More often than not, factory manuals tell you to put the jackstands in the same place you're putting the jack, which is obviously useless.

 

I do it all the time on our 07.

There's a unibody channel that I put the floor jack under, just a bit forward of the front door handle. That works for me. Mine's a 4X4 so, if yours is a FWD, the balance point will be a bit different.

 

With my big floor jack I put the cup right between the rear wheels under the housing for where the rear end would go. It'll evenly lift both sides. Then stands can be put where the manual says.

 

Yeah, some floor jacks could probably lift the whole vehicle but your point of lift isn't the listed support point.

Sometimes a real PITA but just use the listed support point for a jack stand and place my jack also as close as I can to that same point.

Mine is a 4WD and IIRC, support point doesn't differ from a FWD.

 

True, but been using it for 12 years and 295k miles. I can't see it failing to use it long enough to put stands underneath when I use it and leave it while rotating tires.
I'm also not using the factory jack (that has never been out of the vehicle) which I am sure fits into some groove at the factory lift point.

 

I'm retired with only 13K on my 2009 and new used the factory jack either. I rotated once but get my oil changes at the dealer every six months where they started throwing in a rotation every time so I wasted my time. They even check wheel alignment with a portable unit on every vehicle in for service in the write up bay.

I could maybe see their point on a FWD not lifting at the center of the rear end but not on a 4WD.

 

Mine is a 4WD. Can I lift the rear end with the jack under the diff?

I don't like lifting one side at a time. I used to do that (before I discovered that it was safe to jack my Jeep on the rear diff), and after I'd set the first stand and was jacking the other side, I'd sometimes see the first stand start to lean. Scary. I much prefer to set both stands at the same time.

 

By the book, no!

I had my 1978 Corvette on jack stands, wheels off installing calipers and was trying to bleed the master cylinder. It wasn't level so I was either going up or back down. On the right front side, coming down on the stand when I lowered it kind of quickly, the frame touched the stand, floated up about 2" before coming back down. In between I almost soiled my shorts!!

Jacking must have lifted it right off the stand on the left rear corner for whatever reason.

 

I've been a DIY wrencher long enough to know that what the book says, and what you can safely do, can be two different things

The book for the Jeep ZJ says that you should only jack at specific points on the frame rails. In fact, you can safely jack under the front or rear diffs to get both wheels off the ground at the same time. So much better than lifting one side at a time.

 

Normally, rear weight is supported by two wheels. You lift at the center, all the weight is at that point. To me, a 4WD center section diff with axle tubes sure looks stronger than rear end of a FWD. I've done it before on two Rangers I've owned in the past. I don't know who builds the Escape rear ends, I assume they are Dan. I worked at the Ford Plant that build Ranger rear ends and those axle tubes are beefy!! The fronts on the Ranger 4x4 were Dana.

 

No rear axle tubes on the Escape 4WD. It's fully independent suspension.

 

Yep, you are correct. I must be still thinking about the Ranger. In that case I place a question mark about lifting at/on the center diff housing.