Where's the best location to jack up my 93 e-150?

I was thinking about jacking up the frame and putting jack stands under the frame, one side at a time. But would one part of the frame be better than another?

Or should I do something else?

 

You normally want the jacks near the front or rear on the frame unless they will be in the way of what you're working on. I also jack mine up on the axles and put jacks near the ends. Depends on how high you need it too. If you're jacking up all 4 wheels I would use the frame.

 

My jack ended up being too short to jack it up from the frame, so I jacked it at the axle close to the wheel and put the jack stands under the frame.

The first time I tried it, the jack stand collapsed immediately when I released the jack. but I assumed I just somehow did it wrong. I tried it again and seemed fine though, although now I'm very wary of them.

 

What do you mean the stand collapsed? It fell over? When you have to jack up a side at a time you have to do it in increments sometimes from one side to the other raising the jack stand a little more each time. Otherwise the stand can tip over. That's what I have to do on the front since there's no point in the middle to jack it up depending on how high I need it.

When I pulled my transmission I needed 2ft clearance behind the front wheels. Had to buy bigger jack stands.

 

It didn't fall over, it just slid down as if it were released.

 

I assume it's a ratchet type stand, you probably didn't have it locked properly.

 

As far as I can tell, locked properly means resting securely on one of the notches, which seems inherently precarious to me. Unless I'm missing something?

That's what I concluded though.

 

Ha Ha Ya does seem precarious but pretty much no way they can slide down. I don't concern myself with the safety of the stand itself but rather how it's setup. It's kind of like a ladder, scaffold, etc. I won't use one without inspection first if someone put it up for me.

 

for jacking points, if your goal is to service something at a wheel position (tire changes, brakes, bearings, etc), you want to lift the axle. on the front i usually target the big bolt right under the coil spring. for the rear, i usually use the shock mount on the axle, because it sits a little lower. many lift from the diff itself, though some have mentioned that ford advised against that practice.

of course, if you're wanting the body up for whatever service, the frame is the way to go. any point along the frame should be strong enough, so choose your point according to concerns about balance, stability, and weight concerns.

for the jackstands, they're engineered to be safe, and even to fail in a safe way. a couple months ago i had a harbor freight 12 ton stand fail while working under a corolla. the ratchet mechanism wouldn't release due to a broken roll pin, but even while broken, it held the car up just fine.
but on other occasions, i've had those stands sink into the ground and fall over while working on a minivan.
and don't even get me started about small stands and their tipping hazards when used on anything less than perfect pavement