I went to rotate my tires today, and needless to say, even with 2, 4 ton floor jacks, when I jacked up the front of the truck I thought the steel jack handle was going to break. Ive never had to use so much force to jack up anything, but then again Ive never jacked up an 8500 lb. Super Duty! These babies are scary. I had 4 ton jack stands too, but I really didnt feel comfortable putting the jacks where I had them. When the place I took it too put on my new tires they put the jacks under both the front and rear differential and I went ballistic. Ford says DONT use those. Ive jacked up cars like that, but these trucks are heavy. Where should I place the floor jack head under the front end to raise it so I can place my jack stands? I dont want to use the front axle, and the best place to put a floor jack so I can get jack stands under her looks to be the radius arms which the shock absorbers mount to and then they reach back and mount to the frame about 4 feet from where they mount on the frame close to the front axle. Does that sound like a safe way to go or do I need to take it to Ford. Im not working for a couple months and funds are tight, but Im sure not going to take it back so they can jack it up under my axles. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

I usually place the floor jack on the bottom of the shock absorber mounting bracket and then use the jack stands on the axles.

I don't know if this can be bad but it looks fine to me.

You are right about how heavy these trucks are, I have to stand on my floor jack to get the truck to raise up too. I only weigh 170lbs.

If I remember correctly, the manual says to use the supplied jack on the axles when changing a tire.

 

If it is just one tire at a time I do as ruschejj does. If it is both, I use the differential

 

I have a 2 post lift in my garage and I put the front lift arms on the radius arms and the rear lift arms on the frame.

 

Thanks guys, and 69jc, for the advice. The radius arms are what I was trying to use, and wanted to make sure using them would be ok. I cant use the factory jack because Im rotating the tires. So Ill jack up the rear, put that axle on jackstands, then use my 2 4 ton jacks under the radius arms. I weigh 165 and its all I can do to push down the handle. Makes you wonder about how strong the hydraulic seals in those jacks are. Thanks for all the advice.

 

I put a couple of pieces of 4" X 4" X 1/2" plywood on top of the lift arms to protect the rubber pads and the bottom edge of the radius arms.

 

Don't know where Ford says not to use the axles or diff but I did my 01 many many times that way with no problems. Use the rear dif to get her up and put a jack stand on each side under the axel housing. On the front put 1 jack under the diff and one under the passenger side axle and take her up a couple inches at a time on each jack. Most of the weight ends up on the diff in the front and the other jack is mostly keeping the front level. The problem I have now is the 08 is a 2 wheel drive and I really can't find a good place in the front.

 

In the Service Manual and in the supplied Owners Manual it states to not use the differentials for jacking points with a big X and the word NO. Mine's a 4x4, dont know about 4x2, but wouldnt think there would be much difference. Anyways, thanks for the info. And thanks 69 for the tip. Ill try the wood also.

 

Does a 2WD SD have independent front suspension? Just curious.

 

Don't know about axle housing strength but I have seen the 3rd member covers damaged from lifting them there which resulted in leaks.

 

 

Thanks Tom!!!!!! I appreciate your having my back!! I dont have a scanner so I couldnt copy that.

 

You guys sent me to the books. I've been raising cars and trucks by the pumpkins since 1957 so I was suprised to see that big X. I don't have the manual from my last diesel but I'm pretty sure it wasn't in there. So I went to the 08 owners manual. Interesting, it's there but it's under a part of the manual that says it applies to SRW only. Mines a dooley which I guess explains why I didn't read it. So now I wonder if that was intentional on Ford's part. The dooley is a lot heavier in the back but not the front. The differentials may be bigger on the dooley and that might account for it. My bet would be that Ford just screwed up the owners manual. Now the question is did they screw up when they put it in the section for SRW only or when they put it in there at all. I'm going with the latter.

 

Good point, you sent me back to the book as well. True enough, it's not in the DRW section.

However, remember the part that applies to the front differential? You have the exact same Dana 60 front axle that we SRW guys have. How would it apply to a Dana 60 on a SRW but not a SRW?

It simply wouldn't. My best guess is that they screwed up and didn't put it in both sections of the manual. Notice how it doesn't say anything about SRW or DRW on the illustration...

It's your truck, do with it what you want. God help the poor guy who attempts to jack mine by the pumpkin when rotating tires.... and maybe

And ssharbor(and StanleyZ), it's good to see people actually read the manual; it's frighteningly obvious that the majority of new vehicle owners never take the time to read the manual....

 

Stanley, no offense friend. Ive just seen too many things happen to rear ends when a heavy vehicle is lifted in the middle and only the middle, when its not designed to be lifted that way. Ive seen axles start leaking, Ive seen alignment problems, wheel bearing troubles, and so on. Ive been around diesels all my life, but this is my first diesel Ive taken care of that was bought with my hard earned money and if they advised me not to do something, Im gonna follow it, because if something were to happen Ford would point out that page and say "We told you so". So no offense. Its just that Crazy and I watch out for each other due to a flaming encounter we were both involved in and we showed him to the door. So many people will read a post and not understand everything youre saying, like someone said if im changing only one tire use the supplied jack, when clearly in my first post I stated I was rotating my tires. Its just something we do to keep the forums nice is all. I do know the F-450 has a beefier Dana rear end, AND it's shorter, so youre probably ok.( Hey Tom, you GOTTA show me how to use those little icons!! They're cool. )