For the home garage.

Let me preface by saying I never had a full-size pickup before so please bear with me on what might be an obvious question to the already-experienced.

I found the 4 jack points identified in the manual. In the front they are basically part of the frame and marked with an arrow. Can I just jack almost anywhere near that (on the frame) and put a jackstand at the arrow?

For the rear, it's the axle between the shock mounts so that's where i'd want the jackstand so where do I lift? Can I use the differential? My Explorer specifically warned never to jack the differential so I want to do things right.

Sorry if this has been covered before but I did a search on "lifting" and got a whole different context! Likewise, searching on "jack."

 

Bump.

Any DIYers?

 

What year is your truck? What kind of work will you be doing? Ramps might be an option if not removing the wheels.

 

never lift at the differential? oh boy, id like clarification on that because any rear wheel drive vehicle ive ever owned always got lifted by the pumpkin.

 

Same here. And there is a difference between jack and support points

 

Jack points are where you get the most lift least work for the factory jack. Support points are where you get the safest hold while working

 

I'm interested in this info as well. My last F150's had the twin beam front end setup.I've always lifted my Ranger by lower control arms with no problems but the manual for this 2015 F150 says not to lift by control arms. Not sure if that only applies to the little scissors jack include with the truck.

 

Next time your at the dealership wonder to where you can see the shop, look at how the lift the trucks and cars, Hyd. lift 4 point ( one behind each front, one in front of each rear wheel) frame lift suspension fully extended or a drive on ramp lift all four wheel suspension in normal position.

 

I have also seen them use a floor jack and lift be the bottom of the shock tower (front and rear) to lift one corner

 

Well I no longer have my Explorer, and never had the service manual in PDF. But I searched on line and found this page for a 2002:

http://www.manualslib.com/manual/53000/Ford-2002-Explorer.html?page=243#manual

On that page it says "Never use the front or rear differential as a jacking point."
It doesn't say why. I'd like to know too.

BTW, mine is a 2015 and, for now I want to be able to rotate the tires.