Or it could be they don't want to pay for warranty work onleaky axle housings. With the jack in the center and the weight of the vehicle at the ends of the housing, it makes excellent leverage moving in a direction it is not supposed to.

 

I agree with Jeeps&Fords. I have worked on thousands of vehicles (including being a ASE Certified Ford Technician), and always use the center of the housing to lift vehicles when I use a floor jack and have never once had any problems with it. The only reason why Ford puts that in the manuel is for, like Jeeps&Fords said, to cover their a**. They don't recommend someone with limited or no mechanical experience to ever lift more than one wheel off the groud at a time. Many people who do not know what they are doing end up hurting themselves and Ford doesn't want to have any law suits over something like this. It will not, in any way, hurt your vehicle.

 

and best spot in the front to lift both wheels at the same time?

 

The front is a little bit different, it is best to jack up each side individually. Just because in most cases there isn't a real good central position to lift the front. I recommend doing each side under a good solid part under the suspension but leave enough room to put a jack stand.

When lifting the back centrally make sure you use wheel chocks behide the front wheels. This way it won't roll backwards. The rear wheels are what keeps the vehicle from moving when in park.

 

Actually, use wheel chocks on both sides of the front wheels. In most cases the vehicle wants to roll backwards, but I have witnessed people putting chocks behide the front wheels and the vehicle ends up rolling forward. It depends on how and if the surface the vehicle is on slopes. You can never be to save.

 

Yeah I was planning on blocking off both sides of front wheels to play it safe. Thanks for your help.

 

If you look closely at the rear differential you will notice that the cover hangs low enough to actually be pushed up if you use the pumpkin as a jacking point and the jack is resting on it. I always use a piece of wood under the pumpkin so the cover crushes the wood.

JMC