Jacking on the pumpkin

[Todd in KS]

I have not had my car for very long (99GT vert). I have not had to jack it up yet, I changed the oil on ramps. I saw in the owners manual that "you risk damage" if you jack up the rear on the pumpkin. I would guess the 8.8 can handle the weight? It also says not to jack on the control arms, I get that on the stamped arms if you go in the middle it might be an issue but on the end where the bolt goes through? Seems unlikely.
Any guidance?

 

[ttocs]

I asked the same question a while back and was told do it don't worry about it. While the rear end is strong, but it is just not designed to hold the rear of the car up from a single point in the middle IMO and I avoid it. Control arms don't seem like much better of an idea to me but I have subframe connectors so it is easier.

 

[Snorky]

I have jacked up the rear of my mustang a lot from the differential. The housing is a robust piece of iron. Just make sure to chuck the front wheels and that the jack head is square underneath the lip behind the cover.and always set it down on jackstands. Either on the pinch weld jacking point area or under the axle tubes themselves.

 

[Fawls]

Make sure you don't lift on the rear cover, this may cause a leak, ask me how I know.

 

[Terrorist 5.0]

Pumpkin is completely fine, try not to jack on the edge of the cover though. Could bend it and cause a small leak.

 

[shovel]

Don't jack on the edge of the cover and don't jack on the damper. Just put a chunk of 2x4 lumber on your floor jack and put it under the center of the differential housing, forward of the rear lip and rearward of the damper weight.

The rubber bushings in the damper weight are bonded and if you break the bond it will not be able to do its job.

 

[Todd in KS]

Thanks for the answers guys. When trying to get the whole rear off the ground I have always lifted on the diff no matter what vehicle it was. Those big cast iron pieces are quite strong. And yes, I always put stands under there as soon as it is high enough. It takes a lot more lift to to hang the suspension.
It just kind of surprised me that it was specifically mentioned. Every other manual I have seen says where to jack it up by with a general caveat "anywhere else can cause damage" but nothing as specific.
Side note - I just had to retire the first floor jack I bought back when cars still had crank windows. It finally bent an axle on a concrete groove trying to lift my wife's Tahoe. The ol' gal lifted many many vehicles over the years.

 

[PWNY]

I do that all the time. Diff is still good. I was totally unaware that was a thing lol

 

[ttocs]

any manf info you read will advise against it. Realistically as I said that part is not meant to hold the back end up but yes, they are built strong and people do it. I am sure the manf is just covering their ass for when one does end up being to old/not made to standards/ect and does bend.

 

[GregT94SCC]

Been lifting mine from the pumpkin for 29 years with no ill effect. I have a low profile jack and put a hockey puck between the jack and the pumpkin to soften it a bit.
I put jack stands on the axle tubes too.

 

[RAU03MACH]

your diff was made in China scott

 

[ttocs]

no matter where it was made, if it should end up bent because of this you are stuck with it since it warns against it. I am not sure why it is needed so often as I have never had a problem using the sides but again maybe some don't have subframe connectors to make it as easy to do one side at a time. I have actually never needed to do it.

 

[Terrorist 5.0]

People have jacked up on the pumpkin on solid axles forever. A Mustang is no different than a truck in that aspect.

Send it.

 

[RAU03MACH]

from day 1 all my vehicles

 

[96blak54]

I just deleted a good paragraph joking about "jacking on pumpkins" but I figured proceeding wasnt a good look....

So are we discussing the use of a floor jack on the rearend differential?

 

[ttocs]

well I just hope that anyone that is smart enough to do this, or asks is smart enough to know that if/when they go to do the front of the car that the core support and oil pan are not strong enough to jack the car with and it WILL cause damage. If ya want to you can use the K member but be careful to set it up so it will not slip off and go though the oil pan.

 

[I_LIKE_TURTLEZ]

The reason everyone says not to is because Ford warned not to
Ford warned not to because some geek engineer who's never lifted a car in their life decided it "could throw the alignment out"
Your rear end is designed to have 1 degree of negative camber built into the axle housing


Yes, you can safely jack from differential pumpkin. Just triple check to make sure it's not going to slip off
People have been doing this for 100 years

Do not jack on control arms, it's excessively dangerous and you'll probably end up tearing the bushings

 

[Daryl]

I jack the pumpkin, lo-profile jack. Then when at height I place a stand at each side of the axle housing just inward of each tire. When Tyrone to lower it back down, I use the jack again, remove the stands and drop her back down. Never had a pumpkin problem in 45 years. Just place the jack as described by numerous others in this thread.