[pjrocco]

Hoping for a little help. 2011 Escape XLT 3.0 2wd

Front brakes are shot. Dealer wants $375, but I got parts for $150. I've done brakes on my older vehicles, so I figured this one can't be much different.

I went to jack up the Ford this weekend and followed the owner's manual. Once I started putting pressure at the recommended location, the bracket started to bend. This is the bracket the lower control arm is mounted to. Luckily the bent bracket didn't affect the drivability.

I then moved to the frame after watching a video on where to jack. Odd thing, as soon as I started putting pressure on the frame it bent the frame! I couldn't believe it. I've jacked up tons of cars with my jack on the frame and it never bent/caved in. I immediately let the Ford down, but now I'm not sure what to do. Did Ford really make the frame of this vehicle this soft? I'm using a Craftsman ½ ton jack with matching stands. No issues like this on my 2008 Lincoln Town car and my son's 2005 Chevy Trailblazer.

Any suggestions?

 

[Squirrel]

Hoping for a little help. 2011 Escape XLT 3.0 2wd

Front brakes are shot. Dealer wants $375, but I got parts for $150. I've done brakes on my older vehicles, so I figured this one can't be much different.

I went to jack up the Ford this weekend and followed the owner's manual. Once I started putting pressure at the recommended location, the bracket started to bend. This is the bracket the lower control arm is mounted to. Luckily the bent bracket didn't affect the drivability.

I then moved to the frame after watching a video on where to jack. Odd thing, as soon as I started putting pressure on the frame it bent the frame! I couldn't believe it. I've jacked up tons of cars with my jack on the frame and it never bent/caved in. I immediately let the Ford down, but now I'm not sure what to do. Did Ford really make the frame of this vehicle this soft? I'm using a Craftsman ½ ton jack with matching stands. No issues like this on my 2008 Lincoln Town car and my son's 2005 Chevy Trailblazer.

Any suggestions?

Best thing to do is to equal out the force of the lift and that is done by placing a 12"x12"x3/4 piece of plywood on top of the jack head and then place under where the lower control arm attaches to the frame. This is what I have done for 35+ years and never an issue. Hope this helps. :thumb:

 

[Drjames]

What about lifting points with a Hi-lift or trail jack? Pretty much nothing eh?

 

[Bryango]

Dont go near the control arms that cost me haha just use the frame works great

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[thesavo]

I have a pair of hockey pucks that I glued together for my jack head. I have seen many posts on other boards about using them. They are $1 used at play it again sports. I lift at the front control arm/subframe bolt, and the rear control arm emergency jack point.

I use another hockey puck on top of the jack stand. There's a broad spot forward of the pinch weld in front. There is another just rearward of the pinch weld in the back. You just have to keep them centered.

Here's the front passenger side.

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[TrashCanBro]

Not sure if this was already covered or not, maybe I missed it, but it's jack related. Anyone can give me some advice if they've ever raised the engine/trans to change mounts? 2and gen v6 awd.

 

[-Big- Red]

I changed my mounts last springs. I used a 2x6 to disperse the weight. I'm 78% sure I jacked the car up but I might have not bother with it. I would highly suggest jacking it up off the front tires to avoid having to apply more pressure with the Jack due to the suspension.

Go easy and slow and you shouldn't have any issues.

Watch a youTube video on it or two. It gave me a better idea on how much pressure to use and how to beat disperse the weight.

 

[68Kustom]

Watch a youTube video on it or two. It gave me a better idea on how much pressure to use and how to beat disperse the weight.

There aren't many YouTube videos that show where to put a floor jack and stands under the rear of a 2009 Escape.

 

[Mountain Escape]

My 2009 has a frame rail. utilizing a 18" 6x6 block on my 3 ton jack, I pick up the entire side like a race car right underneath the B pillar, for rotations I don't use jackstands. (almost directly between the front and rear doors-I can still open the front door-you have to lay on your back to position it correctly the first time, and not crunch the plastics)
(Do not use a 4x4 piece of wood in lifting a car!!)

The 2020 is a little more tricky with no visible frame rail, and all the soundproofing. I pick up either end on each side with the inner control arm mount (Takes forever as the ground clearance is nil in the front), the jackstands going into the jack lifting locations specified in the o manual.

vehicle lifting 101:
Set your emergency brake!
block the opposite side leading tire first.
break lugnuts free if doing tire work, before lifting off the ground.

...also none of you have stated why you were trying to position jackstands, but I would strongly recommend using ramps as a safer alternative.

 

[hurk]

Hockey pucks? I would not use 2 hockey pucks on a jack. I'm not even sure I'd use 1. I saw a video of a guy attempting to lift a car w 2 pucks and the car slipped off the jack, causing extensive damage.

Prothane makes polyurethane jack pads that have a recess, so they stay in place on the jack head. For the jack stands, I use 2x6x6 wood blocks with the grain oriented so that the jack stands won't split the wood. ie, with the grain perpendicular to the jack heads. If you've ever split wood, particularly w a wedge, you'll know what I'm talking about. My jack stand heads have a V-shape that will most likely cause crease damage to the underbody/unibody lifting areas, hence the blocking.

Additionally, for jacking the vehicle: each front jacking point has a bolt head that protrudes down about 6mm from the support bracket, so I made a 2x6x6 wood block w a 25mm OD x 6mm deep hole drilled into it so that the wood block would stay centered on the jacking point >> the wood block is captured at the jacking point and the urethane pad is captured at the jack head, so the likelihood of anything slipping off is very low. My car is a 2002 Escape 2.0L.