Jacking Pumpkin with Diff Skid

I'm switching out my shackles and was wondering if anyone with the RCI differential skid plate has used it as a jack point with a peice of wood or something?

I don't think there is much gap between the skid and the bottom of the diff housing and the design looks pretty sturdy. I'm mostly just being lazy about it but I did land the skid directly on a rock and it suspended my rear in the air and didn't deform but I was going downhill so most of the truck weight was pointing down.

 

Don't know unless you try, and not much of a skid if it can't handle being lifted slowly.

 

I tried it today and it worked. I also called rci and they said it was designed to take the weight.

 

Yup, I do it on mine all the time.

 

Do you put wood in between the jack and diff? Is it slippery at all if you actually wrench on the truck with the weight on it? Obviously I would use jack stands too lol

 

No wood. Not slippery. When I work on the leaf springs I put the frame on stands, take off the wheels, then use the floor jack on the skid to raise/lower as needed. Lining up the holes are easy.

 

Cool thanks, pretty much exactly the procedure I am going to do. I have one of those jack base rubber pad things for extra traction i will bust out.

 

Fwiw, you will likely need some wood blocks to gain more jackstand height since you have to go quite high. That and jack stands become more concerning at there max extended height. I usually slide the wheels/tires under the frame just in case. Maybe I have just seen or read too many ugly stories, IDK. Just be careful!

 

thanks, I have done it before, but this will be the first time with the diff skid. I keep the rear tires on for safety and laziness. Dont really need to take them off for the shackles. I just remove the lower rear shock bolt for freedom of movement. I typically will place the jackstands on my sliders since my jack stands have a half moon groove in the middle, it fits my round slider tubing perfectly and i feel its more secure than the flat part of the frame.

 

My rear wheels won’t lift off the ground. So I have to jack it up on the frame, install the stands, then lift from the pumpkin to remove my wheels.

 

I guess I must be different or just to tired right now, but I can't quite grasp how the tires on provides safety once the shackles are off. If it were to fall would it not possibly cause some problem? Just asking cuz I have seen some disasters occur a few times over the years and in most all cases they were preventable or at least that's my analysis.

 

Well you correct, but I guess I forgot to mention that I also run a jack on the hitch so i can fine adjust the height easier since you have to do a whole lot more vertical movement of the pumpkin to translate into leaf spring movement whereas you can do fine height adjustments easier by just lifting the frame from the hitch.

 

Yeah I get that, just seen some fall and it wasn't pretty when the fenders and tires collided. Probably added quite a bit to the costs of the jobs too. So for that reason I remove the wheels/tires. Regardless, be careful and safe! Good luck!

 

Appreciate looking out. The jack stands will be used as well btw.