I don't use anything other than the rubber pad on the jack. Can't count the number of times I have lifted the rear with diff as jack point. As long as you push jack toward the front enough to be past the diff cover it won't be a problem. I think it is safer than jacking up one side and then the other.

I have the luxury of multiple jacks, so i can lift via the jack plates. still use hockey pucks in there too, I keep a pile of pucks in the shop for all these sort of jobs! I also dont lift the truck any higher than i have to to get the job at hand done! Ive used the diff to raise the truck in the past, Always used a puck or a small block of wood!

I lift the steel square beam to the rear of the differential. I built an adapter out of a 4x4 and a little bracket that holds it in place in that spot. So basically, the 4x4 adapter sits on the jack, and the top of the 4x4 contacts the square beam on the x5. Very secure, and the 4x4 gets me an extra 3.5 inches of lift.

I similarly built something for the front central jack point - with a M12 bolt going through the hole in the x5's central jacking point, to keep it centered.

It took a little effort when I built these things, but that has paid off many times with easy and secure central lifting. Yes, for simplicity and safety, I almost always lift centrally and use jack stands on both sides, front or rear, but not both at the same time.

I lift centrally, but I do use jack stands on 4 corners of my vehicles fairly frequently. I give the car a serious shoulder blocking though to verify ZERO movement before getting underneath it.

I'd love to not do that, but not sure how I would do some jobs without it. I sometimes put the front (or rear) on ramps while working on the opposite end if I don't need all the wheels off.

I jacked up the front the other day to change CV boots, so I took some pics of the adapters I made that I referred to two posts up.

These are custom fit to match with my floor jack (originally made with my previous jack, updated slightly for the newer one here). Generally used with the jack rubber pad removed so it is a very secure fit between the adapter and the jack. Then customized on the end that interfaces with the x5.

At the front, it interfaces at the central jacking point, with an M12 bolt going through the hole in that rectangular steel pad. No way this would slip off.

The 4x4 is a piece of 4x4. The plastic looking thing is a very hard structural scrap of plastic I happened to have. Maybe Delrin or similar. Hard, easy to cut/machine.

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I really like that! I have adopted the 2x12 between the rear diff and jack strategy myself (staying way clear of the rear cover of course) and, seeing your cool invention, am on the hunt for something to craft my front jack "adapter" out of now. I had been using a piece of a 6x6 machined to fit entirely around the front center jack point but I like yours better!


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Wish I could find the pic of it, buddy of mine crafted a piece of steel I-beam that went jack pad to jack pad across the rear that once you jacked it up, from the center, you simply put your jack stands under the I-beam (at the jack pad locations) and it was rock solid. Center section slid out once the jack stands were in place so everything was out of the way for easy access underneath.

He has since sold his X and the lift tool he made went with it...


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Now pics of the rear adapter.

Concerned about load on the differential, differential cover / seam, differential bushings. Also concerned about it slipping off.

I decided the steel cross-beam behind the differential looked sufficiently strong and wanted to lift at that point. The solution I came up with let me do that while keeping it pretty well locked in place with no load on the differential, and no chance of anything slipping off.

4x4 wood, like before. The circular cutout seen in the wood was done with my 10" table saw blade, to clear the protrusion on the differential.

The steel bracket screwed into the wood is for alignment. It does not take any load, but makes sure the thing is fit in properly and cannot slide out while jacking up.

So the light brown plastic thing sits on the floor-jack plate. The cutout section goes up against the differential, with enough clearance from the protruding fins on the differential so there is no contact. So that cutour is facing the front of the vehicle. The upward-turned flange on the bracket tucks in between the differential and the square bar - so it keeps this adapter from sliding too far backward, and off the bar. So when in place, the load goes from the jack, through the plastic thing at the bottom, through the 4x4, through the steel bracket, to the structural square beam on the x5. All of those in compression and secured from sliding out of place.

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And another thing ... the extra 3.5" of lift from the 4x4 always helps, even with a jack that goes to 24".

That is good looking and I LOVE the fact it takes the load off the diff. I learned the hard way that if you even nudge that blasted diff cover... that it drips just slow enough (and seemingly not on the garage floor where I would see it) to burn up the ring and pinion... and it never even made noise - just ground itself in to oblivion and was totally dry when I opened it...


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