how to jack up truck

hey everyone, tomorow i finally have a full day off...i'm using it to clean out my squeaky leaf springs. (florida mud makes lots of noise between moving parts). i can't quite tell, but i think the squeak is coming from both the springs, and the bushings at the ends of the springs. my question is about jacking up the truck. i'm guessing the frame, right in front of where the leafs connect to it is the best place to jack...but what about lift height? the jack i have only lifts 20 inches, and i'm sure with the travel our trucks have, that's not going to get all of the pressure off of the rear end to allow me to spread the leaf pack... what do i do? block of wood between the jack and truck?

any other suggestions about other parts of this project are also welcome since i haven't done it before. thanks in advance

 

i just put it under the rear axle or just use a pressure washer and u wont need to jack up the truck thats what i did

 

i tried a pressure washer, but the squeaking just came back

 

Is getting a full size, heavy duty jack an option? If you work on own vehicles enough, It will pay for its self in the long run. Buy a quality jack and it will last you for 20+ years, easy.

 

i have a big craftsman 3 ton jack with a 20 inch lift. the thing weighs about 90 lbs. it lifts the truck easily for changing/rotating tires and such, but since i want to undo the the leaf springs, even the 20 inches isn't enough to compensate for the "expansion" of the springs when i jack it up.

 

Lift the truck from the rear axle (as high as possible), place jack stands under the chassis at the proper locations, and while the jack is still under the axle remove the wheels and then you can drop the jack.

You can use this trick if your jack isnt quite cutting it.

 

ah, i hadn't thaught of it like that. i have some tall ass jack stands, but they don't do me much good if the jack doesn't go that high...but now i gues i have a use for them. thank you for the help

 

Your owners manual should have a diagram of 'jacking points'

 

Isn't there arrows? I remember seeing them, not sure if they were my truck or my car.

 

kinda boot leg, but when i clean out my leafs/spray them with wd40 to shut them up. i use a wood block and my small jack and jack it up under the hitch receiver.I never get the wheels off the ground, just enough to spray down the leafs. fwiw just my .02

 

wd40 works great

 

one of my buddys used to have a taco that he mudded down here and was jacked up with a 6inch lift. he said that no matter what he did the squeek would always come back after mudding it here in florida.