Safe to jack car from rear diff (while potentially touching the cover)?
 

So from the photo in the "Safely Jacking and Supporting Your BRZ/FR-S" DIY it looks like the rear diff is being jacked from the bottom of the cover. Is this ok, or would it be safer to jack the rear diff from a point closer towards the front of the vehicle?


http://www.grimmspeed.com/content/im...iy/figure7.jpg

Same photo taken from the DIY page.

http://blog.frsport.com/wp-content/u...nstall-006.jpg

Up-close photo of the rear diff taken from frsport.com.

I've been jacking the cars up for two years that way now and not one problem.. I've worked on most of the Vegas 86 club cars, and I've jacked up countless other cars in my 20 years of being a mechanic that way.. I do make sure it's in the middle of the jack pad and mot on the edge. Especially a stamped diff cover.

I actually preffer to jack the car from the front diff...

In all seriousness. Just like the pic is fine. I have never broken any car ever doing this or caused a leak. Any further forward on the diff than in the pics and it's likely to slip off the diff and do some damage. In that pic you can actually see some small nubs on each side of the diff housing that protect the cover from being tweaked.

The owners manual for my car tells me to jack the car from the rear diff...

...just sayin'

I've been doing this as well except I use a hockey puck on my jack. It fits dead center on the lifter and prevents slipping and marring of the surface that is jacked.

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...psba9c0e59.jpg

With a stock diff cover I wouldn't think twice about jacking up from the pumpkin as it is one of the strongest spots in the rear. If you are concerned about breaking the seal highly improbable as the diff cover is held on by 8 bolts. If you had a nice after market one like the blue Cusco one then I would probably find a better location to jack from then.