I believe that, with the amount of rust on that suspension, the vehicle isn’t safe to drive around the corner!
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With that much rust I think it is time to get a flat bed tow truck to take it to the scrap yard.as in yesterday I would not drive it even around the corner
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What is around the corner?
My sons Pontiac looks like that underneath, it came from Michigan. I paid $1500 for it 5 years ago. Cost of ownership is pretty low.
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You do not have to worry about the strut coming apart and killing you if you jack it higher. It may come apart, but as long as the spring is contained, which it will be when installed, it won’t kill you. If it does come apart, the tension on the spring will be gradually released.
If you take it out and then it comes apart, the spring would be released suddenly and if you are in its way, then you could be killed. Based on your question, I would recommend that you leave any strut work to the pros, but you are good to go on the brakes.
Edit: if it does come apart as you jack it up further, you will probably have to have it flat bedded to a shop for repair, it wont go back to the way it was on its own.
Does your gravel driveway properly level and compacted? If not,the hydraulic jack could slowly sink into the ground while you are lifting the vehicule. If this is the case, put a 18"X 18" cement patio paver under the lift or do the work on the street.
The way I read this is that one side will raise as it should and the other does not. I would just stop there and have a shop look at it just to play safe .
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Thanks all for all the info and suggestions. I got it jacked up and all is good. The driveway is solid so no worries there.
Reading through this and I think my heart skipped a few beats. Stay safe
Better to use wood (not particle board.) Concrete can crumble in an instant where there’s a lot of pressure on a small area. This is especially dangerous with concrete blocks used to support a car.
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So, I thought I would post a conclusion to this. After getting it jacked up I tried to change out the rotor…It was rust welded to the hub. I also found out the wheel bearing on that side was gone. So, I went to the wreckers and got a steering knuckle, which has the wheel bearing and hub already in it. Which is a lot easier to change out then having to press a wheel bearing into a hub and then assemble it in the knuckle.
Everything I got changed is:
Steering knuckle
rotors
brake pads
lower tie rod ends (ball joints were good still)
I had no problems with either strut. Which is good cause they worry me, lol. On the top end, I got two ignition coils changed out and two spark plugs. I thought I was all done until I heard a noise today in the engine. Seems my serpantine belt decided to break up. So I changed that out. Man, I hope that is it for now, lol. Thanks all.
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It was until you said that. Now something else is gonna break. 
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Jesus I hope not. I need a small break, lol. I wanted to touch on the rust comment…The reason the truck has so much rust on it is because I live in an area that puts waaaay to much salt on the roads. If you forget to under car oil even a few times that rust is what happens. I wish I was joking but I am not. It comes on fast.
I have never dealt with rusted on rotors before, that was a pain. We tried everything from heat to hammers to oils to prayers. Finally it was time to replace the whole thing. I’m glad I did now as there was more wrong there than what I knew about. Get your cars undercoated man. You’ll save yourselves a lot of time and blood, lol.
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I feel your pain. I’m in Minnesota, and rust is a constant headache here.
Undercoating really only helps if it’s done before the car’s ever driven on salt. If you do it after, and it’s not applied really well, the undercoating can actually trap salt water under it and give it a lot more time to start rust happening. And, of course, it doesn’t help with rusty brake rotor hats.
But you’ll often find a couple of little bolt holes in the rotor, and if you find a couple of bolts that fit the threads you can tighten them (alternating back and forth between them) and eventually you’ll get enough pressure built up that the rotor will pop off.
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I always put copper anti-seize where the rotor meets the hub. but Nickel anti-seize is probably better.
@shadowfax I don’t think this vehicle has ever been undercoated. We got it second hand so…I know about the bolt holes but theses rotors did not have them. I was very let down when I went looking for them and they weren’t there, lol.
@weekend-warrior Damn…I forgot to do that. I guess another lesson I learned than, was not to get ahead of yourself after making a bit of progress, lol.
I have worked on much rustier cars than this. Had one break in half at the firewall when the junkyard wrecker came to pick it up. I have also had brake rotors refuse to come off even when using bolts. Onc you snap off a boly flush with the rotor, you are in trouble. Drove it to my mechanic, he has a torch and don’t.
This vehicle, which is a 2002 Ford Escape v6 4x4 is in a lot better shape than the Chevy venture I had. I swear the only thing holding the back on was the back door. The rust had eaten a 3 inch line right around the floor of the van…just on the inside though. The outside still looked good. It was weird.