Slight Jack Error

Maintenance/Repairs
1

I got a 2013 Ford Edge SE this summer and I decided that I wanted to do my own maintenance on it. I got a jack and jack stands and to change my oil. I did that with no problem so I was pretty confident about rotating the tires. I got a couple more jack stands because I wanted to do the X tire rotation method. So I jacked up my vehicle and put it on the four jack stands. When I was trying to remove one of the rear right tires, it wouldn’t come off. It was getting late so I figured I would do it some other time. When I was bringing the vehicle back down, the last jack stand I was taking out started to stand up on one of it’s edges and the vehicle started leaning away from me. Not realizing what was happening, I let it back down on the jack stand and repeated, each time the vehicle leaned further and further away and the jack stand was just hanging on. I got up and when to the other side of my vehicle to realize that I forgot to put the lugs back into the front left wheel. The wheel had a 20-40 degree negative camber. Since the vehicle was so unstable at this point, I called a tow truck who brought an axle jack and fixed the problem. He had to use a sledge hammer to get the wheel off. Once it was off, he put it back on and torqued down all the bolts. The car seemed to drive fine after this doing some simple checking of the steering stops and braking.

My question is, should I be concerned about this? I am going to take it into the shop to get my tires rotated. Is there anything I should make sure they check that I could have damaged? Should I get my steering re-aligned?

2

That happens sometimes. I’ve used that method myself…and seen tire shops do it.

3

This is a heavy car and also known to have some ball joint issues with the previous model years. Checking the alignment would be a safer approach.

On the other hand, let this just be a learning experience and continue doing your own work as much as possible. I think we have all made mistakes and learned from them. I still make them.

4

When I rotate tires I just use the spare and do one wheel at a time with a floor jack. I use jack stands as a back up but just don’t like only using them with the wheels off. Just me. Wouldn’t hurt having it checked but if the threads on the stud are ok, I don’t think there would be a problem.

5

Check the user’s manual to see if Ford recommends changing sides during tire rotation. If your tires are still original equipment, they probably do not have directional tread. If you do have directional tread pattern, never rotat to the other side of the car. If you do not have directional treads (most likely scenario), then do what Ford recommends.

6

This was taken directly from the 2013 Ford Edge Owner’s manual

7

I think you should inspect the studs for damage to the threads. Some of them may need to be replaced, but other than that, you should be OK.

8

I only rotate front to back regardless and have had no problems with that. I really don’t like changing directions of the tire. Just me.