Jacking up front of XF
 

I have searched the forum and the internet about how to jack up the front of my 2011 XF. Plenty of info/discussion on using floor jacks for lifting a wheel at a time, but could not find a location to lift the entire front (both wheels) at once.

Since I only have a single floor jack and no hydraulic lift, how do I do this safely?

I went and bought a $29.99 floor jack from Harbor Frieght to be a second jack.

That is the only way I have found that is safe.

Snap-on jack on one side, el-cheapie on the other.

If I need to have it up in the air longer than a simple tire change, pop in a few jack stands to be safe.

There is no safe place on the front end of an XF to jack the whole front up (both tyres well off the ground) with one jack.
If you only have one jack you can get both sides up as long as you have at least one axle stand.
Jack one side up, slide an axle stand underneath, let it down (gently!) onto the the axle stand, then take the jack around the other side and jack that side up.
I would hesitate to do this with only one hydraulic trolley jack and only one axle stand, and no way it should ever be done with just the OEM scissor jack (or any scissor jack).
Many years ago I used two scissor jacks to jack up the rear of a car, and just as I finished getting both rear wheels off one of the jacks broke and that side of the car dropped to the ground and smashed the rear fender into the brick wall of the garage I was in (quite a narrow single car garage). I was very lucky that I was on the other side of the car when this happened otherwise I may well have been crushed against the wall.
It took me several hours to get the car back in the air again, put both back wheels on and get the car out of the garage, being as it was so tight up against one side. I think I broke the world record for a "repeat three point turn", I reckon it took about 100 turns moving the car about 1/4" sideways at a time to get it out!

This was my fear. I do have a floor jack and a 4-ton bottle jack, plus at least a pair of jack stands. Guess I'll do the back and forth, jack each side a little at a time shuffle to get the jack stands in there.

Thanks to both of you guys for the quick replies. Wish me luck in finding that coolant leak down below.

I hated swapping the floor jack back and forth. It really flexes the frame and I cringed at every squeak and creak.

Well worth the $30 for a cheap floor jack. In my opinion anyway.

This is what I bought.

https://www.harborfreight.com/2-ton-...ack-69468.html

Good luck.

For $30 bucks you may be right. Plus I think I have a 20% off coupon and there's a HF 10 minutes away.

Yep, that one will be perfectly OK.
Just watch out for bending the pinch weld on the sill where the jack goes (do some research on jack "hockey pucks"), and if you lower the car you won't be able to get it under and you will need "low entry" jacks (don't ask me how I know this!).

On the front I expect you jack (& place stands) each side using the strengthened rails alongside the exhaust/trans tunnel. No risk of bending anything.

Yeah, but how do you jack it up in the first place to then position the axle stands?
I jacked up the front end of my XFS and XFR so many times I lost count, and there is no way you can position a hydraulic jack under those rails (which are the designated axle stand points) unless you have a special "long reach" jack. The jacks used by tyre shops might work, but they are huge and expensive and many owners won't have the sideways room to use them (very long handles).

Edit - I just remembered that those big boofy jacks used by tyre shops will in no way fit far enough under the car to reach the axle stand points, the angles are all wrong!

I have done it many many times without trouble and do not have any kind of special jack. (Cost me about $30.)

But you could get ramps (Rhino or the like if you wish) and just drive onto them.

With the exception of the ramps (another possibility) you'll need two jacks working in tandem until the car is high enough to place the stands on the inside rails.

It was much simpler on my XK8. One jack point front and rear to lift either end.