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After experiencing my first dealership oil change and tire rotation I plan to start doing it myself from now on. They charged me $175 for conventional oil and when I asked what it would be for full synthetic they wanted another $155 ! Checking the price for 15 quarts of Motorcraft full synthetic oil on Amazon the price difference was $40. (Have a 2019 F-250 - I know it takes 13 quarts) I guess they think they can justify almost 400% profit... I wouldn't hesitate to do it myself except for the tire rotation hassle.
My question is what are people using for jacks and stands to get these tall trucks up in the air? Are there any tricks or tips people have?
After experiencing my first dealership oil change and tire rotation I plan to start doing it myself from now on. They charged me $175 for conventional oil and when I asked what it would be for full synthetic they wanted another $155 ! Checking the price for 15 quarts of Motorcraft full synthetic oil on Amazon the price difference was $40. (Have a 2019 F-250 - I know it takes 13 quarts) I guess they think they can justify almost 400% profit... I wouldn't hesitate to do it myself except for the tire rotation hassle.
My question is what are people using for jacks and stands to get these tall trucks up in the air? Are there any tricks or tips people have?
I have an Air compressor in the shop and it drives a bottle jack and I have a stack of 4x4s and 4x6s that I use along with some HD jack stands to get all 4 corners off the ground SAFELY, then I do my rotation. It's fast and worth the little time and effort it takes.
After years of using a floor jack and an air impact wrench , I have gone to using jack stands with a jack built in and a battery powered impact wrench.
I use the bottle jack the truck came with. The harbor freight 3 ton I have doesn't extend far enough to get it off the ground. With the bottle jack I just use a drill to move it up and down since it takes forever. Once up I use 4 ton jack stands. Eventually I'll find a jack with a pad extension.
I use either the factory Jack or a floor jack. I lift one of the fronts off the ground and put blocks under it then lift the remaining three tires as I get to them.
The tire rotation isn't a hassle. Look at the tire rotation pattern in the manual. You only need to have 3 wheels off the ground at any time. I put scrap 4x4 or 6x6 lumber under my 3 ton HF bottle jack to get the tire off the ground and then use jack stands to support the truck. As for tips. Use a breaker bar while the truck is on the ground to break the lugs free. Get the tire off the ground and then I use an impact to quickly remove the lugs. When reinstalling the tires I hand thread the lugs at least a few turns. Then I use an impact to snug the lugs up. Then I use a torque wrench to get the final torque of 165ft/lbs. I find not using the impact to break the lugs free or run them home limits the marring of the finish. Also if you have an asphalt driveway put scrap plywood under your jack stands to keep the feet from sinking into the driveway.
And duallys even easier, unless you notice uneven wear on the rear, am I right? Only thing I trust a dealership for is to close a sale. Anything after that, I can only trust them to screw something up, or bend you over, or both.
What others have said will work. I'm older and tires/wheels are ~80 lbs, so I use an auto tire dolly (similar to large truck tire dolly, but not as wide). The OTC 5095A tire dolly barely fits my OEM 20" wheels with 34"(?) Michelins (and gets used for my other cars too), but there are probably better dollies. An electric impact wrench, with torque sticks to get close to final spec before hand torqueing, saves time and reduces effort. I rotate my tires one at a time using a 12 ton US Jack bottle jack sitting on a piece of 2x12 to spread weight across the asphalt and to raise the jack closer to the jacking point. A HF 6 ton jack stand goes under the axle for safety. I temporarily install the spare at the location of the first removed wheel/tire, snugged to only 80 ft-lbs or so, which also allows me to check the pressure before returning it under the truck.
Lift LR wheel off ground with first jack and remove wheel with pneumatic impact and move to the RF of the vehicle.
Lift RF wheel off ground with second jack and install wheel removed from the LR.
Lower RF and move second jack to RR, remove wheel then replace with wheel from RF.
Lower RR and move second jack to LF, move wheel chock to RF tire.
Lift LF wheel and replace with wheel removed from RR. Then lower second jack.
Finally, place LF wheel on LR then lower first jack.
Torque all lugs to spec.
Inflate all tires to 60psi then proceed with TPMS reset procedure.
After TPMS reset inflate/deflate all tires to desired pressure.
I use the rear cross method that appears to be for front wheel drive vehicles only. Not sure if it matters or not but it's what I remember. After the third rotation in the same manner all tires will have a time at each wheel position anyway.
I use the spare tire and one floor jack on a slight sloped driveway. That way only one corner is in the air. Use a couple of wheel chocks made from 6X6. I rotate front to rear, cross the rears to the front.
Bought an extra OEM jack via fleebay and made an adapter to run it up using a battery powered 1/2" impact drive (smaller item in photo below). Move about on a creeper under the rear, jack one side up, place jack stand, lower... then repeat on other side. Move to the front and jack up one & then jack up the other. No jackstands at the front, but then again, I am not getting uder the vehicle ... just moving wheels about.
I know this isn't what you asked, but I take my truck to the local Discount Tire. They offer lifetime rotation and balance for $120 on tires you don't buy from them. Free if you buy tires from DT.. I just have them do the work while I grab lunch. I calculated I will pay $12/visit ($120/10 visits per tire life time). Well worth it.
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