changing N* oil w/o lift

fpmesiIII said:

I was wondering if it is possible to change the oil without a lift? if so what are the best options without getting too expensive?

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uuummmmmmm....get a jack? it works for me!

do you use two jacks or one?

Ummm yeah, whats the question here, a jack works fine. One jack on the drivers side is what I do. I never tried the other side but I've never had a problem either. I access the car from the front when I crawl under BTW.

fpmesiIII said:

do you use two jacks or one?

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one - under center usually, but can be done from either side

are rollers a good idea?

If your not man enough to get you shirt and pants covered in dirt and crap...then yes, a creeper works just fine. I have a creeper at my house and at work. The one at work folds into a chair, and has pretty much stayed like that since I bought it. The one at home sits in the corner and collects dust. Wear some old junky jeans and a beat up t-shit so you don't have to worry about destroying nice clothes....cause they will get obliterated.



edit: Haha...it says t-shit instead of shirt........I'm not changing it. But yeah, even with a creeper, your still gonna get dirty. To be honest, your really not gonna have enough room under the car to use one anyway, and you'll have more room to work just shimmying under the car on your back....again, the reason for wearing old, crappy stuff you don't care about. Good luck.

:tisk: Go to your local auto parts outlet. Get a hydraulic floor jack with a 14"+ lift for about $39.95. If you're lucky, you'll score the companion jackstands for cheap. Lay out an old bedspread. Position the floor jack under the center of the front of the engine cradle and lift until you can position the jackstands under the two pads just outboard of the front of each side of the cradle. Carefully lower the car onto the jackstands. Remove jack. Work. NEVER WORK UNDER A CAR HELD BY ONLY A JACK !!! (Your skull is softer than GM steel) Buy a couple of pairs of Playtex general purpose gloves, a decent sized dishpan, a big funnel, several junk gallon jugs or a 16 quart oil container for trips to the recycle vat, paper towels. The above-mentioned junk clothes. Learn by doing. Yes, lube the filter gasket, prefill the filter, and screw it on just past strong hand tight. Beware of Fram.

:thumbsup: Yeah That ^^^^^^ Crap I was to slow. I was referring to Danbuc's GET DIRTY

I second that....

I had one of my floor jacks fail on me once, the pressure release valve for the hydraulic cylinder took a crap on itself. I had some cinder blocks under the front cause I could find my jack stand. Scared the crap outa me when I saw that jack drop out of the corner of my eye. This was while changing the oil on my mother's Triumph. I had to life that car about 1 and a half feet in the air (the front end that is) just to get under it enough to have room to work. Without those makeshift cinder block jack stands under the front, my day would have been ruined.

Believe it or not, I frequently do mine with no jack (when I am too lazy to get it out). It is a little tight (and I have long arms) but it is doable.

Danbuc, you are lucky indeed. Cinder blocks should NEVER be used as they will frequently crumble under the weight alone, much less the shock of the car coming down on them.

You can drive on front wheel up onto a curb to get room as well.

If you try to jack the vehicle in the wrong place you can damage the underbody or frame. Forget the jacks, buy as set of drive on ramps. The ones I bought are called Rhino ramps and they are made of a heavy duty plastic, lightweight but very tough, enough to support a 1 ton truck. Makes life a lot simpler and safer when you need to get underneath the vehicle for anything.

Onalaska...........Ramps are the best way to go, BUT, my STS and probably others, is/are too low in front to allow their use......PITA (BTW...dial-up sux)

These Rhino ramps are low enough to drive my 05 STS on without a problem. Acutally bought them for my 95 Trans Am which was lower to the ground than the STS. They are very wide for the big tires and rubbed the flexible part of the air dam on the Trans Am a little, but not enough to cause any problem at all. I did have a set of metal ones before and they are useless with the wider tires and lowered front ends. Got mine at AutoZone I think, but it's been 12 years ago now.

thanks for the info guys.

Ranger said:

Danbuc, you are lucky indeed. Cinder blocks should NEVER be used as they will frequently crumble under the weight alone, much less the shock of the car coming down on them.

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They weren't "cinder blocks" per say, they were those bricks they use to make walkways and stuff. We had a bunch left over in the garage. They were made out of cement, but were solid. Plus, the Triumph doesn't really weigh a whole lot. But yeah, on a big heavy car, I wouldn't use traditional cinder blocks with holes in them.

submariner409 said:

Onalaska...........Ramps are the best way to go, BUT, my STS and probably others, is/are too low in front to allow their use......PITA (BTW...dial-up sux)

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Funny you should mention this Submariner. I had the same problem and just fixed it. I took a 2X12 (2X8 would work) and cut two lengths. One 4' and one 3'. Put a 60 degree bevel on one end of each and screwed one on top of the other with the square cut ends lined up. What you end up with is a step up from the ground to one 2X12 and 12" later another step up to the second 2X12. With the ramps at the end of this additional ramp you now have the clearance you need to clear the front fascia. I now am able to use my ramps again for the first time in many years.

I always take my car to an oil change garage.