I do it the easy way. I take my vehicles to the local independent service shop run by an Army vet who loves his .357 SIG P229.

He charges $29.00 for an oil / filter change and gives a 10% discount to veterans.

I bought a low profile jack from Harbor Freight. It has served me well for many years.

For me, changing the oil gets tricky when it involves more than two gallons.

Drove a 93 Ranger for the better part of 30 years. Oil changes were a snap. Been in a 2017 Edge since November. Rolled it in for a change. The better part of 100 dollars. Holy crap when did that get to be so expensive?

quote:

Originally posted by ptruck:
Floor jacks are good suggestions, but I'll go the other route. A four-post car lift is the way to go.

I was going to suggest a lift…
I have a 2 post lift and have probably done over a hundred oil changes on all our vehicles over the years as well as tire rotations and other stuff. Mine has the low profile arms so my Porsche Cup car can easily fit…

Has definitely paid for itself.

My GTO is too low to get a low profile jack under it, so I've had to get a little creative too. I nailed a foot and a half 2x4 section to a two and half food 2x4 section to make mini ramps. I put them in front of the tires and slowly drive up, and once I get it up there I have enough clearance to get the jack under there. I reverse it when I'm taking the car down. It's kind of a pain in the ass, but it doesn't really add any time now that I know I'm going to have to do it.

Ramps are useless for my oil changes because I also rotate the tires at the same time.

Harbor Freight jack. The one I use is...
Low profile (~3") So it fits under my Miata.
High lift (~24") So it will also lift my Jeep
AND... the extended reach version to reach a good lift point.

It weighs ~100 pounds! My first one lasted about 10 years, there are no rebuild kits made for them. I just bought another one when mine quit.

Jack front from center and place on jack stands.
Jack rear from center and leave on the jack. All 4 are off the ground.
(refer to the recommended jack points for your car) Change oil and rotate tires. Set her back down.

A lift will be had if I ever get my new shop/garage built.

For my Mustang, I have a low profile aluminum rapid pump race jack. Fits under all points even the pinch weld area. Its light enough to move around as needed and this is its only job so it doesn't get beat like the steel one I use on the truck. Once the car is up I put in the jack stands and do whatever is needed.

Pretty much looks like the ones Harbor Freight sells.

When jacking from the side don't forget to pay attention to the side pipe exhaust.



And before taking off your filter, if you want to keep it all clean so the oil doesn't just drip on a cross member and engine - cut a piece of cardboard in a shape (something around 6"x2' slightly rounded) to fit under the filter and over the cross member to divert oil flow into a drain pan. I keep some pieces of cardboard behind the tool box and cut them when I do the oil change and toss them out after I am done.

Thanks for the reminder! I figure jacking from the diff is probably the safest option for this thing as far as the back end goes.

I ended up doing the work in a friend's driveway (he had a low profile jack). I jacked up from the frame and had the jack stands on one of the cross members. Wish I'd thought about the cardboard as I was laying under the car. Would have made cleanup a lot easier.

I'm going to go get a Harbor Freight low-pro jack before I replace the diff fluid. I'll probably spring for the race ramps eventually, but right now the priority in that price range is the tint (sunlight is a pretty big migraine trigger).

Put a 2x behind the front tires and a second about 6-12" behind that one.
Back up to raise the front enough to get the jack underneath.

quote:

Originally posted by ptruck:
Floor jacks are good suggestions, but I'll go the other route. A four-post car lift is the way to go.

Or two-post. Something like a quick jack set up would work as well. https://www.quickjack.com/

The parts are in for my exhaust (bought some new plates for the quad exhaust that have a slightly wider hole in them, so as to make it louder but not obnoxious for the neighbors who have to listen to me crank at 0530-0600 every morning), so I thought I'd scoot to the local Ferd shop. They won't touch it until a specific master mechanic comes back from vacation (fair enough, I can see the liability in letting just about anyone monkey around under there, but it's 4 bolts...).

In the meantime, my passenger rear tire sprung a leak. In that time, I made the shocking discovery that I've been driving on factory tires. Seriously - 9 year old tires (DOT code dates it to 07/12). Sigh...That was $1600 I really wasn't wanting to spend yet...