DIY Maintenance

[mercurysniper]

OK, so I have finally had enough with having to go to Firestone to have my tires rotated and balanced. I don't like to wait nor do like to drop off my truck and pick it up later; although the the tired did come with lifetime rotation and balance...but thats irrelevant.

So, as a firm believer is DIY maintenance for my 2000 LS Excab Z71, I was wonder if it was even possible to put my truck on 4 jack stands, 2 in front and 2 in rear to allow for tire rotation? Is this feasible? I would use a 3 ton hydaulic jack to lift the truck from each end and then set four 3 ton stands underneath. Will this hold? I have heard of using jack stands for working on either end of a vehicle...but never under all four tires.

Any advice or pictures would be of great help, thanks!

[xjcamaro89]

I really dont see any problem with doing that, and alot of people will probably tell you on here that, that is what they do. And what i do is jack up one end, and put jack stands under it, and then just jack up the other end and leave it on the jack, just cause im only going to be a few minutes taking wheels off and putting the others on and not going under the car. So YES you can, its very easy and it only takes 1 jack, 2 jack stands and a couple minutes of your time!

[J-Ri]

I agree, but I would add that it would probably be best to jack the rear up first. Put the jack under the differential (unless yours has a rear sway bar that may interfere), and put the jack stands just outside the shock mounts. In the front, you will probably have to lift by the structure going between the lower A-arms.

As long as you aren't under the vehicle, there is really no need for jack stands. In the 30+ years the shop I work at has been open, we have never had a jack fall.

[rjeffery]

Of course you can. I rotate my tires every 3000 mi and use 2 jackstands and 1 hydraulic jack. I also have an electric impact wrench which makes the job 1000 times quicker and easier.