Hi all,

I'd like to rotate the tires on our CRD according to the manual - back tires come straight front, front tires go cross-ways back. The easiest way to do this seems to be to put the KJ up on four jack stands and then do all the tire gymnastics.

What's the best way to put the KJ up on four jack stands? I have a Harbor Freight aluminum jack with a wide rubberized jack plate. However, I have some crappy jack stands with the world's most annoying cups. They look something like this:

http://www.tools-plus.com/american-forg ... rm=INTSS-6

The front jack points are ridges of sheet metal along the frame, and the rear jack points are the rear axle. Of course, to put the vehicle on a jack stand, I need to jack in one location and slide the jack stand under the desired point.

Soooo... what's the best way you guys have found to put a KJ up on four jack stands?

- Chris

Jack up the rear by the center of the diff..place jackstands on either side. Jack up the front by the front skid. Place jackstands at the front jacking points.

_________________
It may be that your only purpose in life is to serve as a warning to others.

06 CRD Sport
Built 5/11/06
Jeep Green
Rocklizard diff cover
V6 Airbox

Jeger - awesome, thanks! We don't have the skid plate package on our CRD, but there's some sort of flimsier factory splash guard up there that I'll try out. Where do you place your front jackstands - along that sheet metal ridge, or somewhere better?

- Chris

I use the sheetmetal ridge, but a crossmember would be fine. Im not sure if the CRD's factory front guard is up to this kind of task, never tried it with mine. I do know the thicker one works fine. You may just have to use the crossmember where the engine and tranny skid meet instead.

_________________
It may be that your only purpose in life is to serve as a warning to others.

06 CRD Sport
Built 5/11/06
Jeep Green
Rocklizard diff cover
V6 Airbox

Just pay the $24 for the rotation. Clearly jacking/placing on stands/demounting (x4) and mounting (x4) is not worth the trouble. Pay some gear head to do it.

Or, you can do what I (and alot of others) did: Junk the awful OEM STs at a place that gives free rotation for the life of the new tires.

Well, I got down there and it looks like:

• the factory "splash guard skid plate" sure isn't thick enough to support a jack
• it appears that some garage took the liberty of finding this out for me at some point

The plate is bent upwards right where you'd want to put a jack. I may look into upgrading to real factory skid plates. I don't take it crawling, so I don't need anything more extreme than that. (Is upgrading the skid plates a DIY job? Do they bolt in, or is there drilling required?)

I cut two sections of 2x6, 4" long each, and ran a narrow dado across the grain (across the 6" dimension). I tried using these as plates that the frame ridge can sit in, but then I noticed as I was putting the jack stand underneath that it already has a notch at the center of the cradle for this. Too bad, I used the wood plates anyway. Next time I know I won't need them.

So, I jacked up each front corner one at a time using the crossmember near the center, and stuck the jack stand/plate under the ridge. Then I jacked up the rear by the center diff and stuck a jack directly under each suspension bracket at each rear wheel. (I will take a picture next time.) On my other car (1995 BMW M3) you're not supposed to jack the rear of the car by the diff, but I suppose the Jeep is a bit studier.

I did learn a lesson. I jacked the front up first so there was an inch of clearance under the tires. What I didn't take into account was that when I jacked the rear up, since the jack stands are a couple feet behind the front wheels, it pivots the front wheels back onto the ground. Next time I'll either jack the rear up first or leave more clearance at the front.

Once the four wheels were up in the air, air tools made quick work of tire rotation! Next time I know what to do and I won't need any silly wooden jack plates. Having a real front skid plate would have made life even easier, but it wasn't bad as it was.

Thanks for the help, Jeger! The Jeep is a lot sturdier than my old 1986 Shelby Omni GLHS. It was a challenge finding places on that unibody to jack where you wouldn't sink the jack into the soft unibody metal. Of course, that car only weighed 2300lbs.

- Chris

Yeah, but then I wouldn't have an excuse to play with the Ingersoll-Rand 2131QT that I picked up on Ebay!

(Those STs were gone within the first 200 miles of this CRD's life.)

- Chris

No problem.

The skid is a DIY job for sure. 4 bolts that are already holding the existing plate on are reused. I threw away the insulation that was there, its just a mud sponge anyhow.

_________________
It may be that your only purpose in life is to serve as a warning to others.

06 CRD Sport
Built 5/11/06
Jeep Green
Rocklizard diff cover
V6 Airbox

Ditto on the mud sponge...

_________________
Matt B.

05 Limited CRD. Bought it new. 112k on the clock now.

GDE Eco-tune, rear differential drain plug (drilled and tapped the pumpkin), transmission pan drain plug, Fumoto oil valve, fuel filler neck restriction removed, front hitch, Hayden fan clutch, Sears P1 battery since 08, Mobil 1 5w40, 5 volt glow plugs, DIY timing belt at 109k

Just include the spare in your rotation. I only lift one corner at a time.

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2005 CRD Limited Flame Red w/ Renegade rock rails & light bar, AirLift 1000. 225/75R16 MT/R's on cheap black steel wheels, dual MOPAR subwoofers, Ipod kit & seat covers, Samco hoses - totaled and gone. 2008 WK Laredo 3.0L diesel - AirLift 1000, wife won't let me mess with it much. 2013 JK Sahara on order.

Wow, that's pretty slick, why didn't I think of that? Currently my spare is a matching tire which was severely out-of-round. Once they're all replaced with a new set of 5, that sounds like a real clever way to rotate. Just pull the spare off, move the extra wheel around in sequence, and remount the new spare. I like it!!

- Chris

Ya, generally its a good idea when you have a set of five good tires to rotate your spare out and put the tire that shows the most amount of wear on as the spare, this way you squeeze a little more life out of your set of tires, and the spare matchs the rest of the set. ( if your spare isnt nearly as worn as the rest of the tires when you goto use it, it can lead to pulling because of the rotional difference.

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