Fast-n-Furious
Well-known member
Ever since I did the first oil change, I had planned on doing the tire rotation myself. Over the weekend I did it at 4850 miles and thought to share some details with folks here. It's really not 392 specific.
Pattern (found on the JL forum):
Preparation:
Park on a relative flat area and use wheel chocks. I don't have any rubber wheel chock so I opted with some bricks, not ideal. Also engage the emergency break to lock the rear wheels. I also marked each wheel's original position with chalk so I don't get confused.
Jack points:
Different people have different methods/preferences in terms of jacking. In my case, I have a 3 ton long reach (24") floor jack and two 6 ton jack stands. I decided to jack up under the frame near front passenger side and put the jack stand to hold (with a rubber pad). Then went back to the rear and jacked up the axle tube of the right side. This way I can change the two tires on one side first then move to the driver side. You could also do it one corner at a time, or jack up the pumpkins and hold with four jack stands.
Loosening lug nuts:
I used a 25" breaker bar to brake loose the all the lug nuts before lifting up the wheels. I don't have an impact wrench, my impact driver with the 1/2" adapter was only used to take off the nuts afterwards.
Rust on break drum:
As you can see from the picture, I'm surprised by the rust developed on the rear break drum, the front one has minimal. I sprayed surface shield but not sure how helpful it can be.
Rotation:
After taking off each wheel, I also popped the center cap, so I can see if the wheel touched the drum after being mounted to the new position. I used a piece of scrap wood to align the mounting holes with the wheel studs at the new position. Then used the lowest setting (speed and torque) of my impact driver to reinstall each lug nut followed by hand tight with my break bar (I didn't push it hard because I'll use torque wrench to click).
Reinstall spare:
I couldn't just carry the spare tire all the way up back to the carrier, I had to jack it up high enough and I was afraid to damage the tire carrier due to the plastic feel... thanks to the long reach floor jack.
Torque spec:
59 for the spare, and 130 for the rest. But I chose to do 125 in case any calibration offset. And I had to use an extension (this doesn't change the torque reading) otherwise the torque wrench with the 22 mm deep socket couldn't latch well.
TMPS:
The TPMS relearned quickly after I drove a bit.
Service record:
Similar to what I did with oil change, I logged into Mopar.com and added this tire rotation record with the mileage.
Final thought:
It was a fun afternoon and I took my time at each step with some elbow grease while showing my kids what I did (they didn't really care though
). It was very satisfying when I heard each torque wrench click. Basically I spent over $300 for the tools and now I've had my first 5 tire rotation experience and I gave it 5 star. Down the road I plan to upgrade to 37" or bigger tire, and will still do it my way at every 5000 miles or less.
Pattern (found on the JL forum):
Preparation:
Park on a relative flat area and use wheel chocks. I don't have any rubber wheel chock so I opted with some bricks, not ideal. Also engage the emergency break to lock the rear wheels. I also marked each wheel's original position with chalk so I don't get confused.
Jack points:
Different people have different methods/preferences in terms of jacking. In my case, I have a 3 ton long reach (24") floor jack and two 6 ton jack stands. I decided to jack up under the frame near front passenger side and put the jack stand to hold (with a rubber pad). Then went back to the rear and jacked up the axle tube of the right side. This way I can change the two tires on one side first then move to the driver side. You could also do it one corner at a time, or jack up the pumpkins and hold with four jack stands.
Loosening lug nuts:
I used a 25" breaker bar to brake loose the all the lug nuts before lifting up the wheels. I don't have an impact wrench, my impact driver with the 1/2" adapter was only used to take off the nuts afterwards.
Rust on break drum:
As you can see from the picture, I'm surprised by the rust developed on the rear break drum, the front one has minimal. I sprayed surface shield but not sure how helpful it can be.
Rotation:
After taking off each wheel, I also popped the center cap, so I can see if the wheel touched the drum after being mounted to the new position. I used a piece of scrap wood to align the mounting holes with the wheel studs at the new position. Then used the lowest setting (speed and torque) of my impact driver to reinstall each lug nut followed by hand tight with my break bar (I didn't push it hard because I'll use torque wrench to click).
Reinstall spare:
I couldn't just carry the spare tire all the way up back to the carrier, I had to jack it up high enough and I was afraid to damage the tire carrier due to the plastic feel... thanks to the long reach floor jack.
Torque spec:
59 for the spare, and 130 for the rest. But I chose to do 125 in case any calibration offset. And I had to use an extension (this doesn't change the torque reading) otherwise the torque wrench with the 22 mm deep socket couldn't latch well.
TMPS:
The TPMS relearned quickly after I drove a bit.
Service record:
Similar to what I did with oil change, I logged into Mopar.com and added this tire rotation record with the mileage.
Final thought:
It was a fun afternoon and I took my time at each step with some elbow grease while showing my kids what I did (they didn't really care though
). It was very satisfying when I heard each torque wrench click. Basically I spent over $300 for the tools and now I've had my first 5 tire rotation experience and I gave it 5 star. Down the road I plan to upgrade to 37" or bigger tire, and will still do it my way at every 5000 miles or less.
Last edited:
. I'm glad I asked the question. My money will be better spent on a shop chair, I think, as that will make all sorts of things easier. And it sounds like the best way to deal with the beefy tires is to simply improvise a bit and find techniques that work best for me. Thanks again for taking the time to reply!
