'24 Subaru Outback - New Owner Diary

Racer88 said:
Yes. But to do a proper AWD rotation... rear wheels go to front (on same side)... front wheels go to opposite side rear locations. The only way to do that is to lift the entire car and do all four simultaneously.

So, I use the floor jack at the front center lift point... slip the front jack stands in. Then floor jack at the rear center point and slip the rear jack stands in.
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Cross-rotate, got it... That's how I do all cars, modern-day tires will handle spinning in the opposite direction no problem. Not recommended with directional tires, obviously.

I still use two jacks: jack the front, remove tire, jack the rear, bring rear tire to front and mount it, move and jack the other front, bring to opposite rear and mount it, lower rear and bring jack to other rear and remove tire, bring to front and mount it, mount front from opposite side on rear. The jacks go from one side to the other.
 
Safety first. I knew a guy in HS that was killed when his VW beetle slipped off the jack.

I use ramps on the very rare occasion I need to get underneath the vehicle. Which is just about never.

I don't change any own oil. I can and have. I just don't want to. I don't even lift the hood anymore. I push the start button and it goes zoom zoom. When my vehicles are EVs they wont make any noise. :)
 
This guy tests a bunch of jack stands. Among all the tests, one is the force to tip over the stand. It is a surprising low number, about the weight of the fat kid leaning on the car asking dumb questions. I would imagine a jack only would about the same force based on footprint.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6ufAL5R0mg
 
We are sorry your head got crushed and you died when your floor jack and jack stands failed.

Deepest sympathies,

Ling Ling Wong
Vice President of Cheap Shit
Harbor Freight
 
I've known plenty of people that have had jack fall while they were using them. One guy the tie rod landed on his face and smashed his teeth but didn't kill him. :eek:

I've heard many stories of guys working on their in-ground pneumatic lift and not bleeding all the air out of the tube then loosening the bolt that holds it in, then it "pops" out of the ground landing on them, killing them. :eek:

Back in the old days, I started lowering a car on a two-post (on sides) lift. As I've ALWAYS been careful with lifts and jacks I was watching the car go down and it started leaning to one side! :eek: So I raised it back up. The crossbar that held the two sides together had come undone. Took the lift tech a day or so to fix it. Customer was not happy their car was stuck in the air but shit happens and I/we were lucky it didn't come down.

Another old lift I used was a two-post, front and back with separate controls for front and back. That lift REQUIRED constant attention when lifting or lowering with adjustment of the front/rear nearly constantly. That was another dangerous one... :eek:

They don't use in-ground lifts that often anymore. When they do, it is fully-contained with the latest safety equipment and not just a post in the ground you apply/release air to...

I have nothing against jack stands. ;) When I use them, I make sure they are fully seated and ALWAYS give the car a little shake before I fully remove the jack from under the car.
 
Here's another story of rampant intelligent failures of humans using jacks. :rolleyes:

I'm coming around an upward-sloped blind highway on-ramp. The kind you can't see all the way through the corner. About midway I come up on this guy whose car has fallen off the bumper jack because he was trying to change a flat tire in the middle of an on-ramp! :eek: :rolleyes: He WAS off to the side but it was only a matter of time before someone slammed into him. I pull past him a 100' or so and get out to see if I can help him. Fortunately, he hadn't got the wheel all the way off so I just tightened the lugnuts pulling the wheel back onto the hub, much to his chagrin--he thought I was going to change his tire for him. :rolleyes: I told him he was going to cause an accident and to continue on the ramp until he reached a breakdown lane and it was safe. One of thousands of encounters with stupid humans... :rolleyes:
 
I'd been taught as a kid to ALWAYS use jack stands and NEVER trust a floor jack as the sole mechanism to keep a car safely lifted, because it ISN'T. I've never deviated from that.

As far as lifts- when I was working for a Public Utility Company in their fleet maintenance (Transportation Services) department, we had hydraulic, in-ground lifts. I've literally worked under huge diesel line trucks, 100' Washers, GMC Generals, FWD's, Freightliners, etc, with those suckers overhead. Always in full-pucker. Always. I don't miss it.
 
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Changed my oil today. First with the Fumoto valve installed (on this car). I call it the "immaculate oil change." Not a drop spilled. Easy peasy! I cut the tube just long enough to reach the 2-gallon container (gas jug). And the screw-in funnel is also awesome! Top-mounted oil filter (next to the funnel) couldn't be easier.

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This is "the way!" :cool:
 
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I recently passed 30,000 miles on the Outback.

Changed the oil, air filter, and cabin filter last weekend.

Today I did a long overdue wash.

Back in Black!​

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