resharp001

Sit facing the hub, butt on ground, legs wrapped around the tire and feet back towards each other with the soles of my shoes pointed towards each other.

LOL, and imagine what kind of google searches I'm performing at this time looking for a pic on my work computer...LOL. Kinda like this thanks to the magic of the internet -



Lift the tire up to rest on top of the sides of my feet. They are not as close together in the pic, but same idea. That alone gets them about 3.5" off the ground. Then, I use my feet/ankles as leverage lifting a bit more if necessary to align vertically while using my arms to align with the lug pattern and push it on. That obviously only works if you don't have it jacked up way high.

jchappies

Like others have said...

Sit in front of the hub with your feet\legs on each side of the tire and squeeze and lift. If you can't do that you need a Suzanne Somers Thigh-Master.

35's are easy...wait until you step up to 37's or 40's

sa29560

When I was younger I did tires at a commercial truck depot, it had to be fast, and while trailer was attached on the ground.

Those weigh as much as the largest jeep tire, we had little carts for em with rollers on em to spin it as well as move it in and out, back and forth.

Eventually I've grown to use just a large 30" or so pry bar. Wheel your tire into place and lifting 100# plus with that large pry bar and one arm, is really easy. Slap it on and no awkward positions or supporting the whole weight ON YOU. This is the easiest way.
My opinion

Rednroll

That's why I had to ask. I was thinking, if I'm struggling with 35's, those running 37's and 40's have to be doing something that I haven't figured out yet.

Rednroll

I'm liking that idea. However, the engineer in me is now getting the best of me. I stopped at HF during my lunch break and picked up a small low profile 1.5ton floor jack for $60. Now I'm going to get a 4x6, mount it on top of the jack base, put some wedges on the board to keep the tire from rolling off. I'm gonna let the jack to all the heavy lifting.

I'll let everyone know if this works out. Thanks for all the suggestions. Great stuff!!!

Broncorif

Check out the Clever Lever Wheel Dolly. I'm not sure of the tools actual name. This is just the first one I found when I looked for a wheel lift.

jeepinmichguy

This is what I do.

EHarris

I sit on my butt also and use my legs to lift it in place also but some people have posted some really good ideas.

I've been wanting to do the undercarriage on my vehicle since it's got plenty of rust. How did you do it. Any helpful hints. I was thinking about trying to get some of this done on the long weekend. Thanks in advance.

TheDirtman

No kidding, guys running 40" nittos's have to hate life when it comes to changing tires. My MTR/ks are enough and I too sit on the ground and use my legs to lift them on.

Rednroll

The problem with the legs technique for me, is that when I typically work on my Jeep, it turns into an all day event, and the last thing to go back on are the wheels. So after an entire day of wrenching, scraping, multiple times crawling under the Jeep, I'm feeling pretty spent, and the only time I know when to quit is when it gets too dark out for me to do anymore work. So any kind of lifting becomes a PIA at that point, not to mention it being hard to see. So I'ld like to find a solution that takes me the least amount of lifting at that point. I can handle lifting the spare back on, but that's as far as I want to go with the lifting.

Here's what I did for undercarriage.

Look for any rust spots, and hit the rust with this.


After that has had some time to dry (typically by the time I circle back around to where I started).

Anything Black (Frame, axle, control arms, skid plates, Tie rod, etc, etc.) Gets hit with this.


It goes on thick and is very directional. No real worries for over spray. When it dries, it leaves a nice hard shell which looks very similar to powder coat. I've tried Rustoleum Truck bedliner spray in the past and this stuff is easily 10 times more durable.

Anything that isn't black and looks like sheet metal, gets hit with this. (P.S. The picture of the JK on the can always makes me laugh. I get this stuff at HF, and that's a Chinese knock-off AEV bumper mounted on there.)


I found some Dupont Teflon spray on a clearance sale last week for $1 a can and picked up 16 cans of it. I'm currently experimenting with it. Hoping it will work similar to fluid film. So far, I coated the inside plastic parts of the fenders with it and then coated my air compressors I have mounted underneath with it. If it works ok on protecting the metal parts of the air compressors, then I might start using it on all the control arm joints, etc. If not, I'll likely get some fluid film for the fall when I go over it again.