Re: Jack/Rotate Tires/Wheel Chocks/Torque Wrench

[Arthur Emerson <emerson@eideti.com>]

Bunmar@aol.com wrote:
> 
> Anyway, I saw a 2 ton floor jack at Auto Palace (similar to Pep Boys) for $20.
> Are these reliable?  Any other suggestions on a jack?

Sam's Club around here frequently has a portable trolly jack with a 
plastic carrying case in that same ballpark price.  They also have
a commercial unit for much more, if you don't value portability.
I can't comment on the quality of either, but the commercial unit is
the same monster used at the local tire shops.

> How about where to
> place it under the car (please be descriptive as I'm not fully familiar with
> the underside of autos)?

Anywhere but where I do. :-)  I have mashed up the factory jacking
points pretty badly.  Good thing the factory jack didn't last
that long on weekend duty every Sunday.  Bentley has some info
on page 0-6, which I won't even try to summarize.  They say that
there's little triangles on the rocker panel pointing to the
jack points, but I think that our factory ground effects are
covering them.

> Should I chock the wheels or can I rely on the emergency brake and leaving the
> car in gear especially if I'm only jacking up the car enough to get the wheels
> off?

If you jack from the front, you can lift one whole side of the car.
I just set the parking brake, and haven't had an incident yet.  For
legal reasons, I recommend that you block both wheels on the non-jacked
side, put the car in gear, set the parking brake, and have an ambulance
on standby.

> How about a torque wrench?  I've never used one before to tighten lug nuts.

Lug BOLTS on a VW.  Any good toolbox should have one.  Get a 1/2"
drive, and a 17mm 6-point socket for the lug bolts.  I bought a
loose 17mm deep well impact socket at Sears, and it works fine.
Avoid Sears for torque wrenches.  Their "clicker" wrench's handgrip 
(which dials in the torque) snaps off easily, and I have a bent "beam" 
torque wrench of theirs too.  Make sure that the wrench you buy can do 
81 foot-pounds with no sweat.  In other words, don't buy a 100 ft-lb
wrench and push it to the max.

> Which way to rotate the wheels?  Keep on same side of car, just swap left
> front with left rear, ditto on right side?  Cross?

I don't rotate street tires, unless I plan on changing brands. Not
having all four tires wear out at the same time has financial benefits
that you must consider.  Anyway. I only rotate front to back when I
do it.  If you buy unidirectional tires, this is your only choice.
Bentley says front to rear every 7500 miles.....

- -Arthur