by Specialized tools are what make automotive work accessible, and that is true whether you are in a DIY garage setup or a professional one. Learning to do your vehicle’s oil changes yourself means understanding how tools like the three-leg oil filter wrench make the job easier. This tool and other basic oil change supplies represent a one-time investment that you can rely on for years.
How the Three-Leg Design Works
There are many names for the 3 leg oil filter removal tool, but whatever you call it, it is essentially a three-part jaw that grips the filter, allowing you to easily remove or replace it by magnifying the force you apply to the job so it gets considerably easier than with any other tool. It’s a must-have for anyone who does a lot of oil changes, and it can make a DIY job a lot easier and faster.
Using the Three-Jaw Oil Filter Wrench
The jaws are adjustable, so you need to set them for your filter size before doing the work. Once you do, you just clamp it onto the oil filter and turn as you would with any other manual wrench. For stubborn jobs, you can find versions designed for powered wrenches of various types. It’s a simple, effective way to take off stubborn filters. Even when the filter isn’t unusually hard to remove, the right tool makes the job go a lot faster.
Additional Oil System Tools and Accessories
If you are running performance parts because you push your engine a little more than the average driver, it helps to have the tools that let you monitor things like the voltage to your oil pump and the pressure it’s operating under. An investment in a tool like the Duralast Pro Power Oil Checkergoes a long way toward making sure your vehicle is getting the support it needs from parts that you have not upgraded yet, and they are essential for ensuring all your upgrades work together the way you expect.
Monitoring your oil cleanliness, viscosity, and pressure is the best way to anticipate your oil change cycle when you run an unconventional build like a track car or a true off-roader designed for rough terrain. You can’t expect a vehicle operating way outside the norms in the designer’s vision to run through oil the usual way, so you need to know when it starts breaking down enough that you should change it and monitoring its physical condition is the way you do that.
Additional DIY Maintenance Tools
Your engine oil is not the only fluid you need to change regularly. If you’re running an automatic transmission, you’ll need something like a Ford C Max auto gearbox oil changekit every 25,000 to 30,000 miles to keep your transmission operating at peak performance. Start looking today for the supplies you will need to accomplish those long-term maintenance jobs so that when you need to do them, you can simply fit them in alongside a regular oil change on your normal maintenance calendar.
