hahaha wonderful engineering...i love it

heres my .02 ...

when I change mine i run inside and get the misses aluminum foil. Take about a 2' piece and lay it under the filter, over the crossmembers and what have you. If your really messy you can use two pieces. Put some rubber/latex/nitrile gloves on your hands and yourself a ziploc bag (about the size of the filter) push the bag up around the filter and voila...most of your spillage should be contained in the bag.

oh and maybe you'll want to break it free before applying your bag.

i've never used a bag...but in my mind it makes sense. i do however lay the aluminum foil out.

 

At work we give out the 'gold star award' whenever someone has a good idea. It's not an actual award, you just say 'gold star.' And today you win the gold star award... I always just sprayed brake clean on the rack and x-member when I was done. The aluminum foil idea is pretty clever.

 

I've had this dilemma for years with my airplane. I found that if you crack the filter, just enough to loosen it by hand then place a plastic grocery bag, or two over the filter and base before you unscrew it most of the spillage is contained in the bag with the filter.
I haven't tried it on my ram though.

 

I use a red funnel with a hose attached, latex gloves, most of the time it works great, Im sure if you use the funnel/hose to pan, and poke a hole in the side it would be perfect.

 

Get the filter loose then put a big ziplock bag over it, let the oil leak in the bag and take the whole mess out, I used to do that on my diesel but this one isnt that messy.

Its not as bad as some other cars/trucks, I'm able to reach through the front above the crossmember so the oil doesnt hit me on the way down. My main complaint is that 5w20 is like water and no matter what you do it splashes all over when it hits the drain pan.

 

I have found that if you use an empty margerine container that is large enough to fit over the filter that you can unsrew and remove the filter without any mess at all. The margerine container is flexible enough that you can squeeze it into position and once you remove the filter and let it drain you can take the container out with everything contained. I reuse the same margerine conainer every time. Works great.

It certainly is a stupid design though, right above all of your steering components.

 

1. You have to remember this engine is in several cars/trucks. So what works well in car A may not work as well in car B due to suspension/frame.

2. A verticle filter is MUCH better than an angle or horizontal. It allows you to "prime" the system by filling the filter before putting it on the engine resulting in less dry time during initial startup after the change.

 

several options of these online, this one is one of the cheaper ones, always wanted to do this to one of my cars, never have, I watched a show on speed vision of them fixing up an old 4 wheel drive pickup and they installed one, mentioned no negitives and it looked good too, they went with a double filter for the off roading ,not the relocating issue but they were happy with the results and it seemed pretty easy!
http://www.carparts.com/Oil-Cooler-A...2936_10618.car

 

Items needed: 1 Screwdriver and 1 hammer

Before removing or loosening the oil filter, take the screwdriver and hammer and create hole in the center of the oil filter. This will allow the oil held in the filter to drain out. Once the draining slows to a drip you can then unscrew the filter without getting covered in oil. **you don't have to hit it that hard to puncture the filter.**

You can also use the screwdriver/hammer method to puncture the sides of the filter, but you won't drain as much oil from it.

 

gold stars for everyone hurray! haha