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HawkTX's avatar
HawkTX
Explorer
Jun 20, 2017

Jack recommendations for small class C motorhome

Just got back from a fantastic trip from Dallas, TX to the Grand Canyon and then up to Moab, UT and then over to Colorado and back to home to Texas. Wow!!! What a trip with some incredible sites! So, on this venture I got to thinking on some pretty desolate roads with no cell phone signal what would happen if I got a flat on my Class C (I have a 6 tire set up - two in the front and four in the back) and I couldn't call triple AAA? The setup that came with the RV is pretty weak. Wanted to see what you guys carry in your rig for this type of situation. Bottle Jack? Some kind of car jack? This is my first motorhome and I have never changed a tire on a dually set up like this motorhome has. I'm used to pulling a 5th wheel and have changed several on those. Thanks in advance for any ideas.
  • I have a bottle jack (I believe mine is eight ton; it's helpful to go a bit above the minimally required rating as it makes it less effort to pump up) and a harbor freight breaker bar and appropriate sockets/extensions. The lugnut torque for the Ford E-series dually chassis are 140 ft-lbs, and I understand from some quick googling that the sprinter chassis is basically the same (assuming steel wheels). That is not terribly difficult to manage with a decent breaker bar or lug wrench.

    There are low-profile, double extension bottle jacks that some say are helpful for fitting under the vehicle with a flat tire. My jack is a single-extension model, but has a screw extension at the top of the ram and so a fairly low profile, low enough that I think it will be fine in the event of a completely flat tire. Thankfully I haven't had to test that part out (yet).

    You likely already know this, but standard AAA coverage doesn't apply to RVs; you need AAA Plus (or Premier) with the added RV coverage option.