Part 1.. We had our first blow out on the road last week. (We were on I-75) Not too much damage down below, maybe because I stopped immediately as I knew exactly what had happened and I was only going 60 in the right lane. Or maybe I got lucky..I am a very prepared and organized person, I had everything to change the tire (so I thought) BUT, I didn't count on the highway shoulder to be at such angle that my truck jack would not work. (Meaning I felt it to be unsafe with all the sway from passing trucks and cars) In comes a Good Sam service about an hour and a half later with their 3 ton floor jack with no problem. My jack may have worked, but I didn't want to chance it.Lesson learned, but, my question to any of you... If any of you have changed a tire on the interstate, what have you used? Part 2.., Here is the best part, leaving stone mountain, all packed up and pulling out of the site, our neighbor yelled for us to stop. As we were passing his site, both tires were quickly going flat as air rushed out if them. I immediately reversed and backed into our site. No one could figure out what popped them (nothing was in them and nothing was on the ground) This time, we were in a nice and flat area, so I took both tires off and had them patched at a nearby good year tire store.4 hours later, as I installed the tires, the kids and the wife looked all around for what punctured the tires. Finally, under a bunch of leaves, my wife saw what looked like a tent stake in the ground nailed into a rail road tie. I called the office and they came down to take a look. No one had an explanation, so we just took some pictures, they removed it (not easily, they ended up just nailing back in) we made sure the office knew what happened and we had to get on our way, long trip back to Tampa yesterday. So, 3 tires, one trip. BUT, we had a great time at Stone Mountain! one of our favorite campgrounds.

We just pull one tire up on leveling blocks and that raises the other tire.Only works on tandems though.

If any of you have changed a tire on the interstate, what have you used? Started towing trailers for a living in the late '60s. I use a 12 ton shorty truckers special hyd bottle jack. It slides easily under the axle next to the U bolt on a std leaf spring suspension. It has a 10" x 10" base and a short legged U channel that cradles the axle so no slipping off the jack on the side of a highway or sinking in mud. All the jack does is lift one end of the axle (on any slope) enough to remount the spare. No sense in lifting the whole side of the trailer while on the side of the road. This old jack has logged way over a million miles in many different trucks with me and used on axles of all sizes up to 10000 lbs. Others have their favorite way of changing a tire on the side of a highway on a slope.

Yes, that happened to me one time. Side of I5 sloped downward and was soft. I ended up using the stab jacks to lift the side of the TT high enough that I could get my bottle jack under the axle (under shock mount).You see, stab jack CAN lift. ;)

A "blow out" of a thanksgiving trip! | Good Sam Community

netaq
Explorer
Dec 04, 2014
Been there, done that. This happened Easter weekend. Changed the tire and cut the sheet metal in about an hour with a 20 ton bottle jack, a stack of 2x10's, and some tin snips.

The next week I ordered new tires 235/80R16 tires on 16x6 wheels, they look and tow much better than the stock donuts did. The trailer has much less sway and bounce now, so I'm happy. And I bought TPMS valve caps.

OLD:

NEW:

NEW 2:
ol_Bombero-JC
Explorer
Dec 01, 2014
modern family wrote:

Lesson learned, but, my question to any of you...

If any of you have changed a tire on the interstate, what have you used?

Q: What have you used -vs- what is *recommended* to use?

Lots of options for the first part - not all necessarily good.

Recommended: - see the trlr mfgr -AND- the axle mfgr's recommendations.

Don't still have a manual?
Call the mfgr's Tech Line and ask. Same for the axle mfgr.

I prefer to jack under the frame. Carry two bottle jacks - and various sizes/lengths of wood for cribbing (and lots of other uses).

YMMV...;)

~
Caveman_Charlie
Explorer II
Dec 01, 2014
geoedgerton wrote:
Another option for all of us to consider when travelling on the freeway is to slow down and proceed until you can find a real wide pullout or take a ramp down to the surface streets. Stopping on the shoulder is very hazardous, far outweighing the slight risk of proceeding on the remaining axle. I retired from the California Highway Patrol and can recount numerous tragedies that involved vehicles stopped on the shoulder when they actually could have moved to a safer spot. So, not offered as a criticism but just a thought from a safety perspective.

I don't travel far from home and have no need to get in the interstate. If I did and had a blow out I would try to do the above. If you drive really slowly, like 5 mph you should be able to bump along on the shoulder until you get to a off ramp without damaging the trailer. It might take half the day and ruin your plans for the trip but, I would be scared to change a tire along side of the interstate. Heck, we have cops getting run over in MN when they pull someone over on the interstate and the cop cars these days have a bunch of bright flashing lights on them.
mabynack
Explorer II
Dec 01, 2014
I had a trip like that several years ago. My mom called to tell me that my dad was diagnosed with terminal throat cancer and we needed to drive from Florida to North Carolina to see him. We didn't do a lot of prep to the RV due to the urgency of the trip and paid the price. We had three blowouts and brake problems. The blowouts were a result of dragging brakes and overheating. My youngest daughter came down with a stomach flu the day we were supposed to return home. My back went out when I was hooking up for the return trip and our dog got loose at a rest area and it took us two hours to catch him.
Dannyabear1
Explorer
Dec 01, 2014
geoedgerton wrote:
Another option for all of us to consider when travelling on the freeway is to slow down and proceed until you can find a real wide pullout or take a ramp down to the surface streets. Stopping on the shoulder is very hazardous, far outweighing the slight risk of proceeding on the remaining axle. I retired from the California Highway Patrol and can recount numerous tragedies that involved vehicles stopped on the shoulder when they actually could have moved to a safer spot. So, not offered as a criticism but just a thought from a safety perspective.

THIS, a tire and rim is not worth my life
ScottG
Nomad
Dec 01, 2014
I did stop where it was safe.
But you have to keep in mind that continuing to drive is death for the other tire (because it's severely over loaded) and the flat tire will continue to shred and damage your trailer.

The safest thing to do is get rid of the junk Chinese tires so your less likely to get in that predicament in the first place.
Haven't had a tire issue since.
gme3470
Explorer
Dec 01, 2014
Another option for all of us to consider when travelling on the freeway is to slow down and proceed until you can find a real wide pullout or take a ramp down to the surface streets. Stopping on the shoulder is very hazardous, far outweighing the slight risk of proceeding on the remaining axle. I retired from the California Highway Patrol and can recount numerous tragedies that involved vehicles stopped on the shoulder when they actually could have moved to a safer spot. So, not offered as a criticism but just a thought from a safety perspective.
modern_family
Explorer
Dec 01, 2014
I never even thought of using the stabilizing jacks to help from the sway. It was really moving when those big rigs would pass. I don't know if I would use them to jack it up, but, I should have used them to "stabilize". I did drive up on my 2x8's, but even when it was almost high enough, it was just seemed too unstable, so one more 2x8 would have made it higher than I liked it... that was more slop than I wanted to deal with, maybe I was being a whimp!

I may buy a smaller floor jack that is easy to bring with us, the one I have at home is way too heavy and big to travel. I will also add my jack stands to the list, since I had to have both tires off to repair them, I didn't like my 30 foot Trailer just hanging out on the truck's bottle jack for a while.

I usually take pride in my tire changing times.. Kind of like the old man in "A Christmas Story" when the kid curses when he looses the lug nuts... I will figure it all out, this was just a first on the side of an interstate, so I was nervous, and with 2 young kids, I really didn't want anything stupid to happen.
Terryallan
Explorer II
Dec 01, 2014
Last flat I had on the TT on the big road. Used a floor jack on wooden blocks, because it did not have enough travel. Worked well.
Turtle_n_Peeps
Explorer
Dec 01, 2014
Bottle jack and a Northern Tool 19V impact.

10 to 15 minutes from the time I pull over till I'm rolling down the road again.

I like it so much I've helped many RVers that are along the road with a flat.