Truck camper overhang and spare tires

Buzzcut1 wrote:
Ski Pro

Xmas day on I5 30 miles from the nearest town. AAA told me it would be one to two hours before a truck could reach me. I had it changed in under 20 minutes.

Twice now, I've used my service, er... I mean my WIFE used our service. Yeah, the wife. That's it.

Anyways, twice the service was called; once for a dead battery and once for a locked out at a gas station. I, er, I mean she was told it would take up to 2 hours. They were there both times in under 15 minutes.

Ha!

I think they say 2 hours just to cover their butts or in hopes another solution is optioned due to their slow quoted response time.

Anyways, I'm a bold guy when it comes to fixing my own stuff. In my own driveway. With my wife standing there with 911 on speed dial. I'm not so sure I'd take on changing the spare in the field unless I had to. I'll call the auto club and either wait or start the job while waiting for them to show up. Doesn't cost me anything if I beat 'em to the finish I suppose.

Buzzcut1 wrote:
I don't call him Jake the wonder dog for nothing

You ought to take him on the kayak with ya. He might be able to out-fish you! Ha!

GeoBoy wrote:

Buzzcut1 wrote:
Ski Pro

Xmas day on I5 30 miles from the nearest town. AAA told me it would be one to two hours before a truck could reach me. I had it changed in under 20 minutes.

Are you sure you did it or did Jake fix the flat while you looked for a place to fish?

I don't call him Jake the wonder dog for nothing:B

Buzzcut1 wrote:
Ski Pro

Xmas day on I5 30 miles from the nearest town. AAA told me it would be one to two hours before a truck could reach me. I had it changed in under 20 minutes.

Are you sure you did it or did Jake fix the flat while you looked for a place to fish?

Ski Pro

Xmas day on I5 30 miles from the nearest town. AAA told me it would be one to two hours before a truck could reach me. I had it changed in under 20 minutes.

Reason to not use a service:

1. Not everyone has the time to wait for a service arrive - You may be chasing the clock or weather may be chasing you.
2. Sometimes flats occur where there is plenty of room to pull over and safely change them yourself.
3. You may be far enough off the beaten track that you may have trouble getting someone dispatched to help you.
4. Just because you can.

Reasons for using a service:

1. You have plenty of time to wait for a dispatch.
2. You are in an unsafe location.
3. You do not have the proper tools or yours are broken.
4. The weather or temperature is bad and you don't want to deal with it.
5. You paid for the service and would like to get some value out of the subscription.

I kinda wonder about you guys changing a flat in risky conditions with traffic and all. Doesn't anyone have roadside assistance with their insurance? Why not just call them to come change the flat tire? Then, in the meantime, you can take a nap in the camper, or fix a sammich.


****EDIT****
I just called my insurance company to check my coverage. They said it's covered. In fact, they said that if I didn't have a working spare,(already damaged or no access due to camper) they would either tow me to some place to get the tire replaced, or take the tire off and get it fixed, then return with it fixed.

Bottle jack and cordless drill with adapter I made to crank down the spare works good for me.

Hehehe, did that, done that. Got a flat on I405 in Seattle three months ago. Ended up in the split on exit 3 SB. Had to disconnect the camper and lift it off the bed. Then I could get at the access point to lower the spare tire. Not the best place to be removing the camper!

Not a fun afternoon, but we made it through.

-Eric

I had a flat this summer in New Mexico. What I did is unload the camper, change the tire reload the camper and I was on my way. Biggest issue was being safe while changing the tire. i have good tires.

Bill

Don't know about the shiny new trucks but on our 04 Chevy dually a pair of bolt cutters would have been necessary to release the tire no matter how one eventually lowered it in the first place. There was a release that siezed up over time and no amount of penetrating oil or tinkering would release it. Dealership's answer to what to do was bolt cutters as it was a common thing. Maybe they've gone back to the old fashioned simple release method. We just put ours up front and solved any future issues. As you get older your patience level for dealing with things like that in steal situations is much, much less. We try to do the K.I.S.S. method.