Changing a flat tire

[walleyeb1]

I have a 34 ft tt and had a flat. Even when I pulled the other tire up a ramp about a foot the flat was still on the ground. Added a 2x6 and just barely lifted it enough to change it. What am I missing here?

[Lynnmor]

I carry a scissors jack, the bottle jacks may not fit under the axle when a tire is flat. Also, a bottle jack is just too tippy for me. If you can find an old (pre China) scissors jack at a flea market, grab it.

[wmoses]

Bigbird65 wrote:
Haven't had a flat but just to check I used my jack from my RAM 1500 to lift an axel off the ground. It worked just fine.

I too have not had a flat yet and I hope that I don't but am glad to hear your response since I have a Trailer-Aid (that I never tried) and don't know if my trailer is one that will fail to raise the flat tire when the Trailer Aid is used.

OP - (or anyone else) - I have Tor-flex axles - does anyone know if those are the ones that fail to respond to the Trailer Aid approach?

[Bigbird65]

Haven't had a flat but just to check I used the scissor jack from my RAM 1500 under the U bolt to lift an axle off the ground. It worked just fine.

[old_guy]

I carry a floor jack on my trips. even with the four wheels spread out the way they do I have had the jack sink in to the hot pavement when I had a flat. so I started pulling good tire up on boards.

[mrkoje]

ECones wrote:
My TT weighs about 5000 pounds. Hitch weight is 800. I carry a one ton floor jack with me. Logic sort of tells me that I should be able to get one wheel off the ground with a ton capacity jack. But I'm a newby, and my logic is sometimes not so logical 😉

I don't carry one of those trailer aids either.

Anyway, is a one ton floor jack adequate?

I'm not sure how big a 1 ton floor jack is but all the floor jacks I've ever seen are rather cumbersome to haul along with the TT or FW. It would be easier IMO to just carry around a bottle jack.

http://www.harborfreight.com/automotive-motorcycle/bottle-jacks.html

Plus they seem to cost less. $20 and you can get a 4ton bottle jack that weighs 8lbs.

[Francesca_Knowl]

If you're going to try to lift at a single point (perch) on one side, you'll need more jack since you'd be lifting half the trailer weight. But if you run 'er up on boards like you've done, then just jack the flat's axle enough to make the tire clear the ground, a one tonner will do.

It's not o.k. to actually "lift" the trailer by putting a jack under the axle, but once weight's been mostly removed via running it up on ramps it's no problem to raise the wheel that way.

[ECones]

My TT weighs about 5000 pounds. Hitch weight is 800. I carry a one ton floor jack with me. Logic sort of tells me that I should be able to get one wheel off the ground with a ton capacity jack. But I'm a newby, and my logic is sometimes not so logical 😉

I don't carry one of those trailer aids either.

Anyway, is a one ton floor jack adequate?

[Old-Biscuit]

That is why I don't have one of them 'trailer aids'....can't get enough height to raise flat tire

Bottle jack under axle spring perch is ALL that is needed.

[nomad297]

You're not missing anything. Not all suspensions will allow the flat tire to hang without as much lift as you needed. What does help is lifting the good tire up a reasonable amount, then use a bottle jack to lift your axle with the flat up just enough to change tires.

Bruce