Flat tire on SW Truck while carrying a TC?

[desertfoxjr]

What has been your experience getting a flat on a SW Truck while carrying a TC>

[SideHillSoup]

Geewizard wrote:
Yes.
Of course, my TC doesn't have three slide-outs, a master bedroom with walk-in closet and shower for two, or a hot tub. 😉

:B :B :W :B

[Troutguy]

trail-explorer wrote:

desertfoxjr wrote:
What has been your experience getting a flat on a SW Truck while carrying a TC>

What's an SW truck?

The straight answer would be SRW or Single Rear Wheel (non-Dually).
DRW= Dual Rear Wheel (Dually).

[mkirsch]

When my truck had a flat, it burst into flames, caught an edge on the road, launched into the air briefly, then came down and bounced end over end across the median, right into the path of a busload of orphans and nuns, killing everyone.

Seriously, you pull over and change the tire. True blowouts are so rare that if you aren't grossly overloaded and put new tires on at least every 5 years if not sooner, you may never experience one. Even if you do, don't panic, and everything will be fine. It might get exciting for a brief moment, but if you were paying attention to your driving to begin with, you'll take it in stride.

It is probably a good idea to dig out your factory jack and see if you can lift the truck with the camper on board, while home, and plan accordingly depending on the results of your experiment.

[Geewizard]

Yes. I used the stock truck jack all three times I had a flat. Two rear tire flats (one near Cooke City, MT and one in a remote AK area) and one front on the Steese Highway, AK. No worries, just takes time and thought. And a nice flat rock.

Of course, my TC doesn't have three slide-outs, a master bedroom with walk-in closet and shower for two, or a hot tub. 😉

[Fuller_Johnson]

On my way up to an engine show in the UP last summer I went through a bunch of sealcoating, I think they got the material from an old Junk Yard. I picked up a three sheet metal screws in the back duals, didn't notice a thing until I stopped for fuel and smelled warm rubber. I just took the stock furnished jack out jacked up the back and changed the outside dual. The trailer I was pulling was about 3,000 and had a 5,000 pound engine on it. I could have taken some tongue weight off with the trailer jack but it wasn't needed. I suppose the camper goes about 2500 + loaded.

[TxGearhead]

Back in the 30's, my 30's, which was the 1980's, I had a light duty F250. It had 7.50x16 tube type tires. I had a Tejas 8.5 ft cabover on it. No clue what it weighed. I didn't know what a CAT scale was. Had a flat on I-25 crossing Platte River at Douglas WY. I didn't know I had a flat. A passing car was pointing at it. No drama that I recall.
There is a do-dad that fits over the top of a jack that has a half circle welded to it to fit an axle better. I think I saw it on Amazon. Didn't want to pay their price. A short pipe nipple welded to half of a 3 inch?? pipe would work.

[wnjj]

trail-explorer wrote:

desertfoxjr wrote:
What has been your experience getting a flat on a SW Truck while carrying a TC>

What's an SW truck?

A unicycle...or what we all figured it out to mean.

[trail-explorer]

desertfoxjr wrote:
What has been your experience getting a flat on a SW Truck while carrying a TC>

What's an SW truck?

[JimK-NY]

It may take more than a bottle jack. When I was looking for a suitable jack, I found many did not have the correct lift for the back axle and those that would be long enough for the rear axle would not fit in the front.

There was another issue. The bottle jacks all looked like the one above with a single circular lifting area. That does not seem to be a good way to lift on the round bottom of the axle. There should be a cradle for the axle in case there is some shifting as the jack goes up. That is especially true if the jack is not on a hard surface.

I have decided not to carry big jacks. Instead I use my AAA card. The one and only time I got a flat, AAA came from other a 100 miles away and was still there in a couple hours.

[mellow]

I have had 2 flats while driving the 250 srw, both were due to tire stem issues while I was airing the tires back up. Changing the tire wasn't hard, just make sure you carry a big bottle jack under the back seat and have a way to get the spare down and it isn't bad. I have changed both the front and rear and I used the camper jacks to help change the rear, left the turnbuckles on and just put enough weight on the camper jacks to help me raise the truck with the bottle jack.

If your prepared it isn't that bad.

[deserteagle56]

Buzzcut1 wrote:
had a rear tire blow out on my SRW with a 4600 pound lance 1055. The blow out and getting the rig safely stopped is the issue. Changing the tire isn't. As long as you have a good bottle jack ( not the OEM Jack) changing the tire with the camper on or off is the same thing. loosen the lug nuts, drop the spare and pull it out. jack the truck up remove the lug nuts and flat. put on the spare tighten the nuts lower the jack, torque the lug nuts stow the flat and off you go.

Rear tire blowout on my SRW was one of the reasons I went to a dually. Never want to experience that again.

[kohldad]

I carry a piece of 3/4 x 10 x 10 plywood for the base and use the factory jack with no problem. If you aren't overloaded, the factory jack is more than capable of lifting any loaded SRW truck, with or without a load. I've used the RAM factory jack not only on the SRW truck while carrying a TC, but also on a 35' FW and a 23' 14k flatbed trailer when loaded near max.

[JimK-NY]

wnjj wrote:

JimK-NY wrote:
Don't plan on using the OEM jack to lift the rear of the truck with a fully loaded camper. You should plan on releasing the hold downs and using the camper jacks to handle at least some of the load.

I didn’t even release the tiedowns. Just alternate camper jacks and truck jack so the suspension stays loaded.

Camper jacks, attachments onto the camper and the tie down systems are not built to handle also lifting the weight of the truck. Unlatching the tie downs eliminates this risk. Otherwise the truck jack can slip or sink into the dirt, the tire can continue to deflate or you can misjudge when you attempt to "alternate" between camper and truck jacks. It is always a good idea to undo the tie downs when the camper is on its jacks.

[bb_94401]

2x a 12 ton bottle jack, with a 2x6 under the base. Used a high lift version for both front and rear flats on Forest Service roads made with shale.

Bought a High-Lift, Double Ram, version of the Bottle Jack. Small enough to fit under the frame with the tire flat, yet with enough lift to put on a fully inflated tire, on a rutted road. Lifting on the frame avoids having to use the TC jacks to reduce the weight on the wheels.



Minium Lift Height: 8-15/16"
Maximum Lift Height: 23-5/8"
Screw Top Adjustment: 3-1/2"