flat tire

This is a great forum for help... Thanks to all for the advice. I decided to go with the Trailer Aid Plus. I hope I never need to use it.

On my second cross country trip I decided not to tempt fate but to practice a tire change at home. I found I needed a few 2x8s under the bottle jack to fill in the distance between the ground and the frame. I also discovered my old 4-way spin wrench was really handy.

My second cross country was 6 weeks roaming from IN to western MT. I had a truck flat and a TT flat. The truck was a rock puncture the TT was a piece of metal. Fortunately both occurred where I could pull into a large parking lot for the tire change.

Naturally since I bought the TireAid ramp I have not had a flat but that is perfectly okay with me.

One other point, I torques the TT tire lug nut to the recommended 90 ft./lbs. but after a days travel they need to be snugged up a second time.

mat60 wrote:

trail-explorer wrote:

mat60 wrote:
Get a 4-way

a 4-way what?

Ok.. Get a 4-way lug wrench. :)

Just be sure that the 4-way lug wrench fits the lugs. They are not all the same, and have different size sockets.

The only time I have had a flat the tire disintegrated and I had to wedge some boards under the rim to break it loose before jacking. Not fun on a 2 lane road in the grass shoulder. But I use a bottle jack on mine.

I have a variety of 2x6's (used for stabilizer jack pads) and a (2) 2x12 with plywood between them (used for tongue jack pad) that I build a ramp out of, then use the truck to push or pull the good axle up on, thus raising the flat tire off the ground. I find this far faster and safer while on the side of the road.

Also of note, my 4 way lug wrench won't fit on my new trailer, as the center cap is too near the lugs. So I bought a lug socket set, extension and cheater bar to keep in the trailer. Glad I tested this before setting out on the first trip.

Also have a Viair compressor that is very impressive and a tire repair kit as extra insurance.

I changed out all the jacketed lug nuts for solid ones after the first time fighting to get a socket on, then getting the nut out of the socket.

I dial the road service number. The only time I had a blow out the campers world trailer thing to raise the ire was to short to raise the tire. The lug nut had a chrome cap on them and my sockets would not turn them plus even with a 250# torque wrench it isn't the easiest job. Called and waited 45 minutes for the road guy to change the tire. I now carry a small garage jack and the proper socket.

Jackfate wrote:

myredracer wrote:
One of these days I'm going to make a custom saddle from steel pipe for the jack so it fits perfectly under the U-bolts and can't slip. This jack makes it easy for inspecting/serving brakes & wheel bearings at home.

If you can find a place that sells trailer fab stuff you can get a axle perch just like the one on your Springs. Weld that to a 2” long piece of pipe that slides over the top screw of your bottle jack.

Thanks for the tip. Couple of years ago I looked all over for a saddle that would work but will see what some trailer fab places have. I thought I could just cut a piece of pipe lengthwise but the OD of the U-bolts is too far off standard pipe IDs. Buying a pre-made saddle would def. be a lot easier.

The thing I feel is dangerous is the location of the spare on my open range. It’s just behind the rear axle centered underneath. It’s on a cable system like pickups have and is lowered from the outside the trailer with a crank handle. You will be required to crawl under trailer to get the cable to release form the wheel.

I recently saw a trailer with the spare mounted under the propane tanks ( travel trailer)with the cable system. I will relocate to this position very soon.

myredracer wrote:
How does a regular bottle jack fit under an axle? I ended up buying a double ram Torin jack that is about 6" tall collapsed (14" max extended) so it would fit under the U-bolts along with a piece of 2x4. Some axles are under the springs (like ours) and some are over which are safer to put a jack under. One of these days I'm going to make a custom saddle from steel pipe for the jack so it fits perfectly under the U-bolts and can't slip. This jack makes it easy for inspecting/serving brakes & wheel bearings at home.

If we didn't have a jack and had a flat on a trip, I'd be making a ramp from our lego blocks and putting one on each side so the trailer doesn't have to tip over.

If you can find a place that sells trailer fab stuff you can get a axle perch just like the one on your Springs. Weld that to a 2” long piece of pipe that slides over the top screw of your bottle jack.