Tire Jack...In Order To Hit The Road...Jack!!!!

tabiphile

Dalehelman, Luckyj got it right. You will almost never have an opportunity to change a flat in a good place. More than likely one wheel will be on the road and the other will be inches from a mud filled ditch, barely on the road. There will be nowhere flat to tow it and there will be semi's and yahoo's whizzing by you at 90mph......each car and truck that passes will make the trailer shake. Good Sam is not such a bad idea..if you want to wait three hours for them to show...

Too add (and this has been said before) a lug wrench is about the last thing that you should use on your lugs other than a crescent wrench. Buy a decent torque wrench and the correct socket. A good one will substitute for a breaker bar but both should be carried if you really want to cover your bases. Why a torque wrench? Because most of us will tighten a bolt to 50 foot pounds and think it's darned tight...if you need to get to 90, your lug wrench probably won't do it and you won't have any way to tell. Correctly tightening the lugs is fundamental...

Dalehelman

@tabiphile
i would never attempt to change a tire under those conditions. I would literally drag the trailer to a safe location. After over 35 years of truck driving. I have seen my share people risking their lives along side of the road even the best of conditions. What ever it takes get to a safe location. Just stopped on the shoulder is extremely dangerous.

Ratkity

I have to add to @tabiphile's description  -  there will be something decomposing and you will be downwind from it. It'll seem as if a gum factory truck turned over and sticky stuff will seem to be everywhere. Mosquitoes and other undesirable bugs will hover too.. this scenario is one of the better ones! LOL. I didn't even add weather.

pthomas745

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AFf0ysgNiM

Sharon_is_SAM

LOL!

TerryV6

I’m thinking of doing a flat tire drill now that I just returned from our last little outing.  Get to familiarize yourself with where everything is and what you will do.  Last year I bought a truck and got a flat a few weeks later.  Indeed,  now where is the jack? Doesn’t help that the stress level in the cab has doubled..

pthomas745

I remember my dad, back in the day, when we started to want to drive.  We would get to toodle around the neighborhood with our learner's permit for a bit, and then go back to the house.  He reached down and  drained the air out of a tire, say the lessons were over until it was changed.  All five of us learned how to change a tire that way.  It is pretty much the first thing I do with any new vehicle. 

Verna

@pthomas745, your father must have been my Daddy’s lost brother!  Not only did we have to change a tire to practice, we also had to learn to change the oil and learn to check all the fluids. Yup, 3 girls, one boy.  Mother did most of our teaching (obviously before Driver’s Training was common) and Daddy tested us. Daddy went with us to the BMV branch to take our tests.

I still smile about the memory of going up that very steep hill a couple of miles from our house, Mother telling me to stop and turn off the engine, and then get that VW 4-on-the-floor going without killing the engine.  We all had lots of lessons on that. 

Ratkity

We had to learn to pump gas, understand what vapor lock was in a VW bug, be able to clean battery terminals, change a tire and finally, pop the clutch in 2nd gear to start the bug (including getting the speed up past 15-20 mph lol).

ericnliz

@Verna, & @Ratkity, had to laugh on that one! First thing I was taught to drive was the tractor. Try pushin' THAT sucker to push start. I finally tied a harness on the farm horse & got it goin' fast enough to start it. The trick was to "WHOA" the horse after it started!

Sharon_is_SAM

Poor horse!

GibW

I use the stabilizer & tongue jack method when switching to smaller wheels for winter storage. So once in the fall and again in the spring. Can attest that it works extremely well and is very stable. Loosen lug nuts first. Lower tongue as far as it will go. Lower rear stabilizers as far as they will go. Raise tongue until wheels clear the ground. Change tires, hand tighten lug nuts. Lower tongue until wheels are on the ground. Raise rear stabilizers. Tighten & torque lug nuts. I was skeptical when I read about it but I’m a convert. 

Dalehelman

@GibW
I agree totally. I have tried to convince people how safe a easy this method is for over three years. Just the fact that you are supporting the trailer at three points. Instead of one when using a single jack. A single jack supports all the weight on about one square incn, and can easily slip off. The three point method couldn’t be more stable or secure. Even if the work site is somewhat uneven and not level. It is important to chock the wheels before unhitching from the tow vehicle. 

GibW

@Dalehelman... Thanks for the reminder. Yes, ALWAYS chock the wheels. 

TerryV6

GibW said:

I use the stabilizer & tongue jack method when switching to smaller wheels for winter storage. So once in the fall and again in the spring. Can attest that it works extremely well and is very stable. Loosen lug nuts first. Lower tongue as far as it will go. Lower rear stabilizers as far as they will go. Raise tongue until wheels clear the ground. Change tires, hand tighten lug nuts. Lower tongue until wheels are on the ground. Raise rear stabilizers. Tighten & torque lug nuts. I was skeptical when I read about it but I’m a convert. 

Great.... thanks!   This is worthy of a printed page after fixing...