Should I Be Able To Change A Tire?

[DesertRatt-WO]

30' Minnie Winnie

I just discovered we don't have a spare tire! But, i found a guy who had the wheel for sale, and I'll go get a tire put on.

I also don't have a Jack, nor do i know what kind it was originally. Then ib began thinking.....i am not starting enough to change a tire on 6 ton RV!

Is this unusual?

I guess I'll call a tire service if need be. Do others reckon they can change the tires?

Signed,
Old Geezer Weakling

 

[Morich]

No way for me to want to gear up with jack, tire and tools as I am certain that it would not work for me to try to bust a bunch of lugnuts loose.
I do not go that far from city service and certainly have a hard time finding a spot that lots of other people have not found first, combined with the lack of having any form of flat in the last ten years, makes me take the chance.

 

[creativepart]

On a Class C or Class A RV, it is generally expected that you will rely on a professional truck tire service company to handle flat tires on your motorhome. As a result they do not come with spares, jacks, tools nor instructions for changing a tire.

Get a Roadside Assistance Insurance plan to handle motorhome tire issues on the road.

 

[DesertRatt-WO]

On a Class C or Class A RV, it is generally expected that you will rely on a professional truck tire service company to handle flat tires on your motorhome. As a result they do not come with spares, jacks, tools nor instructions for changing a tire.

Get a Roadside Assistance Insurance plan to handle motorhome tire issues on the road.

Are they suggesting, "don't bother carrying a spare?" Wouldn't that create a huge delay in getting a flat fixed? Just wondering what to do.

Tomorrow am, I'm going to pick up my new spare and new wheel, but no Jack or tools. Is that a waste of money?

 

[imnprsd]

Even if you can raise your jacks enough to lift the tires off the ground, which is not advised...

Even if you have the right size lug wrench...

You will never be able to take the lug nuts off unless you have a breaker bar that will provide you with enough leverage...

But let's say, just for grins, you can get the wheel off. What then?

Do you have the necessary tire busting irons? ...NO!

Have you ever changed a large truck tire? ...No!

Are you strong enough to change a large truck tire with or without a split-rim? ...Probably not!

So NO! ...Don't spend the money on tire changing equipment. Spend it on a TPMS instead!

...And carry a $10 Tire Plug Kit; and make sure you have a way for your air compressor to reach your rear tires.

Likewise, it is nice to have portable Lithium Jump Start battery... especially if you travel to a sub-40F/32F area and if your batteries are old.

In my diesel, our air chassis has a engine driven air compressor and a quick disconnect air-chuck above your generator. ...But even so, I still needed to daisy-chain 3 of these 25' coiled air hoses in order to reach your rear tires.

Alternatively, you can carry a portable air compressor... for just such an emergency... and all kinds of other DIY projects.

My 2-cents: Your truck tires can handle almost anything the road can throw at them... except being driven at high speeds... on low air.

Consequently, it is very important you know you have maximum air-to-load carrying capacity (PSI) in each tire when you do your departure walk around.

 

[DesertRatt-WO]

I've always carried a portable compressor, and i can reach all 6 tires with it. I will get a can of FLAT FIX, or whatever it is called.

My tires are 1 year old Michelin XPS RIB, which i think are good tires. By having the spare tucked under the unit, I'm imagining a road service guy could come and get me going in a couple hours or so. Without having a spare, i can't imagine the delays in getting going? He'd have to take the bad tire back to town and get it fixed and come back?

Weirdly, i never thought all this through last year when i bought the rv! We've traveled about 3,009 miles with no spare. Today, 3 hours from home the side asked, "We have a spare tire, right? LOL

 

[Morich]

Since time is a factor, can we guess that you've not been retired long enough?

Point being that time becomes far less of a factor when you find it is one of the things you have a lot of to spend!
Sure being hung on the side of the road is not going to be a fun thing but if you are in an motorhome and do have a flat, you can cripple it to some place where you can just set back and let them do the worry if you have a road service. Finding a tire may take a few hours if you have an odd size and wind up too far out but many motorhomes do have pretty standard tires and often you can find them in stock. If the service truck shows up and doesn't bring a tire with him? Shame on him!

I'm setting back having a sandwich until he figures it out!

 

[DesertRatt-WO]

Since time is a factor, can we guess that you've not been retired long enough?

Point being that time becomes far less of a factor when you find it is one of the things you have a lot of to spend!
Sure being hung on the side of the road is not going to be a fun thing but if you are in an motorhome and do have a flat, you can cripple it to some place where you can just set back and let them do the worry if you have a road service. Finding a tire may take a few hours if you have an odd size and wind up too far out but many motorhomes do have pretty standard tires and often you can find them in stock. If the service truck shows up and doesn't bring a tire with him? Shame on him!

I'm setting back having a sandwich until he figures it out!

Great answer! I think I’m cool now. Thanks!

 

[Podivin]

If all of your tires are the same size and you have space to carry a spare tire then you might want to do so, but ONLY the tire - not mounted on a wheel. That way if/when you have a flat you're not at the mercy of whatever company is around to buy whatever tire they have available at whatever price they want. You just need to pay for the labor to have your tire mounted on the wheel and put back on the RV.

I had a blowout once while traveling, it was a nice relaxing 1.5 hours for me. I called our roadside assistance company, they did all the work to get someone to me. I laid on the couch and enjoyed a nice rest in air conditioning while waiting for him to arrive. Stood around in the shade and watched him replace the tire, then was on my way.
If I'd had the spare and the tools it probably would still have been a significant delay whilst I wrestled those big tires and wheels into and out of position - mine was the inner dual that blew, so as a bonus the outer dual had to be removed too. I would have been hot, tired, dirty and cranky when it was over, probably no time saved, though it would have been cheaper. Personally I prefer the restful way.

 

[DesertRatt-WO]

Obviously, I'm clueless about how flats are fixed on RVs. I've only had my RV a year.

Are you all saying that a road service company brings tires with it? That they can take your wheel off and put a new tire on it on the spot? Really? How many sizes of tires must they carry?

Well, here's what i did. I purchased a Wheel and a new tire from a place in LasVegas. I'll be picking it up later this morning. Cost; $320. I will have this put in the carrier under the RV in the rear of the chassis. Maybe, i wasted my money?

 

[Morich]

Never done it on my own but company trucks, they find out what tire you have, stop wherever and get the tire if they don't have it at their shop and do it on the roadside. They have the setup to mount it on the rim and compressors to do the work. That compressor and pressure is what makes it nearly impossible for the normal guy to get the lug nuts loose!

 

[armullis59]

Having a spare anything can sometimes be a time saver when you are on the road in the middle of nowhere! Spare tires, fan belts, fluids, etc....if you have the room to carry those items. I carry a spare fanbelt, oil, transmission fluid for the jack system, fuses, jumper cables, and tools. Also have an air compressor. But, when it comes to changing a tire, I do have a roadside service through Saferide. There is only so much you can physically do!

 

[DavidEM]

There are three levels of flat tire independence:

1. Carry nothing and depend on road service to fix the flat or bring you a replacement tire: Time consuming and may be expensive for new tire.

2. Carry a spare tire but no wheel. Let the road service guys fix the tire or replace the tire with yours: Less time waiting and cheaper.

3. Carry a spare tire mounted on a new wheel and a jack, 1/2" breaker bar and socket: Least time of all, maybe 30 minutes to change tire no cost other than replacing bad tire when you get home.

I do #3. I prefer the independence, time saved and am comfortable with changing my own tire. FWIW my tire weighs about 60 lbs and takes 140 ft lbs to remove. I have tried it and it works. I would be less keen with a 90 lb tire and 200 ft lbs or more.

David

 

[DesertRatt-WO]

I would never be able to lift a tire and wheel onto the axle! I'm somewhat relieved to learn that many people can't change atire! I'm not that unusual then!

I also had no clue that roadside guys could Mount tires at the site! Well, i guess my penalty for buying a wheel and tire is just a little extra front end cost.

This is probably not the right forum, but does anybody recommend a fuss road side service outfit?

 

[Podivin]

You'll get lots of opinions on which service to use, or not use. Ultimately it's pretty much a crap shoot, roll the dice and hope for the best when you need to use them.
I use CoachNet. I've only had to use them once, but they did exactly what they are supposed to do in polite, helpful and timely fashion.

 

[BCam]

Take the wheel to a good truck tire shop and get a good used tire and have it mounted to the wheel. This is what I did when I was getting new tires put on my MH. They were too old to use as a spare but I was able to get a 1 1/2 year old used tire with good tread for $75. This depends, of course, on how expensive the wheel is.

It's good insurance and will simplify things if you need to call road service. If I was 40 years, or even 20 years younger, I might try changing the tire myself, but not now.

I suppose this puts me at 2.5 on Dave's three levels of flat tire independence.

 

[Morich]

We find the best price on road service comes from tying it to the other insurance on the cars, etc.
Which is best is still unknown because we have never used any of them other than to feel more at ease on having an out if needed!

 

[DesertRatt-WO]

Well my new wheel and new tire are now secured safely under my rig in the intended basket. The fellow at the wheel shop had to spend close to an hour getting the Rusty bolts off the basket in 100F heat. A really nice man. All up it was $320 for the tire and wheel, no charge for putting it away, so i gave the fellow a $20 tip for his effort and away we went. Wife is more confident now, and so am i.

 

[Fotoguzzi]

My insurance (AmFam) comes with roadside assistance and when they could not help in a timely manner I called a tow company who changed my flat inner dually for $418. Then I got reimbursed by the insurance company in under two weeks. I can't imagine traveling with no spare, that's crazy.
We got all new Michelin tires now and the store told me that Michelin covers them for roadside assistance AND they pay more than other RSA so the repair company will come to me first. Have not had try that out yet.

 

[Podivin]

The only problem that I see with having a mounted spare is that it will not fit on the inner duals since they use a different wheel. But a mounted spare has a 4 in 6 chance of being right, assuming the front wheels are the same as rear outer duals.