Changing a tire yourself

[radiojeffrv]

We have owned a Former Rental Majestic 28A for 5 years now and have loved every minute of it! We have also learned so much in that time. One of those things is that tire issues will happen. We have had Good Sam and AAA RV Road Side assistance and have learned that it may take hours for someone to come out to help. Recently while traveling through West Virginia we had a tire issue and called AAA... After several calls and promises they never showed up, we finally called a local truck tire place.

With that said...after the latest let down from roadside assistance, we bought a 12 ton bottle jack and a cordless Ryobi Impact Drill. We did a test at home yesterday and changed a rear outer ourselves with no problem. Having these two simple items could have saved us HOURS of waiting.

Are we just slow learners...have other people done something similar? Wondering how many others have changed their own tire after issue.

[crawford]

pnichols wrote:
I once had a flat on one of the rear duals that I discovered on my Class C while it was sitting in my back yard just before heading out on a trip.

I called our traveling friends to wait up for us and then called my AAA ERS. They said that "they didn't service flats on dual tire sets" !!!!! (huuuuhhhhh?)

I canceled AAA (after being with them for decades) and never looked back. I now have an ERS that is all about RV road service -> Coach-Net. (They're comprehensive - so they also function as an ERS provider for our pickup and sedan.)

this is because you didn't have AAA-RV which covers it but cost most then just AAA

[ron_dittmer]

I am 63 years old and not made of muscle, yet I have only a little trouble managing our 2007 E350 steel wheeled tires. I weighed one on our bathroom scale which came to 83 pounds. I replaced 4 of the 6 steel wheels with Alcoa alloy wheels which weigh 20 pounds less making them 63 pounds each.

Our 6 ton bottle jack that came with the rig is easy to manage but hard to pump up without adding an 18" gas pipe. I once thought of upgrading it with a 12 ton jack until I seen the size and weight of it. It is way more than our 24 foot long E350 rig requires.

[pnichols]

I once had a flat on one of the rear duals that I discovered on my Class C while it was sitting in my back yard just before heading out on a trip.

I called our traveling friends to wait up for us and then called my AAA ERS. They said that "they didn't service flats on dual tire sets" !!!!! (huuuuhhhhh?)

I canceled AAA (after being with them for decades) and never looked back. I now have an ERS that is all about RV road service -> Coach-Net. (They're comprehensive - so they also function as an ERS provider for our pickup and sedan.)

[Lumpty]

Luckily never had a flat on the current Class C, but have rotated a 6 tires a few times. To do so requires jacking opposite diagonal corners up. I use my 3-ton floor jack under the axle corner, and a 6-ton bottle jack under the front Twin-I beam. Each only has to be lifted enough to daylight under the tires. The bottle jack lives in the motorhome, along with the appropriate socket, 1/2” drive extension and breaker bar. If I had to change a tire on the road I could do it easily.

[mgirardo]

When we owned our Class C, it came with a fully mounted spare and a lug nut wrench, but no jack. The one time I assisted someone replace a flat on a smaller Class C, the rims were partially rust welded together and was a serious pain to separate the two rims even with a long tire iron.

We had AAA Plus with RV when we owned the Hybrid TT and kept it with the Class C. We had 1 blow out of an inner dual in the 7 years we owned it and I was glad to wait for AAA to find someone to take care of it for us. We waited about 2 hours for AAA to find someone, mainly because they were trying to find someone that could tow the Motorhome to a safer place if the Motorhome was not in a safe place. The company that came out within 30 minutes of getting the call could not tow the Motorhome and had the tire swapped quickly. I guess AAA finally gave up on the tow requirement. Fortunately, the rims separated without issue.

For us, AAA is as much about how much money we save on discounts at Hotels, Campgrounds, restaurants, etc. and it is rare that a year goes by and the savings don't pay for the membership.

-Michael

[pnichols]

time2roll wrote:

pnichols wrote:
2. You might want to not have just a regular high-tonnage hydraulic jack along - the better high-tonnage jack is one that extends higher just in case. i.e. A jack with dual cylinder capability so as to extend more than normal. i.e. What if the road shoulder is slanted downwards from the roadway, and the flat is on the side away from the roadway and you have/want to get the RV axle with the flat somewhat level?!

Also note when you are buying a hydraulic jack that it needs to get under the axle/frame when the tire is flat or completely gone. Clearance can get very tight. Many higher tonnage jacks with decent lift may not go low enough.

My high lift jack also starts out very low, then extends to around 20 inches. Just in case, I carry a full size shovel so that I can dig a shallow hole for the jack base if the jack doesn't start out low enough. Sometimes the hole might need a board in the bottom of it to make a firm base for the jack, in which case the hole would need to be large and deep enough to also make room for the board. My jack has a long handle so I can work it when it may be hard to otherwise reach it under the axle and in the hole.

[time2roll]

pnichols wrote:
2. You might want to not have just a regular high-tonnage hydraulic jack along - the better high-tonnage jack is one that extends higher just in case. i.e. A jack with dual cylinder capability so as to extend more than normal. i.e. What if the road shoulder is slanted downwards from the roadway, and the flat is on the side away from the roadway and you have/want to get the RV axle with the flat somewhat level?!

Also note when you are buying a hydraulic jack that it needs to get under the axle/frame when the tire is flat or completely gone. Clearance can get very tight. Many higher tonnage jacks with decent lift may not go low enough.

[toedtoes]

My thought with the food being my last concern is that if I were stuck in an off-kilter position, I would turn the fridge off. Then no concern about damage to it.

[pnichols]

toedtoes wrote:
Good considerations. For me, the answers would be:

1. I carry the plastic blocks with me - both in the MH and in the SUV.

2. This is why I carry two jacks. I have had an instance where I needed to use one jack to lift the vehicle so far, then placed a couple blocks under the second jack to lift it a bit further. I would also roll the vehicle to the least unlevel spot.

3. This happened to me. I simply put the bad tire in the back of the SUV until I could take it to a tire shop.

4. I keep a moving blanket, tarp, rain poncho, and a regular blanket in both vehicles.

5. In a worst case scenario, where there would not be a fairly level spot to pull over, food would be my least concern.

Food would be my last concern, too ... but distruction of my propane refrigerator - from being too long parked at an angle while waiting for ERS to arrive and install the spare - would be a serious concern! :E

[DrewE]

I've changed a tire "in anger" on my motorhome (while on the road) twice: once because a tire came apart apparently due to internal damage or defects, and once because I managed to maneuver too close to a stump and got some bits of wood stuffed up between the sidewall and the rim. I won't say it's fun, but it wasn't a terrible ordeal for me and I thought beat waiting for AAA to find someone to help and for them to come. (I have also had AAA come to change the tire once on the motorhome, the result of cutting too close to a curb not long after I had gotten it, and aside from taking some time to get someone out it worked out just fine. I did not have a jack at the time.)

In any case, I just use a pretty standard bottle jack with an adjustable height center column that can be screwed upwards to increase the height, a 24" breaker bar, and appropriate sockets--and, of course, wheel chocks diagonally opposite. I've done pretty much the same task in my own driveway a few times, too, for various reasons, most commonly because a tire or brake shop didn't realize the big holes in the Centramatics should be lined up with the inner valve stems so you can check and fill the tires.

I have usually just put the removed tire in the middle of the kitchen area, inside the main door of my motorhome, where there's a nice big spot on the floor; it's quicker than cranking it up with the lift mechanism for the spare.

[toedtoes]

Good considerations. For me, the answers would be:

1. I carry the plastic blocks with me - both in the MH and in the SUV.

2. This is why I carry two jacks. I have had an instance where I needed to use one jack to lift the vehicle so far, then placed a couple blocks under the second jack to lift it a bit further. I would also roll the vehicle to the least unlevel spot.

3. This happened to me. I simply put the bad tire in the back of the SUV until I could take it to a tire shop.

4. I keep a moving blanket, tarp, rain poncho, and a regular blanket in both vehicles.

5. In a worst case scenario, where there would not be a fairly level spot to pull over, food would be my least concern.

[pnichols]

For you DIY tire changers out there (of which I'm maybe one, if ever required in certain situations):

1. Sometimes "along side" the road is soft, so in addition to all the tire changing equipment you might have along, you better have some boards (and shovel) along to create a proper support area for the jack's base.

2. You might want to not have just a regular high-tonnage hydraulic jack along - the better high-tonnage jack is one that extends higher just in case. i.e. A jack with dual cylinder capability so as to extend more than normal. i.e. What if the road shoulder is slanted downwards from the roadway, and the flat is on the side away from the roadway and you have/want to get the RV axle with the flat somewhat level?

3. If your spare is mounted up underneath like they are on pickup trucks (and is the case on our RV) ... even though you might be able to drop, drag, and mount the spare - where are you going lift up and store the flat tire if you can't lift it back up and secure it underneath?

4. Don't forget you may have to do tire changing in extreme heat, cold, rain, snow, sleet, high wind conditions, etc.. You might want to carry along a tarp, suitable clothing, and a portable fan to blow on you if you're doing tire changing work in the extreme heat.

5. If - worst case - you think you can merely "camp out" while waiting for roadside service to arrive and change your spare -> what if you're on a highly tipped/rough area just off the roadway. Will the RV be at too much of an angle to not damage your propane refrigerator and/or ruin food inside while you wait hours and hours for help?

Of course if you're a boondock camper, you better be able to change your RV's tire in all kinds of strange situations. For this we carry along a satellite communication device ... but I hope my budget can afford to have $$$$$ trailside service come out to rescue us!

[klutchdust]

My only flat on my C in 6 years and when AAA got there we found the bracket holding the spare tire into the rack was bent. he had to unbolt and remove the rack to get the tire out, so do check that from time to time.
And he borrowed my tools to do the job.

[Bordercollie]

The spare wheel in our Tioga 26Q is mounted in the front of our cavernous cargo hold. At age 82, with "issues", I might be able to slowly remove all the stuff to clear access to the spare but would not be able to crawl in, dismount, and get the heavy spare wheel/tire out, much less get the rig jacked up safely and remove outer and inner rear dual wheel and mount the spare on the side of the highway.
I don't like to think about a tire failure underway but carry AAA emergency road service. Know your limits. At least have a usable spare aboard.