Flat Tire Solutions

[pinstriper]

[p]What's the preferred solution people use ?[/p][p]
[/p][p]1) Replace the tires with run-flats ?[/p][p]
[/p][p]2) Mount a spare tire carrier and buy a spare.[/p][p]
[/p][p]3) Carry a can of compressed goo.[/p][p]
[/p]

[tinkeringtechie]

 You forgot option 4: Get a AAA membership 

[admin]

I keep a spare tire maintained and usually also care a plug kit with a compressor. The "compressed goo" works but last time I used it on my car tire I was charged a ridiculous amount to have it repaired b/c the shop claimed it took a lot of extra work to wash out the tire. Although with the spare and plug kit I dont think I have to worry  to much about being without a usable tire.


-Sean

[pinstriper]

I stopped off at the regional chain this afternoon and put the question to them. With a clamp on mount, a rim, and the tire itself, looking in the neighborhood of $150 to carry a spare. And adds about 50# right near the tongue, plus I gotta carry some sort of trailer jack.

I posed the question of how effective, and how heinous they view the canned goo. He shrugged his shoulders and said "fact of life for us - a lot of new cars come with no spare, just the can of goo and an inflator". His best recommendation was to get some sort of roadside assistance, and carry a can of goo. Not a great solution, but the best compromise for the risk, and to avoid the extra weight.

[vmcmn]

Just make sure that if you use the canned goo that you let the people that are replacing or fixing the tire know that it had been used. The stuff can be highly explosive and flammable (they don't post the warning on the can for nothing) I saw a tire that came into the shop I worked at go BOOM,thank god the mechanic wasn't hurt just stunned. Plus its a real pain to clean out of a tire,that's why they charged you so much Sean.

[pinstriper]

Whelp, I got under the trailer to drain the fresh water tank (dealer very helpfully topped it off so I could pull a couple hundred extra pounds around) and I discovered by 14DBS actually does have a spare ! So now all I gotta do is figure out how to jack it up in the event of a flat.

[admin]

Dont you have a jack in the tow vehicle?


-Sean
[Sent from my phone]

[pinstriper]

Yes, the bottle jack that came with her. But I wonder if I ought to consider something trailer-specific.

[tinkeringtechie]

On a dual axle trailer I would use blocks or a ramp to raise the good tire and the bad one will follow. Here's an example of what I mean: http://youtu.be/-jE_x_TjlOI

Much faster than a jack and usually you have some blocks or ramps with you already.

[djsamuel]

Do you use this? I was thinking of getting this for my 21BHS , but was wondering if, due to the independent axles, if the one wheel would actually make it off the ground.

[tinkeringtechie]

I have the Anderson "camper levelers", which are a slightly shorter version of this that can fit between the wheels. I plan to use them instead of leveling blocks, but I will also test with just one to see if it could be used for tire changing. I'm picking up my 21BHS this weekend, so I'll report back next week. My thought on the independent axles is that it would actually help. Most of the old school leaf spring double axles have a linkage between the two that allows one to go up while the other goes down (creating even more travel). So compared to that design, I would expect the independent axles to have less travel and therefore work better with this approach. If the rapid jack isn't tall enough, you could get the "trailer aid", which has 5.5" of lift (but is bulkier):

[a href="http://www.amazon.com/Trailer-Aid-Plus-Tandem-Changing/dp/B001V8UKBY/"]http://www.amazon.com/Trailer-Aid-Plus-Tandem-Changing/dp/B001V8UKBY/[/a]

[djsamuel]

[quote source="/post/283/thread" timestamp="1395679708" author="@tinkeringtechie"]I have the Anderson "camper levelers", which are a slightly shorter version of this that can fit between the wheels. I plan to use them instead of leveling blocks, but I will also test with just one to see if it could be used for tire changing. I'm picking up my 21BHS this weekend, so I'll report back next week. My thought on the independent axles is that it would actually help. Most of the old school leaf spring double axles have a linkage between the two that allows one to go up while the other goes down (creating even more travel). So compared to that design, I would expect the independent axles to have less travel and therefore work better with this approach. If the rapid jack isn't tall enough, you could get the "trailer aid", which has 5.5" of lift (but is bulkier):

[a href="http://www.amazon.com/Trailer-Aid-Plus-Tandem-Changing/dp/B001V8UKBY/"]http://www.amazon.com/Trailer-Aid-Plus-Tandem-Changing/dp/B001V8UKBY/[/a][/quote]Thanks for the info.  Enjoy your 21BHS!

[tinkeringtechie]

I finally got a chance to try the Andersen camper levelers and unfortunately they didn't even fit between the tires ... For tire changing that wouldn't be a problem since you only need to raise one wheel, but I need to use both at the same time for leveling. After a bit of research it looks like you can actually trim the front edge to make it fit. I haven't had a chance to trim it yet, but I'll post back once I do.

[tinkeringtechie]

I finally got a chance to try the camper levelers this weekend. They worked very well. I had to trim off about an inch to get them to fit, but it didn't seem to affect the functionality:

[attachment id="163" thumbnail="1"]

I had a perfectly leveled and chocked camper in a couple seconds and I also tested that they would work for changing a tire. I would highly recommend them.

[djsamuel]

Thanks for the update!