Tire changing tips

SCBillandJane · 10-27-2010, 04:33 PM

1) Before leaving home, slide out the spare tire from under the TM. Lubricate the slide rails with the lubricant that you use on the levelers. Check the air pressure. The tire is heavy and you want it to slide easily.
2) Make sure that you have the square drive screw driver that fits the cover at the top of the wheel.
3) At Walmart they sell an extendable lug wrench for about $15 that has 4 common size sockets that fit most lug nuts. They fit the nuts on my boat trailer,
TM, and my two tow vehicles. Sometimes lug nuts are impossible for me to take off. This wrench is about the size of a ruler but doubles in length to give you much more leverage. I store it with my truck jack.
4) Check your tow vehicle jack. My truck's bottle jack is strong enough and will go high enough to change the trailers tires. If your tow vehicle jack won't work, buy a bottle jack rated to lift 5,000 pounds to have a good safety factor.
5) If possible have a 1 foot piece of 4x4x4 and 2x6 to stack under the jack to give it a stable base.
6) I hope others will add to this if you have additional tips.

**ShrimpBurrito** · 10-27-2010, 04:44 PM

7) Replace all tires on your TM over 3-4 years old from date of manufacture, regardless of tread wear.

Wavery · 10-27-2010, 06:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShrimpBurrito

7) Replace all tires on your TM over 3-4 years old from date of manufacture, regardless of tread wear.

I'm hoping to get 6 years out of mine......have you priced tire lately?

I just bought 3 Maxxis 225/75/R15-D tires yesterday....... $375.....

Someone post a mod for the 15" to fit on the 14" spare tire rack but I can't find it......

**ShrimpBurrito** · 10-27-2010, 06:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by harveyrv

I'm hoping to get 6 years out of mine......have you priced tire lately?

Yep. Have you priced a blowout? Both are expensive, but from experience, new tires are cheaper and SO much less of a PITA. And blowouts can also ruin your weekend.

Dave

**commodor47** · 10-27-2010, 06:57 PM

Quote:

Someone post a mod for the 15" to fit on the 14" spare tire rack but I can't find it......

Is this what you are looking for Wayne? http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...ght=spare+tire

Dick

Wavery · 10-27-2010, 07:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by commodor47

Is this what you are looking for Wayne? http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...ght=spare+tire

Dick

Thanks for the effort...... finally found it and was just coming back to delete my message.....

I'll fiddle with this next week. This weekend, I'll just go with the 14" spare.

10-28-2010, 02:28 PM

We had a blow out once. I tried using the truck jack, but it would not go high enough. So I just used the corner jacks on the front and rear of the curb side with no problems.

Start to finish it took me about 20 minutes to swap the spare in. maybe a little faster than that.

My cordless drill would not lift the TM on the corner jacks. I had to use the hand crank after the cordless drill stalled.

11-08-2010, 06:02 PM

I have a small tarp I use to put on the ground to keep clean and dry while working on the tire. Remember you have to open the trailer, which can be a challenge on a busy Interstate. Putting down at least two of the stabilizer jacks helps. Remember to loosen the lug nuts *before* you jack up the trailer and take the weight off the flat tire. I won't relate what happened when we had a flat on an entrance ramp to I-95 in Miami. It makes the price of new tires one of the worlds greatest bargains.

11-10-2010, 11:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by terryh

I have a small tarp I use to put on the ground to keep clean and dry while working on the tire. Remember you have to open the trailer, which can be a challenge on a busy Interstate. Putting down at least two of the stabilizer jacks helps. Remember to loosen the lug nuts *before* you jack up the trailer and take the weight off the flat tire. I won't relate what happened when we had a flat on an entrance ramp to I-95 in Miami. It makes the price of new tires one of the worlds greatest bargains.

I did not have to pop open my 2720, but I have the lift kit.

I just used the corner jacks.

It took about 20 minutes from start to finish. Perhaps a bit less.

But I'm 57. It sure would help to be younger.

11-12-2010, 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SCBillandJane

...2) Make sure that you have the square drive screw driver that fits the cover at the top of the wheel.

Although I have an Elkmont, I assume that the spare tire storage mechanism is the same as the ones in the fold-down Trailmanors. I know that I have a spare under there, just to the front of the entry door, and I've checked twice to make sure it's inflated, but I've never tried to remove the spare. What is this square drive screwdriver that you speak of? I take it we're talking about a square tip? Male or female? Any insight on the dimensions?

Since the trailer is just a few months old, I haven't sweated the details on the spare. I'm going camping this weekend; sounds like I better get prepared to crawl under the rig and check things out!