Changing a trailer tire.

416rigby · Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2008 9:25 pm Post subject: Changing a trailer tire.

If you have not tried to change a tire on your trailer, I suggest you do before you HAVE to do it on the road...sort of a dry run, if you will...to be sure everything will go smoothly.

Replaced a tire today with the boat on the trailer in the barn.

Lesson learned: Make sure your jack will actually fit under the trailer! I figured the jack from my truck (F-250) would work. I figured wrong...it was just a bit too tall to fit under the axle. I'm sure glad I found that little detail while in the barn and not on the side of the road at night in the rain! Been driving all over the place for two years and have been darn lucky I didn't have any trouble.

I went to WalMart and got a nifty little 2 1/2 ton floor jack with built in LED lighting and four sockets all in a plastic case...fifty bucks. It did the trick nicely. It will say in the bed of the truck with some other extra tools and stuff like 4x4 blocking, gloves, shop rags and extra tie downs.

Food for thought...might save you some heartache.
Rick

Sneaks · Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2008 9:38 pm Post subject: Re: Changing a trailer tire.

thataway · Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2008 10:57 pm Post subject:

Floor jack (wheeled) or sissor type jack, plus hyraulic bottle jack-- should be aboard. Also check the lug wrench and cheater bar--Torque wrench. Also consider if you have the room a air compressor and impact wrench. I had a flat tire one AM on the road earlier this summer. Fired up the air compressor and aired it back up---drove to a tire repair shop and had the leak fixed. This was easier than changing the tire (especially with back problems). Also chocks, and several blocks to allow blocking up an axel or trailer frame if necessary. We carry several 4 x 4 and 2 x 6 blocks for this purpose and also to spread out the pressure of jacks if necessary.

A tire dealer ruined one of my brake lines last year when putting new tires on the trailer. Double check when ever you--or any one else puts a jack under the trailer that the jack is clear of all lines and wires.

Also bearings, and a hub are good items to carry. We also carry an IR thermometer, and check the tire, hub and brake disc temperatures every two hours when doing a "walk around". Be sure that you have a wrench / socket which will fit the nut on the axel.

journey on · Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2008 11:13 pm Post subject:

Once changed a tyre on a single axle boat trailer on Highway 2 in Mexico. No berm, just road and then sand. And Mexican semis going by 1' away. Thank God I had a good spare. Hope I never have to change another.

That was a 3 beer and one pair of shorts change.

Boris

jennykatz · Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2008 11:49 am Post subject: brakes locked

Trying to get my boat out of harms way (Fay) my single axcel trailer brakes locked up(drum ) popping one of my tires So i had to bring it back to Mikes (Papillon) Then pull the tire what a pain everyone that owns a trl needs to do a dry run with tire changing .The brakes finally released with a little gentile persuasion (sledge hammer ) the brakes disengaged . Maybe its time to get disc brakes put on .

RichardW · Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2008 9:26 pm Post subject:

Holy Moly,
We had a sidewall rupture this weekend on the starboard / forward trailer tire and it was a bear to remove. fortunately we were in a parking lot when we discovered it and not on the shoulderless road that we often travel enroute to the launch ramp. BTW- I had previosly removed the aft wheel with no problems.

I used the scissor jack that comes with my Durango and placed it carefully under the forward axle(avoiding the brake lines and wiring.
When I attempted to remove the lug nuts, I discovered that they were frozen tight apparently due to corrosion. I uncoupled and returned home to locate a 3 foot long pipe that I use as a cheater. I placed the cheater over the lug wrench handle and the first lug nut and needed a lot of force to break it loose with a very loud CRACK. All 5 lugs needed the cheater. I will always keep this pipe in my SUV because there is no way that I could have removed the frozen lug nuts without it. It would have taken a heavy duty impact air wrench to break these babies loose. I had just bought a nifty collapsible lug wrench at Wally World which worked well and takes up little space.I will add a couple of blocks to my arsenal to use on uneven ground.
I had actually conducted a DRY RUN by removing one wheel previously but was not prepared for a corroded lug nut. Good advice given by others on this thread.

Rolling Eyes

416rigby · Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 7:52 am Post subject:

I was worried about corrosion on the studs, too...so I put some copper anti-seize on the threads when I reinstalled the lug nuts.

Rick

jennykatz · Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 9:02 am Post subject: pb blaster

When i got stuck the other day I used PB Blaster its unbelievable stuff I sprayed it on all 6 lugs then came back and hour later and cracked them all off with a T lug wrench you can get it at most hardware stores PB Blaster.

Now I'm trying to weigh the$ replacing the brakes on single axcel trl ($800)or buying new tandem trailer for my 23 venture($3000)or more