UUUUGGH! Just when you think things are starting to pick up, something stupid and uncontrollable happens, then things go from stupid to completely screwed up. I had a flat as I was driving home from work. Since North Carolina doesn’t see fit to make shoulders on their highways that are large enough to pull off onto properly (I should say, safely pull off onto and change a tire) I ended up putting the tire that was flat (my front passenger’s side) off the shoulder and on the ground next to the shoulder.

Lucky me, the soil was loose and sand-like. It took two tries to get the jack to lift the wheel off the ground. After the first attempt I had the tire off. That’s when the jack slid out from under my truck! Remember two tires weren’t on the shoulder and this made the truck off-level. Since the soil was so loose I had to find some debris to stick under the jack to keep it from sinking into the ground when I was jacking up my truck. I had to use two jacks, alternating between the two and using different hard points to jack, to get the wheel up to a height I could use to get the donut on. It took an hour to change my tire because I didn’t have 1) enough of a shoulder to make the truck level and change the tire safely, and 2) anything to put under the jack or to backup the jack.

So, here’s a couple of tips to help you prepare for a flat:

1. Carry two jacks – Your vehicle will normally come with one (sometimes even if it’s a used car!), but you should pick up a second, hydraulic (2-ton or better if you have a larger vehicle) jack to use in case you need it.
2. Get a support – Use this to backup your jack. You can make one out of 6 x 6 scrap lumber (cut about 8 – 10 inches long, about the hight of your jack when it’s fully extended) or you can pick up an adjustable one at your local parts store.
3. Have a 2 x 4 or other type of base for the jack – Use this in case you need to put the jack onto something to disperse the downward pressure of the jack on soft soil. I found a piece of scarp metal that worked well, but if I hadn’t had that I’d still be along side of the road.
4. Carry a cell phone and keep it charged – Yes, I have a cell phone, but it wasn’t charged. I even have a AAA membership I could have used if I’d been able call. But it didn’t help me much to have a cell phone or AAA membership without a charge on the phone, did it…
5. Make sure you’ve got a jack and tire iron that fits the lug nuts on your tires – This should be self explanatory, I’ve had several used vehicles and and I’ll tell you right now that you need to check to see if you even have a jack or tire iron let alone if it fits the lug nuts on the tires. Of course, it did take not having the right sized tire iron once to get me into this habit.

Anyway, you should have an emergency kit in your car already, including a first-aid kit. These items I’ve recommended are some extras I would have liked to have had handy when I was changing my tire. You’re mileage may vary, and your extras list may contain other items I haven’t thought of. Any one want to make some suggestions?

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 12th, 2007 at 11:04 pm and is filed under Tip. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.