Overall, while no one wants to run into flat tires on the road, it’s of utmost importance to be prepared prior to heading out. Therefore, before going on your first adventure with your towed recreational vehicle, you must learn how to change a flat tire on a travel trailer.
If you know what needs to be done regarding flat tires then you would be able to quickly resume travel should your tires suddenly deflate. In addition, you undoubtedly save some bucks if you replace flat tires by yourself instead of calling for roadside services.
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Swapping Flat Tires For Travel Trailers: Thorough Breakdowns
You don’t know your way around trailer tires and wish to hear a couple of suggestions from the pros? If that is so, this article is tailored for you.
From materials to procedures, essentially everything that you have to keep in mind about changing flat tires of travel trailers could be found in the detailed guide below by experts from RVTalk.net:
Essential Tools And Gears: A Checklist For First Timer RVers
Obviously, if your tires deflate, it’s practically impossible to resolve the situation if you only have your bare hands. Because of that, remember to put all of the following items in your rig in preparation for unexpected flat tires.
- Spare Tires: For obvious reasons, make sure that you maintain the spare tires of your travel trailer in good shape. You don’t want to reach out to the spares in times of need only to see them already deflated.
- Lug Wrench: In order to loosen the lug nuts used to secure the wheels to your RV, you ought to get yourself a lug wrench. Naturally, you must use a wrench that fits the nuts. Using wrong-size lug wrenches on the nuts of your rig would cause a variety of issues during tire replacements.
- Chocks: To put it plainly, the last thing you want to experience while swapping tires is to see your vehicle pulling away on its own. So it’s strongly recommended that you play it safe by purchasing several chocks in advance.
- Gloves: Is it possible to change tires without gloves? Definitely. However, it’s reckless to go bare hands once it comes to changing RV tires as it potentially leaves nasty bruises as well as injuries. Hence, you should pick up a thick pair of leather gloves from the local hardware store before getting to know how to change a flat tire on a travel trailer.
- Bottle Jack: Having a solid bottle jack around could be useful as it allows you to lift your rig which facilitates the changing of tires. For stabilization, it’s a good idea to carry pieces of plywood to keep the setup steady on wobbly grounds.
Optional:
- Bolt Cutters: On occasions, the steel cords of tires that fail wrap tightly around the axle of the travel trailer. If that takes place, a pair of bolt cutters is going to come in handy. Choose one that possesses long handles that allows you to reach deep under your rig.
- Reflectors, Flares And So On: RV tires deflate from time to time, even at night. Besides turning on the hazard lights, it would be wise for you to set up flares, reflectors, … around to notify your presence to incoming vehicles.
- Mat: As you kneel down to change flat tires, your knees should be exposed to the unforgiving pavements, asphalt, rocks,… So in case you like to protect your knees, consider dragging along a mat.
How To Change A Trailer Tire: Step-By-Step Instructions
Regarding how to change a flat tire on a travel trailer, different owners of trailers tend to employ different methods. That being said, if you know literally nothing about RV tire change, follow these steps.
- Step 1: Pull over to a secure location away from traffic. Afterward, proceed to put on your gloves and place chocks in front of the wheels.
- Step 2: Before lifting your trailer, grab the lug wrench to carefully break loose the lug nuts on the wheel that require changing by about ½ turn. It’s a breeze for you to loosen the nuts if they cannot spin freely.
- Step 3: Deploy the jack and lift your rig until the wheel that must be changed could spin without being obstructed.
- Step 4: Remove all the lug nuts completely then take out the flat tire and mount the spare onto its position.
- Step 5: Put the lug nuts back in, tighten them a bit in a star pattern and drop the bottle jack. As the spare tire is firmly on the ground, which stops it from spinning, tighten the nuts all the way.
Preventing Flat Tires On The Road: Tips And Tricks
Well, all things considered, knowing how to change a flat tire on a travel trailer is undeniably a necessary skill for RVers that travel extensively. That being said, by implementing a few preventative measures, it’s possible to keep your tires from deflating too often.
Use Tires Of Good Quality
These days, RVers should be able to pick up a wide range of trailer tires at variable prices. By getting yourself the best RV tires for your travel trailer, the frequency of flat tires you experience on the road would reduce without fail. Still, in case you have a hard time deciding which tires to buy, you could rely on shopping guides. Such guides shall tell you exactly how to tell outstanding trailer tires from mediocre ones.
Set Up A TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitoring System) For RV
An RV tire pressure monitoring system is going to help you keep an eye on the status (pressure, temperature, …) of your tires without having to check up on them directly. If the system notices odd signs in the tires, it immediately displays warnings that prevent catastrophic failures on the road. So by owning a TPMS, you could notice deflated tires before they cause significant issues. For comprehensive observation, it’s of utmost importance that you properly fit sensors to every tire of your recreational vehicle.
Take Care Of The Tires
All tires eventually fail but if you look after the tires of your trailer then you could keep them from deflating for a long time. During off-seasons, it’s a good idea that you put dedicated covers on the trailer tires to preserve them.
