Changing tires in the wild - lessons learned

[John Dorrer]

19 hours ago, Steve Morris said:

I've not acted on advice to switch to steel valve stems while using our TST tire pressure monitor. Yesterday, that procrastination bit me in the ass on my way home from the Hungry Mother Fiberglass Rally in Virginia.

Rapid Pressure Loss" or similar wording was what the monitor said with a constant loud beeping. A quick look in my mirror showed the front left trailer tire was indeed low. Stopped to check, and with 28 PSI showing, I elected to slowly drive to the next exit, and found a flat spot in a gas station lot. The rubber valve stem was partially separated from the rubber base, and if flexed, dumped out pressurized air. No fixing that on the spot! Time to change tires.

I have all the tools needed, and it was a cool sunny day, so that was a bit of luck. It had been raining a few hours earlier. I didn't have my impact driver with me, but I do have an 18" breaker bar, so I could loosen the lug nuts. Before jacking up and removing the tire, though, it was time to get the spare. Two heavy e-bikes made this a chore, but fortunately, that's when a large fellow stopped and offered to help. (Oddly enough, the local deputy sheriff who was using the facilities at the station never even checked to see if we needed anything on his way out of the parking lot.) With his help, we slid the rack and mount out far enough to get to the spare. His impact driver made for a faster swap than my breaker bar, and his torque wrench was easier to get to than mine buried in the trailer's basement. All in all, about an hour and a bit delay, and the kind gentleman who stopped to help refused any remuneration.

  - I usually only carry the impact driver with me on long trips. And while this was about an eight hour drive, I'd elected not to bring it with me. It will now be included in every trip.
 - I'll be removing the bike rack mount and cleaning those surfaces and applying a dry lube to make it easier to slide the rack in and out. After we were done, I was really re-thinking John Davies choice to not use the fiberglass tire cover while toting bicycles!
 - I will be changing to all steel valve stems before we leave on our next trip!

I was lucky, we had a slow leak so we could fill and get home. We went to a truck tire place and they vacuumed out balance beads and installed metal valve stems.

 

Edited October 29 by John Dorrer
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