Thoughts While Changing a Tire

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Spock
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Thoughts While Changing a Tire

#1 Post by Spock » Sun Mar 28, 2021 11:06 am

https://thesmokeofathousandcampfires.bl ... -tire.html

Thoughts while changing a flat tire for the first time on a new (to me) Dodge Ram pickup.

Posted on my "catch-all"-The Smoke of a Thousand Campfires blog

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SportsFan68
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Re: Thoughts While Changing a Tire

#2 Post by SportsFan68 » Sun Mar 28, 2021 11:50 am

Times have changed. I changed a tire on my Rabbit between Albuquerque and Cuba, NM at 2 a.m. in the waning years of the last century. All I needed in addition to the equipment and instructions supplied in the Rabbit was a flashlight, which we have in all our vehicles.

Fast forward to last summer and an errand to a house about 20 miles from town, about 15 of them on a gravel road, in which the rear driver side tire on our GMC truck went flat in the driveway. SteelersFan and the homeowner had pretty much the same experience as Spock in terms of needing extra tools and equipment not supplied on the vehicle, all of which were fortunately immediately available in the detached garage. And a bonus! The spare was a bit flat, and the homeowner also had an air compressor in that wonderful garage.

I'm thinking it should not be necessary to have a well-equipped tool shed nearby to change a tire. Maybe a letter to GMC is in order.
-- In Iroquois society, leaders are encouraged to remember seven generations in the past and consider seven generations in the future when making decisions that affect the people.
-- America would be a better place if leaders would do more long-term thinking. -- Wilma Mankiller

Spock
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Re: Thoughts While Changing a Tire

#3 Post by Spock » Sun Mar 28, 2021 12:10 pm

SportsFan68 wrote:
Sun Mar 28, 2021 11:50 am
Times have changed. I changed a tire on my Rabbit between Albuquerque and Cuba, NM at 2 a.m. in the waning years of the last century. All I needed in addition to the equipment and instructions supplied in the Rabbit was a flashlight, which we have in all our vehicles.

Fast forward to last summer and an errand to a house about 20 miles from town, about 15 of them on a gravel road, in which the rear driver side tire on our GMC truck went flat in the driveway. SteelersFan and the homeowner had pretty much the same experience as Spock in terms of needing extra tools and equipment not supplied on the vehicle, all of which were fortunately immediately available in the detached garage. And a bonus! The spare was a bit flat, and the homeowner also had an air compressor in that wonderful garage.

I'm thinking it should not be necessary to have a well-equipped tool shed nearby to change a tire. Maybe a letter to GMC is in order.
The difficulty of knocking the tire loose from the mounting after the lug nuts are off is the biggest (and most dangerous) change I have noticed over time. Working in awkward positions under the car to free the tire could knock the car off the jack and onto the person.

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Bob Juch
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Re: Thoughts While Changing a Tire

#4 Post by Bob Juch » Sun Mar 28, 2021 1:31 pm

I haven't ever needed to change a flat. I hope I didn't jinx myself.
I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.
- Douglas Adams (1952 - 2001)

Si fractum non sit, noli id reficere.

Teach a child to be polite and courteous in the home and, when he grows up, he'll never be able to drive in New Jersey.

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triviawayne
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Re: Thoughts While Changing a Tire

#5 Post by triviawayne » Sun Mar 28, 2021 1:34 pm

all this as more and more cars come without spare tires.

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Re: Thoughts While Changing a Tire

#6 Post by Spock » Sun Mar 28, 2021 2:11 pm

triviawayne wrote:
Sun Mar 28, 2021 1:34 pm
all this as more and more cars come without spare tires.
Exactly. I was just thinking along those lines as the car dealer on one of our vehicles tried to not include a spare tire. I made sure they did and this in a rural area yet.

This shows our general lack of any preparedness for trouble. We live in a time and place when even car dealers and manufacturers regards flat tires as something that doesn't happen anymore-and if they do-you just call AAA.

How does it work if you are fleeing a California wildfire and you get a flat tire in a vehicle without a spare? Call AAA?

BobJ>>>"I haven't ever needed to change a flat. I hope I didn't jinx myself."<<<

I am gobsmacked that you have reached your age-with tires what they were in your youth with never getting a flat.

The weirdest tire thing that happened to me was driving in the Twin Cities a few years ago and seeing a tire come bouncing over the median wall onto my side of the freeway. It was far enough ahead that safety wasn't an issue-but it could have been really bad for somebody-catching a tire in the windshield-not a good way to start your day.

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Bob Juch
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Re: Thoughts While Changing a Tire

#7 Post by Bob Juch » Sun Mar 28, 2021 6:23 pm

Spock wrote:
Sun Mar 28, 2021 2:11 pm
BobJ>>>"I haven't ever needed to change a flat. I hope I didn't jinx myself."<<<

I am gobsmacked that you have reached your age-with tires what they were in your youth with never getting a flat.
Yes, me too, especially since I put many thousands of miles on them in the 70s. I made a loop through the 13 western states in 1976 and went from Palo Alto to NYC in 1977. I beat that in the 1995-2003 timeframe, making seven coast-to-coast (or close) trips. Florence, SC; Alpharetta, GA; and Richmond, VA were close. Plus four to the midwest.
I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.
- Douglas Adams (1952 - 2001)

Si fractum non sit, noli id reficere.

Teach a child to be polite and courteous in the home and, when he grows up, he'll never be able to drive in New Jersey.

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tlynn78
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Re: Thoughts While Changing a Tire

#8 Post by tlynn78 » Mon Mar 29, 2021 8:43 am

Spock wrote:
Sun Mar 28, 2021 12:10 pm
SportsFan68 wrote:
Sun Mar 28, 2021 11:50 am
Times have changed. I changed a tire on my Rabbit between Albuquerque and Cuba, NM at 2 a.m. in the waning years of the last century. All I needed in addition to the equipment and instructions supplied in the Rabbit was a flashlight, which we have in all our vehicles.

Fast forward to last summer and an errand to a house about 20 miles from town, about 15 of them on a gravel road, in which the rear driver side tire on our GMC truck went flat in the driveway. SteelersFan and the homeowner had pretty much the same experience as Spock in terms of needing extra tools and equipment not supplied on the vehicle, all of which were fortunately immediately available in the detached garage. And a bonus! The spare was a bit flat, and the homeowner also had an air compressor in that wonderful garage.

I'm thinking it should not be necessary to have a well-equipped tool shed nearby to change a tire. Maybe a letter to GMC is in order.
The difficulty of knocking the tire loose from the mounting after the lug nuts are off is the biggest (and most dangerous) change I have noticed over time. Working in awkward positions under the car to free the tire could knock the car off the jack and onto the person.
A very sternly worded letter, indeed.
To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead. -Thomas Paine
You can ignore reality, but you can't ignore the consequences of ignoring reality. -Ayn Rand
Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities. -Voltaire

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kroxquo
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Re: Thoughts While Changing a Tire

#9 Post by kroxquo » Mon Mar 29, 2021 10:06 am

triviawayne wrote:
Sun Mar 28, 2021 1:34 pm
all this as more and more cars come without spare tires.
I learned this the hard way. I was driving my girlfriend's (now wife's) Kia Soul when we hit a nail and the tire went flat. No. problem think I. I will display my general manliness and change the tire. I open up the hatch and before my eyes is nothing but a patch kit. The sealant sprayed out the hole in the tire as fast as I sprayed it in the nozzle. We did end up having to call a tow truck for a stupid flat tire. It turns out that one way Kia meets fuel mileage standards is by lightening the car by not having a spare. Needless to say, from that day on, the car has had a spare (full size - no donut), jack, and air compressor.
You live and learn. Or at least you live. - Douglas Adams

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