Posted 2007-08-29 9:24 PM (#66784) Subject: Adventures in tire changing
Expert
Posts: 1723 Location: michigan
The diary of a mad, white woman ( who happens to show horses)
Its Sunday 4:30 pm and I just finished up my last open horse show of the year. Life was good- we had a some nice rides, the horse looked great and I had a chance to visit with my horse show friends, many whom I will not see again until next summer. I had my gear stowed and horse loaded up for the 145-mile trek back home. All this was in preparation for my final class A Arabian show coming up next weekend. I was ready! Right now my biggest challenge at this point was where was I going to make my first pit stop for a large vanilla latte with whole milk?
Just a few miles down the road while on a four lane highway, a blue pickup driven by a young man pulls up on my right hand side and started furiously pointing to the back of my trailer. Crap-did I leave the back door open? I rolled the passenger side window down and he yells” your tire blew out”. Double crap. I waived my hand and nodded my head as if to say thanks and I started looking for a place to land. Up ahead on the left was a gas station with a large open parking lot. I pulled it.
4:33 pm There I am standing there with my hands on my hips as I survey the situation. Yes sir- the tire was blown out and shredded. This is a problem, as I have never actually changed a tire before. After all, this was guy stuff, you know, changing the oil, checking the tire pressure, fiddling with belts and hoses- stuff my husband takes care of. If I am at a show and have a problem, there is always some beefy guy who will mosey on over and offer to help ( kin I hep ya’ll?) But I didn’t have any options. I had to do the job myself! I could do this!
4:34 pm I am now psyched! While I haven’t done this sort of thing I have helped out (meaning I held the x-shaped tire iron) how hard could this be? Take the old tire off, put new tire on…good to go! I located the spare (its inflated too!) the whatcha ma-call-it you drive the trailer onto and the x-shaped thingy. Good to go!
4:38 pm Ok I drove the trailer up on the whatca ma-call-it, which was no mean feat doing it without any help. It took a few tries to get the tire in the middle( if your too far to the front, it rolls off. Too far back it still rolls off) but hey I am no ordinary horsewoman!
4:40 pm I got the tire up and ready to get the lugnuts off but first I have to remove the hubcap. I knew I had a long handled crow bar somewhere and I started to search. I finally dug out my gear in the rear tack and found it under a lunge line, garden hose and extension cords. Success! Back to the hubcap, I pop it off. Nothing to it. The I started to loosen the lugnuts but everytime I gave it a tug, the tire spun. I put my hand on it to steady the tire, ouch it was hot. So I jammed my knee in the tire ,but that didn’t work. It occurred to me I have back the trailer of the whatch ma-call-it. Into the truck I go and back it off the tire changy thing.
4:42 pm Trailer is now on the ground and I can get the lugnuts off. They are tight (courtesy of the beefy guy who last helped change a tire.) But after putting some real muscle into to it, the x-thing spun around, the first lugnut was off. I remember the movie where Ralphie helped the Old Man change a tire on the side of the road. He used the hubcap to keep the lug nuts safe and sound so I do the same thing. All seven lugnuts are in the hubcap. And so I go back to the truck and drive it onto the the thingy bobber.
4:45 pm Oh Fudge! Trailer is up again (after several attempts) and now all I had to do was take the shredded remains off. I give it a tug, nothing. Gee, I tug again, its stuck. There must be some reason this stupid tire isn’t coming off the bolts. I am a hot, sweaty and getting black smudge on my hands and clothes. I give the tire a disgusted spin when I notice there are actually 8 lugnuts, not 7.So I drive the trailer back off the whatca ma-call-it ( again). I take the lugnut off. I drive the trailer back on ( again) and the tire plops off the bolts. Yay me!
4:48 pm I am getting good at this, I think to myself. The job is halfway done. Now I roll the spare to the wheel, lift it up and just slide it on, right? Well, not quite. The wheely thing with the bolts sticking out has a maddening tendency to spin around easily when the tire hits it. Not only I have to lift it up but slide it on to that bolty thing. I can’t see well enough to line up the holes on the rim. And this tire and rim is heavy! After several tries ( huff and puff) I finally think if I can get just one hole and bolt to line up, the others will follow. So I set my sights not on all of them just one. Hurray! The tire magically cooperates! Now I reach for the lugnuts (all 8 of them) started screwing them on.
4:55 pm I get back into the truck( again), back off the trailer changy thingy( again), then back to the tire and start tighting the nuts with the x-shaped doodle. I give each one a good and hearty tug. Then another. That beefy guy has nuthin on me!
5:05 pm Ok spare is on, lugnuts are tight. Time to put away the stuff and head out! I get the x-thing, the crowbar and tire changy thingy into the bed of the truck, load up my gear into the rear tack, check the horse (still there and getting bored) now I have to put the tire away. Here is another problem- I am 5’2”…the bed of the truck is probably 4’9” but it might was well been 10’ tall- that tire and rim is heavy and while I may have a black belt in karate, we don’t go around swinging tire rims. I am thinking now there might be someone watching me. I get a bit self-conscious, thinking this while episode might have been recorded using a cell phone only to end up on YouTube. Nobody coming and going from the gas station took any notice, let alone pity, on me so I had to get this done myself. You can do it, I said! Ok let’s roll! So I grabbed on the rim, swing on a count of three..one..two..three…I heaved that sucker up and over the bed, it lands with a resounding thud. Victory was mine!
5:15 pm After one good going over, I concluded everything was in order and I could finally get back on the road. I stopped after 10 miles to recheck the lugnuts (I left the hub cap off) and everything was set.
8:35 pm I finally pull into my driveway. I park the truck in front of the horse barn. Now an ORDINARY woman would have burst into tears. She would have gotten out the truck and in a sobbing mess proclaim she will NEVER, EVER drive that truck again for any reason! Look at me, she would say, my hands are black, I broke a nail, I ruined the knees of my best skinny jeans and my hair is frazzled.
But no- I am a mad, white woman ( who happens to show horses). I hop out the truck, put the horse away and tell my man- need to get a new tire. I have a horse next week and I leave in 4 days!
Posted 2007-08-29 9:48 PM (#66792 - in reply to #66784) Subject: RE: Adventures in tire changing
Member
Posts: 25 Location: Lake Cahrles, LA
Thanks so much for sharing that post. The one time that happened to me the tire was too heavy to lift on the lug bolts, it was horrible and I felt so weak and helpless. Thankfully I was near a store that served Diesel and there were truckers in there to help me out. Luckily today we have cell phones, but a hot, bored horse doesn't see it through our human eyes.
Posted 2007-08-29 10:09 PM (#66794 - in reply to #66784) Subject: RE: Adventures in tire changing
Expert
Posts: 2953 Location: North Carolina
Funny Story! ... This afternoon, I just changed four heavy, hard to grip, tires and the hub kept turning too. Then, I remembered the shovel trick. Turned the hub to line up with the wheel. Then use the tip of the shovel to lift the wheel on to the hub... One lug nut and the rest was easy.
Posted 2007-08-29 11:37 PM (#66808 - in reply to #66794) Subject: RE: Adventures in tire changing
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 385 Location: washington
My story goes like this: As I prepare to leave for a ride, I notice I have a flat tire. I have changed tires before, so no problem. My spare is under the gooseneck so easy to get at. I attempt to loosen all the lug nuts, only to find the little pretty caps on the lug nuts each get stuck in the lug wrench. I have to dig them all out with the pliers, one at a time. They are all destroyed after that so no more pretty lugnut covers. Next, I get the flat tire off but can't get the spare off, because one of the two bolts that hold it on is turning with the nut. I can't get behind it to put the crescent wrench on it because it is too close to the trailer. Argh. I loosen one side, and shove my arm into this little space, get a wrench on the back side of the bolt and now can't reach the lug wrench on the front side. Now I am screaming like a maniac - S$@& !!!! extract my arm, put the lug wrench on the nut, shove my arm back into the skinny space, finally get the crescent wrench on the bolt and am finally able to remove the spare tire. Now, I am a big strong girl, 5'8" 160 lbs and I could not lift this stinking tire and position it at the same time for the life of me. It is a 16" Goodyear Workhorse tire, and filled must weigh 80 lbs. To lift that up onto the bolts while squatting down was almost impossible. I finally did it but was near the breaking point. I was about an hour late to ride but no harm done. I have since correct the loose bolt situation so next time I won't have such a struggle. One other thing, if you've never changed your truck tire and your spare tire is under the bed of the truck like mine, give that a go one day. It was really hard for me to figure out how to get my tire out from under the truck. I'd never done it before, and the instructions were very confusing. There were just a few pictures, no words... I am so glad I did that at least once, so I won't be stranded some day by a flat. *
Posted 2007-08-30 6:54 AM (#66824 - in reply to #66784) Subject: RE: Adventures in tire changing
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 474 Location: White Mills, Ky.
GREAT story farmbabe.
My dad made me learn to change a tire, unassisted, before I was allowed to get my driver's license. At the time, I thought he was being unreasonable. 25 years and several flat tires later, I am so glad he did.
Isn't it funny how our parents get smarter as we get older?
Posted 2007-08-30 8:34 AM (#66827 - in reply to #66784) Subject: RE: Adventures in tire changing
Veteran
Posts: 274 Location: Memphis, TN
Good Story farmbabe. I cant believe no one offered to help you. If you were down "south" here I bet you someone would have that tire changed in no time while you visited with your horse.
Posted 2007-08-31 11:17 AM (#66909 - in reply to #66784) Subject: RE: Adventures in tire changing
Veteran
Posts: 167 Location: Monroe, WA
ADVICE to all women who might - sometime in their lifetime - have to change a big heavy obnoxious too d**n tight tire!
That shovel trick is the cat's pajamas - and I ALWAYS carry that little dee handled flat point shovel in the trailer.
Ferget that durn x-shaped lug wrench - get yourself a GOOD 6-point socket with a BIG long breaker bar - ask the tool guys at Lowes or Home Depot, and get the good ones in 1/2 inch drive. THEN get a piece of heavy wall pipe about two feet long that is big enough to slip nicely over the end of the breaker bar - that's your CHEATER, and it will give you the strength of ten burly men. REally!!!
Carry a can of WD40 or other spray on penetrating oil. Hit all the lugs with the spray before you try to loosen them - could save you (and your might cheated breaker bar) from shearing off a lug, or 2 or 3, if they are good and stuck.
Carry a whopping short handled sledge hammer - I have had three rims stick tight to the brake drum, requiring ample application of brute whacking force to shock them loose and get them off. Kicking a rust-stuck rim only hurts your foot.
CHOCK YOUR OTHER TIRES!!! Actually, those chock dealies that go in between the two trailer tires and expand to lock them in place can be pretty helpful when you are busting the lugnuts, unless of course the blowout really took off most of the tire.
If you have tandem axles on leaf springs, the wheelie-dealie thing you drive up on won't work to get the dead tire off the ground. You will need a short bottle jack or scissors jack, to get underneath the axle and lift it up.
Aw, the heck with it - just call US Rider and have somebody come out with the right equipment and fix the darn thing while you pet your horse :)
Posted 2007-08-31 4:40 PM (#66946 - in reply to #66784) Subject: RE: Adventures in tire changing
Regular
Posts: 50 Location: Tamarack, PA, USA
Great story!
Another tip which has saved me countless times (I work in remote locations on rarely used forestry roads)...your legs are MUCH stronger than your arms. So set up your wrench on the lug nut so that you can place one foot on the wrench and pretend you are doing a leg press exercise. Even when some dingbat at the garage overtightens the lug nuts, you will still be able to loosen them this way. It has worked for me every time!
Adventures in tire changing
Thanks so much for sharing that post. The one time that happened to me the tire was too heavy to lift on the lug bolts, it was horrible and I felt so weak and helpless. Thankfully I was near a store that served Diesel and there were truckers in there to help me out. Luckily today we have cell phones, but a hot, bored horse doesn't see it through our human eyes. 
If you were down "south" here I bet you someone would have that tire changed in no time while you visited with your horse. 
