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Hello fellow Camper campers, i’m new here. I hope i’m posting in the right area haha. So I decided to get a truck and camper 5 months ago. I decided it was the lifestyle that I ultimately wanted. Up until now, I haven’t had a real chance to take it out and camp. I’m going to head north about 2 hours or so. But I noticed one of my tires is really bad. I filled it with air a week ago and its really low again already. I’m just afraid it will pop or something on the way there, then my day will take a 180 turn and thats not good at all!! I know getting a new tire is the best option, but im going to have to wait a few more paychecks first. So I was wondering if any of you have any stories you can share with me and how you handled the situation. Or if you are fortunate enough to not have experienced that, what is your go to plan in case it does happen? Thanks in advance! 🙂
Quentin don’t worry there are a couple members here that have had a blowout on the road or trail. I can tell you from my experience I will always carry 2 spares when I boondock.
Last May my wife and I decided to take a trip to Snow Lake here in NM.
Snow Lake has 4 routes you can take ranging from you don’t want to drive the truck with the camper on to graded dirt roads with sharp rocks protruding from it.
I decided to go in from Winston NM on the outer edge of the Gila National Forest. This is the fastest route 2.5 hours and only 30 minutes of paved road. Not to mention the 2 hours to get to Winston. 5 miles in I had a tire whistling and my TPMS was flashing telling me my right front tire was at 45 lbs and dropping fast.
OK the spare is on and now with no spare and another 2 ours to go I was worried and my wife was terrified. I calmed her by telling her I had some large tire plugs and when we get to camp I would plug the hole so we can have a good spare.
In camp and after further examination the tire will not hold air after 5 plugs had been inserted.
Oh well time to open a beer and ponder what I will do if I have another flat on the way out. We where going out through Mogollon NM. This road was actually worse than the road going in as it was narrower, climbed and descended very steep and I was flat towing, my wife was terrified. Well after driving very slow and cautiously about .5 miles from a paved road my TPMS started flashing again and yes another flat on the left front.
Sorry I did not have a picture as it was a Sunday morning and I needed to disconnect the Jeep throw the tires and wheels on top of it and fine someone open that could sell me 4 new tires but first I had to get the two tire found and installed on the wheels. I had 2 choices drive south to Silver City or north to Reserve. I chose Silver and started on my 1.5 hour journey to get tires not happy I was going to drive 3 hours round trip for 2 tires and then drive back to get the matching 2 on the truck.
Well as luck happens the small town of Cliff NM has a Gas station on the south side of town with a market and lucky me a tire shop that was open kind of.
I asked the proprietor an elderly gentleman and his wife if they had the size tires I needed in 10 ply. He said it was my lucky day and quoted me a price for all 4. WOW his price was better than anyplace I knew and ask if he could get the first two mounted and I will return in an hour as Cliff NM was only about 30 minutes south of Mogollon.
After receiving the tires I raced back and changed both tires and returned to Cliff for the next 2. This was one of my most expensive but one of my favorite trips yet.Here are a couple pics
The first flat and camp.
WOW Bear, that sounds like one heck of a ride! Both the trip and the experience. All is well that ends well. So it seems it is possible to change a tire with the camper on, that’ awesome! I was afraid I was going to call a tow truck(assuming I was on a highway or something.) Well that’s a big relief. What kind of jack do you use to lift the truck? I doubt it is one used for normal cars.
Take it from a truck driver, tires are not something you can scrimp on. I thought my boat trailer tires looked good while preparing for a 2200 mile loop last year. Perfect looking 12 year old tires are junk, when they blew at 1 AM in Weed Ca I spent the night behind a choke and puke. Sleeping with 1 eye open until 4:30 was not my idea of a vacation. Fortunately my marginal spare held till I got to Carson City where all three were replaced. Tires, battery’s, beer and coffee are not the place to save money. Depart for your trip when your rig is ready, your level of enjoyment will be a reflection of your preparation.
Quentin I just use the standard screw jack that came with the truck. I have a flexible extension to lower the spare that I got off of ebay.
My tires had only 38K on them and they where the factory Firestone’s.
The Firestone’s where 10 ply rated tires with only 2 ply sidewalls. My 2 punctures came from descending and using the brakes. With the weight of the truck and camper as well as the weight of the Jeep pushing I believe this is what caused it.
The new set is actually 10 ply and with a 3 ply sidewall.
Like Freespool said ” Tires, battery’s, beer and coffee are not the place to save money”
My father taught me a great rule to live by. Replace your tires every 5 years regardless of the miles on them. Rubber dry rots and weakens them if you are putting heavy weights on them and high speeds you are looking at a blowout.
Freespool “I spent the night behind a choke and puke. Sleeping with 1 eye open until 4:30 was not my idea of a vacation.” Been there have the T-Shirt!okay, so I guess i wont be needing a fancy jack, thats good. Thanks for chiming in Freespool and Mellow Mike, all this is what i need to be hearing and knowing. I just cant wait till its all ready!! Out of curiousness, if i were to take my truck to a shop to get all tires replace, will I need to remove the camper from the bed? Or can some shops do it with the camper on?
Quentin don’t worry about taking the camper off as all tire shops will have large enough jacks to do the job. They will tell you if you need to remove it.
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