The other day I went to go into town for a load of lumber and other such goodies. I started out and noticed the road seemed to be awfully bumpy for some reason. But I stopped anyway to see what was going on. Low and behold, the left rear tire was flat. No problem, I turned around and went back home. The following day I changed the tire over to my spare. I pumped up the other tire to see what caused the flat. I didn't need to do anything with soapy water to find the cause. I had air blowing on my hand and sure enough, right out of the sidewall, between the cracks (dry rott). I put it on the side and figured I'd get a replacement in the next couple of days. Okay, so I go out the next day to do my lumber run, and I'll be danged if that tire (the spare) was flat too. So I pumped it up while it was still on the truck, and the same thing, air coming trough the cracks in the side wall of the tire. So I left it, since there wasn't a thing I could do until Tuesday (today) due to the longish holiday weekend. Since my truck wasn't driveable, I had to use my bike (that thinks its a truck ) and see if I could round up a couple of tires. Since I'm cheap and really don't drive the truck much (1500 a year) I went to a used tire dealer. $30 a tire, but well, I guess he liked me because I ended up paying $30 for the pair. Still it could have been more had they mounted them on the rims which I didn't have with me. They even helped me load up my bike, with my guidance, and I secured the tires with 5 budgie cords. Sorry, but no pictures. I hadn't brought along a camera and by the time I returned home, all I could think about was "How in the world will I change these tires?" Break the bead, and remove the old tires, and then mount the newly purchased tires and air them back up. It took a bit of wrestling with the tires, but in the end, they were changed by me using nothing but tire spoons with a little soapy water. Total time for both tires, including removal from the truck and re installing them after: Two and a Half hours! When I aired them back up, one seated at 12.5# and the other at 14#. Then brought them both up to 42# (I had visions of the tires exploding cutting me in half, but it never came to pass) After that, I had to take a break. Like for several hours to recuperate. I really have got to quit doing this sort of thing. But in the end I was all smiles. Especially since I have never changed out pickup truck tires. If any of y'all don't drive your vehicles much, you might want to watch out for "Dry Rot!" At least I was home when all of this happened. It might have been a different story all together had it happened out on the highway.
That's tough right there. And I mean the tire changing. As for the whole ordeal, I knew ya had it in you Star Gazer
Thanks! The tire spoons were for my bike in case there was ever a need! IF I ever do this again, I think I need the right sized spoons and someone needs to shoot me before I start!
Dang, that's impressive! I've changed dirt bike and garden tractor tires but I don't think I'd tackle a car, let alone truck, tire with just spoons!!!
Great job getting it done on your own. But there is a reason I will pay someone to change tires for me. Yes it's nice to not have to wrestle the tire by myself, but I do not have the proper equipment to balance the tire /wheel assembly once it's done. And in my case, with a daily driven vehicle, it's worth it to spend the $80-$100 to get the alignment checked/adjusted after replacing 2 or 4 tires. You will get at least that back out of the tires in increased life. It's a great skill to have, changing your own tire. Just be aware of the DIY route's limitations.
Great job getting them tires on there. I changed a car tire once, never again. I had that happen to me with the trailer, same deal dry rot , a mile from home first tire went flat, I have a spare on my trailer so I put that on, 10 15 miles later the other one goes flat, I got real lucky, the Ford spare in the trunk of the car fit right on the trailer and I was on my way. This is the second tire that went flat, at 55mph, Edit :good thing was trailer was empty
I think under normal circumstances I would have had a shop do the tire change for me. But, two tires meant, I wasn't going anywhere with the truck, and I try to make all of my trips count. So no loading up my bike with a flat, taking it into the shop, have them do what they do. Then go back home with the tire on the back of my bike, mount the tire on the truck, throw the remaining flat in the back of the truck, and then back to the shop where they can in turn mount a different tire on the one in the back of the pickup and install it on the other side of the truck. Oh, that tire also has a bad case of dry rot too! As for balancing, I pulled all the wheel weights off the rims as I got ready to mount the tires and added about 6 ounces of balance beads (I had 24 ounces on hand) If my case was that the truck was driven daily, then I would purchase the best new tires I could find, and have a shop do all the work. But since I drive an average of 1,500 miles a year, I don't see that going new is beneficial to me. (Plus I'm a cheap/frugal old lady) I seriously never thought I'd be able to change out the tires, least of all with tire spoons for a motorcycle, but you never know if you can do something until you at least try! And not one of those half hearted tries either.
I know I said I didn't have any pictures, but here is a short video from one of my security cameras. Not a good video, but you can see I do have something on the back of my bike. The video is 15 seconds long. And you can see the left rear of my truck is a bit low. (flat tire)
