[quote=Ray,IN]That's the reason we buy Good Sam ER'S! Our 5er weighs 15.K and has MorRyde suspension. When a tire goes flat the axle is only 4-5" off the pavement, when off pavement the axle is even lower. This prevents using any jack under the spring perch, frame jacking is a must. Anyone who has attempted to jack under the frame knows this requires a lot of shoring and a long reach jack.
When the ER'S road service wrecker arrived (a HDT wrecker) it took them an hour to change that one wheel. MorRyde suspension is great, but it requires a different approach to changing a wheel. They raised my 5er by jacking under the frame enough to support the load, then used a low-profile floor jack under the spring perch to raise the axle enough to change the wheel.
Change one myself? Nope, that $99/yr(raising by $10 next yr) is a cheap policy!
Ray - (and others) - a few thoughts here.
AAA, GS Road Service, & Coach Net - probably contract to the same tow service in most/many areas.
Sometimes that contract is "bare bones" as far as profit goes.
Just because the service guy arrives on scene - from ANY tow
service, doesn't mean he knows what he's doing (as far as proper
procedure for your coach). He just wants to "get R done", and be gone!
A while back on a previous thread, a poster said that AAA did -NOT-
operate in his Eastern US area. There was -NO- AAA service, period.
(No way to verify - but certainly a possibility).
I have MorRyde suspension, and have changed a flat using a low profile bottle jack [jacking under the frame]. It was the only one I had at the time. I didn't consider the needed shoring a problem.
For whomever asked about the bottle jack - besides the "screw" that
extends from the jack - - you can "shore-up" underneath the jack
to shorten the ram extension.
Lastly - about getting a jack under (wherever) - Harbor Freight sells
low profile 12T jacks as well as "normal" height 12T jacks.
Having one of each is no big deal or major expense.
Remember - you can make a short jack taller (shore-up),
but you can't make a tall jack shorter!
Wherever you want it to fit - it's got to make it with a flat tire.
JC
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I agree, at that angle, it doesn't look very safe. It's probably not a good picture to use as an example. I assure you, it was a safe situation or I would have went a different route. Thank you for pointing that out.
I think I would have placed the wood more directly under the wheel instead of balancing it, but that's just the aircraft tech in me, nothing worse then having a 20 ton CF-18 Hornet fighter jet hit the ground.......
Personally I would use my 6 ton bottle jack under the spring perch in between wheels. When I had the trailer in the shop at Rapid city SD to get the suspension put back together after it had ripped loose the tech jacked up the trailer with the jack between (now keep in mind that this was a huge 10 ton floor jack, it seemed to be a perfect place to put the jack so as to lift the whole side of the trailer.
Retired 22 years Regular Force (Army/Air Force), 3 years Army Reserves.
2004 Dodge 1 Ton 5.9 Cummins, 2004 Thor Jazz 3100XL 5th Wheel.
.
I've changed 2 using the jack that came with my f-150 the real issue was getting off of the road and not getting hit. i put my leveling jacks down too help with stability. My dad has had a couple of tires changed by GS one time on his "other " car and it was no problem. last summer he had a brand new tire go on his Avion the dispatcher didn't know what that was.
This is how I have changed tires (3 times) on my fiver with no jack.
I drive the good tire, next to the flat one, up on 4 leveling blocks. I then extended the front stabilizing jacks on the fiver with the one on the flat tire side a couple inches longer then the other to raise the flat off the ground. This may not be the best way, but it works and it's very quick. Just remember to loosen the nuts on the flat before clearing the ground or you'll have to pull the emergency brake cable to lock the wheel.
******************************************************* 2003 Ford F250, Super Crew, 4X4, 6.0 Liter Power Stroke Diesel with a Reese hitch. 2008 Carraige Domani DF300 fifth wheel
I carry one of these just in case. Then all you have to do is pull the good tire up on it and the bad tire comes off the ground. I changed out my axles this way. It is easy and, more importantly, safe. Each ramp holds up to 6000 lbs. so this method will work on up to a 14-15000 lb fiver, depending on your hitch weight.
Jason and family
2004 Cedar Creek 31LBHBS
2004 2500HD Silverado CC LT LLY Duramax/Allison 4x4
48 Gal Aux Fuel Tank - 74 total gal cap.
Husky 16K, Kipor 3500ti Generator
Prodigy, Timbrens, 285 Goodyears, Rhino Lined,
Cobra 75WXST with Firestik
Espee,
You and I have the same trailer. I had to work on the brakes this past summer in my shop (admittedly a very level surface), but I just used the jack from my RAM. Put a couple pieces of 2x lumber down, put the jack on top, and crank it up until you have about 1" of clearance. Easy. It takes less than 30 seconds to change over the tire (once you get the lugs undone), so you're only really in limbo for a short time. That "wimpy" little jack will lift a lot.
Dean and Tracy Bachellier
Isobel,Evelyn, and Stuart
2006 Keystone Cougar 281 EFS
HiJacker 16K double pivot slider
2005 Dodge Ram 2500 Quad Cab 4x4 HEMI
2 Black Cats, Little One (16 lbs?!) and Maggie
"Work smarter, NOT harder"
MY wife and I bought a new 07 Sydney Outback and a GMC Duramax. On the way back from Myrtle Beach we poped a tire. We have AAA RV service and I learned a few things. A 6 ton jack placed just behind the leaf spring will lift the tire off the ground. You should carry something to put under the other side tires to stop them from moving. Check in your book about touque of the lug nuts. On ours it takes three times on each nut in a specific order. It says that is very important. Our AAA man hadn't heard about that, but followed what the book said. When we got home we had a letter from Keystone saying that our tires are no good and they would buy us goodyear. I had to take them off and take them to the goodyear dealer and bring them back and re install them.
Keep your tires at the max inflation and you can get a simple setup that tells you if a tire is deflating or if it is getting hot. Sensors are placed on the on the tires air inlet and a remote sensor in your car tells you what is happening. That is important if you travel at night. Blow one tire and not know it and the other is going to go soon. We never felt or heard a thing, all we saw was smoke coming out the back. At night you would not see that. Run LT tires instead of ST and look for a load range E.
I use a 12 ton bottle jack I found at Sams Club. I got the 12 ton jack because it is taller. I use wooden blocks to set the jack on and jack the tire off the ground. I can count on blowouts about every other trip. The biggest problem I have had is the trailer being blown back and forth when the semis fly by. I tried the Good Sams service. When I had a blowout I called and was told it would take approximately 4 hours before someone could be sent out. I went ahead and changed the tire and cancelled the Good Sams service.
I have Triple AAA road coverage. Is this true about the coverage varies from state to state as RETIREDHSTEACHER said?
I use the drive up ramp from Camping world to change my flat tires.
It's simple, fast and safe. The truck does all the work. I did have to add a board under it for added height though.
SK1-XRay
2001 F250 P/S 4x4 Crew Cab Short Bed
2004 HitchHiker II LS
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