Easy way to replace tires

[Golfnbike13]

I need new tires for my 2146BHX, but tow vehicle is down for a repair. Anyone ever taken the four wheels off and just took them to tire store for new tires and brought back to put on? Any issues with that?

Obviously would have to figure out a way block the trailer on axles? If so what would I need?
Or is it better to just take two wheels in at a time?

[dalford]

The tire shop does not care. You can take one or four. Your only issue is blocking your rv while you take the 4 tires in.

Depending on your situation it might be easier to do 2 at a time.

Make sure you are set up with the tires you want at the tire shop. I use Discount Tire but any will do.

[Aussieguy]

get some cement building blocks and some wood cribbing from hardware store
position them under frame

remove wheels and lower the frame sit on the blocks ... nice and secure
I position blocks to run 90 degrees to frame...

make sure blocks are sitting up in the correct direction .... holes UP
they cost about $2.50 a piece
I use 6 x 2 scraps of wood

[Draggo]

That's the only way I've done it. I will pull 1 tire from each side, use jack stands under the frame to secure it while it still resting on the 2nd tire, take them in to have the tires changed, then switch them out. Luckily for me though the tire place is only about a mile down the road so it's not bad running back and forth.

[Mike134]

Originally Posted by Aussieguy

get some cement building blocks and some wood cribbing from hardware store
position them under frame

remove wheels and lower the frame sit on the blocks ... nice and secure
I position blocks to run 90 degrees to frame...

make sure blocks are sitting up in the correct direction .... holes UP
they cost about $2.50 a piece
I use 6 x 2 scraps of wood

X2!!

[rollscanardly]

I'm in the process of doing this (next week..). The camper (dual axle) is set up on our property.


I will remove the tires off of one side. I made a tool that will lift both axles at the same time.


I will put the spare tire on one of the axles to support the camper (along with the bottle jack/and tool.


When I return with both new tires mounted. I will install them and repeat on the second side.


This has already been discussed at the tire store...


Rich

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by Aussieguy

get some cement building blocks and some wood cribbing from hardware store
position them under frame

get some concrete building blocks

Concrete is a mix of Portland cement and aggregates. The aggregates can include sand, gravel, and crushed rock.

To make concrete a mixture of portland cement (10-15%) and water (15-20%) make a paste. This paste is then mixed with aggregates (65-75%) such as sand and gravel, or crushed stone.

[rxgac]

Not sure I would lift with axles. Lift with frame. Too much chance damaging axles.

[jimmoore13]

The tire store will appreciate not having to manhandle your rig, so you'd be doing them a favor.

As for blocking, how many tires at a time depends on how much blocking you have. One of my spring hangers broke clean off, and the frame manufacturer agreed to pay for a mobile welder to come out to fix the broken one and reinforce the rest. I had enough blocking and jack stands to do one side at a time, so, when the welder arrived, I had one side up on blocks and the tires removed. Once done with that side, we re-installed the wheels on the repaired side and moved the jacks/blocking/jack stands to the other side and removed those tires. Between the welder, his helper and me, it took only about 30 minutes to move everything, and when the welding was done, I took care of re-installing the wheels and getting the rig off the blocks.

Just be sure to buy your tires as a set of 4 (perhaps a discount), and don't forget to ask for a discount on mounting/balancing, because they don't have to manhandle the rig. They'd have to do all that work if you didn't do it for them, and they probably have a standard shop price for handling RV tire changes...that won't be justified in your case.

[Aussieguy]

you can jack up a trailer to remove wheels without using a jack at the frame/wheels

Lower the tongue all the way down as far as you can go.
put cement/concrete/cinder blocks OR just combination of wood 4x4 , 2x4 or and 4x1 cribbing under the rear ....BOTH sides of the frame

Lift tongue back UP .... wheels should be off ground , depending on suspension travel you have... standard springs or torsion setups should work well

lift up high enough you can add combination of wood + cement/concrete/cinder blocks to the front section .......... now you got a real stable trailer

[RobbieH]

I don't know if this is something that's OK now, but when we had our first RV it specifically said to never do this:

On the way home last weekend we saw a large 5th wheel off the ground getting a tire changed, they lifted it with their four leveling jacks.

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by Aussieguy

you can jack up a trailer to remove wheels without using a jack at the frame/wheels

Lower the tongue all the way down as far as you can go.
put cement/concrete/cinder blocks OR just combination of wood 4x4 , 2x4 or and 4x1 cribbing under the rear ....BOTH sides of the frame

Lift tongue back UP .... wheels should be off ground , depending on suspension travel you have... standard springs or torsion setups should work well

lift up high enough you can add combination of wood + cement/concrete/cinder blocks to the front section .......... now you got a real stable trailer

Do you really think the standard trailer jack can handle 50% of the weight of a trailer? I would tend to guess that it's only rated for 10-15% of the trailer weight--that is, the hitch weight.

When posting to a forum read by new owners, one should be careful not to suggest anything dangerous or potentially damaging.

[dalford]

Originally Posted by Larry-NC

Do you really think the standard trailer jack can handle 50% of the weight of a trailer? I would tend to guess that it's only rated for 10-15% of the trailer weight--that is, the hitch weight.

When posting to a forum read by new owners, one should be careful not to suggest anything dangerous or potentially damaging.

I don’t think physics is on your side. The trailer jack handles the tongue weight when the trailer is sitting on its own tires. So does the tongue jack know the trailer is sitting on blocks or tires? I don’t think so…

Why is this so hard? Jack it up on one side…keep the kids away and go get two tires mounted..rinse and repeat..

[D W]

When I do tires, I start with the two spare and do two tires at a time. I save two of the original tires, [best or newest ones] for spares. Make two trips and I'm done.

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by dalford

I don’t think physics is on your side. The trailer jack handles the tongue weight when the trailer is sitting on its own tires. So does the tongue jack know the trailer is sitting on blocks or tires? I don’t think so…

Umm, maybe (just maybe) I misread AG's post.

I thought he was recommending the following procedure.

• Start with trailer on ground.
• Lower jack. (This step implied but not stated.)
• Put cribbing behind the rear axle.
• Use jack to raise front of trailer until tires are clear of the ground.
• Trailer is now three-point suspended between jack and cribbing.

Go back and see if this is a reasonable interpretation of the post.

[dalford]

Originally Posted by Larry-NC

Umm, maybe (just maybe) I misread AG's post.

I thought he was recommending the following procedure.

• Start with trailer on ground.
• Lower jack. (This step implied but not stated.)
• Put cribbing behind the rear axle.
• Use jack to raise front of trailer until tires are clear of the ground.
• Trailer is now three-point suspended between jack and cribbing.

Go back and see if this is a reasonable interpretation of the post.

I think it is a reasonable interpretation but I guess my thought is now you have the trailer weight on the cribbing and the tongue jack. How does the trailer jack know it’s on cribbing and not tires?

I do believe the center of gravity has moved some but not 50%. The weight is proportional to the distance from the center of gravity. Don’t hold me to this as I’m not a physicist lol…

My 5th wheel weight 13K pounds (CAT scale). 10K on tires and 3K on my hitch.if I jack my tires off the ground with my hydraulic leveling jacks I don’t thing I’ve now moved 50% of the trailer weight to the pin. The jacks are now holding the 10K or maybe 5K if only one side.

Anyway, making this way to hard. Jack up one side, remove tires and go to tire store rinse and repeat.

[timfromma]

I started with my spare, took it down and had it replaced. I then took another tire off and put the spare on in it's place then had that one replaced. I repeated this process until all 4 tires were new and mounted the last one back on the spare tire mount.

[jimmarako]

When I did mine I pulled all four tires off. I put the spare and a jack stand on one side. The spar on my horse trailer had the same bolt pattern so I did the same on the other side. I was able to chock the wheels and not worry about it rolling away.

Jim M

[Aussieguy]

Originally Posted by Larry-NC

Umm, maybe (just maybe) I misread AG's post.

I thought he was recommending the following procedure.

• Start with trailer on ground.
• Lower jack. (This step implied but not stated.)
  "Lower the tongue all the way down as far as you can go." YUP Implied and stated
  
• Put cribbing behind the rear axle.
  Cribbing on FRAME at rear of trailer is best
  
• Use jack to raise front of trailer until tires are clear of the ground.
  Now you getting there
  
• Trailer is now three-point suspended between jack and cribbing.

"lift up high enough you can add combination of wood + cement/concrete/cinder blocks to the front section "
put cribbing in the front too although 3 point jacking would work


Go back and see if this is a reasonable interpretation of the post.

My little Furrion jack is also able to LIFT the trailer and tow vehicle to help get the WDH bars on/off... Every time I lift the back of my Yukon I am amazed at the jack's stamina and so glad I don't have to wind trailer up/down by hand

it's the little jack that could!
gearing is low .....hence it is slow but strong
as long as you got some blocks ... it's a real easy way to jack up a trailer especially to change all 4 tires


tongue weight is no where near the max capacity of those jacks ...read the sticker ratings

Cheap Haulmark brand at Harbor Freight is rated #3500

so I guess my 700pound tongue weight (approx) is puny even for a cheapo $150 jack

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if jack was straining I would think people would stop

although I did have an employee once who kept finger on button and did not watch what was happening'
he did about $8,000 worth of damage to a machine I had.

And his mate that also worked for us drilled a 3/4 in hole in good Old Aussie hardwood ... In reverse !

No accounting for Tasmanian's .... I think they may be related to some northern USA peoples!
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I have used this method on a 5000# boat to raise it off the trailer

[Rhumblefish]

I’d be real careful here.

Geometry of the tongue jack plus a lift point that is (1) on the frame and (2) behind the rear axle (a) might not be tall enough to take up suspension travel in order to lift enough and/or (b) be putting a LOT of (concentrated) load into a single point of the frame (as opposed to the suspension attachment point). No matter which, definitely don’t put the new lift point too far back, as it increases stress going into the frame.

All that being said, if I was going to attempt this procedure, I def agree to first lower the nose as much as possible (to raise the back of the trailer and maximize the room for lift). But putting it as “far back” (ie, to the very back of the frame) as possible? That is a LOT of lever arm, on a lever that’s (1) not inflexible and (2) attached to a lot of other things.

Just my .02, I could be (and likely am) wrong.