Tire Surprise

[Wandering Sagebrush]

There is a good chance we will be spending the coming winter in snow country. Even though there was at least 10k miles left on the Coopers, I decided to put a new set of tires on the F350.

So, a new set of Cooper AT3, were ordered and installed. One of the take off’s was fairly new because of road hazard replacement, and had roughly 50% tread remaining. I decided to use it to replace the unused 7 year old Michelin spare.

The short story and lesson learned is to check the size of your spare, first. My spare is on an 18” rim, but the truck has 20” wheels. We jumped through a lot of hoops before making that discovery. A face palm moment.

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

The spare tire goes unnoticed most of the time until you need it.
Good you checked it now.
Frank

 

[Beach]

I wonder how many people check the spare tire pressure on a regular basis.

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

How many check any tire pressure.
I look at them at least.
I check the spare when going on a trip.
Frank

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

I wonder how many people check the spare tire pressure on a regular basis.

Every time the tires are rotated, plus I carry a compressor.

 

[Missing Link]

I had a different but similar experience to Mr. Sage. In Feb. of 2017 I picked up our new Ford F150 and a few days later went to my local tire guy to get five "E" rated AT3s. He discovered that someone at the Ford factory had installed the wrong lock, so it was impossible to lower the spare! Ford fixed the problem immediately but had I not wanted to put those heavier duty tires on . . . I would have been in deep doo doo the first time I got a flat tire, especially if it happened in the middle of nowhere.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Mr Link, great advice!

Ford owners, remember to record your the number of your spare lock in your owners manual! If you need to order a replacement, it makes life much easier.

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

There's always some adventure in our travels.
Frank

 

[Happyjax]

I'm always learning new things here! Time to check the spare and lock!

 

[Kolockum]

I always give my spare the old kick test when ever I am working around the back of the truck. That will also tell you if your tire is coming loose.

 

[ski3pin]

I always give my spare the old kick test when ever I am working around the back of the truck. That will also tell you if your tire is coming loose.

Years ago the Lady borrowed her Dad's truck to get some work done, including a trip up into the mountains to a cabin. She was lucky she didn't lose control when the spare came off and landed upright launching the back end skyward. Sure taught us to do a walk around and safety check on borrowed vehicles.

 

[Ted]

Another thing to check...
I recall Dirty Dog, the creator of WTW, replaced the stock wheels on his truck with after market wheels. While out exploring the Nevada desert he got a flat. Discovered the new wheels were installed with a different size lug nut than the stock wheels, making his lug nut wrench useless.

 

[AWG_Pics]

I recently bought a lightly used malone kayak trailer, and decided to install bearing buddies. I managed it with the stock lug wrench, but since bought a star wrench for the better leverage as well as multiple sized lug sizes. But I never checked the spare tire lock -- but that is now on my list of must do items when this heat wave subsides in a couple days.

 

[CraggyMan]

I'll second the motion on checking the spare for pressure and working loose from it's mount. Earlier this year after a number of trips over very rocky roads found our spare hanging quite loose.

 

[craig333]

Check those lug nuts. I once had a tire come off the Jeep and go bouncing down the hill. I thought what I was feeling was driveline vibration. Fortunately (after dragging my tire back up the hill) this was on a Jeep run, low speed, and I was able to borrow some lug nuts from another driver.