Tyre changing assistance

see thread 91871
regards

all this is very well unless the tyre is mounted on the rear door.

I see older couples with off road caravans that have huge spare tyres attached to the front of the van (behind the stone deflector).

I often wonder how the hell would they get one of those monster tyres up & over the stone guard in the case of a flat on their caravan?

I guess there's a way. No doubt I'll camp near one soon enough and pop the question over a late drink.

Cheers - Wayne

as I said the hardest thing is getting the wheel in and out of the spare wheel carrier.

there are all sorts of things I have seen done and gadgets made to do it.

cheers

Paul and Bill raise the question of lifting a wheel up onto the rear door. While I'd have to agree with The Bantam that it's a mug's game, it is possible. The following is my reply to post 83498, about a year ago. It's by far the best technique I've come across for lifting a heavy wheel onto the back door.

"I was shown a trick by a tyre repairer in Alice Springs a few years ago.

To lift the spare onto the back door of our Troopy -

Stand with the wheel vertical on the ground, facing the wrong way (ie back to front), resting against your knees/thighs. Grasp it from the other (remote) side through the centre hole and using your knees/thighs as a pivot, raise the far side of the wheel until the wheel is standing vertical resting on your legs. It should then be at about the right height to slide onto the back door. Shuffle forward to the vehicle and slip it onto one of the retaining bolts, rotate to pick up all bolts and slide it on.

Done this way, your legs carry much of the weight for most of the lift. Still not exactly women's work (or so I'm told by an often reliable source!), but far easier on the back than lifting any other way I know of.

To get a wheel up on the roof - I use the same lift to position the wheel adjacent to the back door spare, then pivoting on the top of the back door spare bring the bottom of the second wheel up so that it rests vertically on top of the mounted one. From there it's an easy push using only the legs to get it the rest of the way up onto the rack.

A picture would save a lot of words here, but the better half isn't keen on me photographing her demonstrating the process ! "

Cheers

John

John,
you married the wrong woman. (sorry Val). You should have married Toots Holzimer
Quite a few times when I have gone to help dear Thelma (god rest her soul) with full 44's or truck wheels she would tell me to F off out of her way as all I would do is stuff it up.


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John, the method you use works very well indeed.

Have a good one,
RA.

This raises an important concept for those not accustomed to lifting heavy things.

If the item is heavy...try not to dead lift it...that is the hardest way..using leverage or pivots will get the job done much easier and safer.

I use the lifting method above all the time for heavy things.

if you are lifting one end of an item at a time you are only lifting half the weight.

a coulpe of things that will get ya tyre back up on the door or the rear carrier.

carefull use of the high lift jack...might be slow but it beats busting ya gut.

ya might be able to roll or shuffle the tyre up ya long handled shovel

or place an upright jerry can perpendicular to the wheel carrier, place ya tool box behind that and flop the tyre onto the tool box then onto the jerry and then onto the carrier...then ya just gota lift the jerry and the tool box but thay are a bit less aquard and have handles.

some of these methods you would not use unless you are injured.....but if you have a busted arm back or leg and ya need to change a tyre in the middle of nowhere, a bit of injenuity and leverage will get the job done with out further injury.

cheers

Some months ago I saw an ad for a very clever device, which would be ideal -in my circumstances . Its a small trolley where you can lift or roll the spare wheel onto the device. Both ends have rollers on them so you can roll the wheel around and line it up with the wheel studs. Then its a matter of just jacking up the device and slide the wheel back onto the studs. I wish I had kept that piece of junk mail , as it would have come in very handy, when I popped a tyre off the rim, after recovering a friend of mine whose 4x4 had become stuck in soft sand near Lancelin. Anyone got any idea as to what I am referring to ? If not, I`ll have to go to the next caravan and camping show when it comes to Perth and see if there is anyone who sells this particular item.

Zambezi,

Try google car wheel dolly's and see what you come up with

RA.

arround heavy vehicle workshops they routinely use wheel jacks, but they would be impractical to carry in a vehicle and would be useless away from smooth hard ground.

remember every tyre and rim comes with a free wheel and you have to use a jack to raise and lower the vehicle.....that should be enough once the wheel is on the ground.

cheers

Zambezi,

Car wheel dolly clink on LINK

Have a good one

RA.

This smaller one is sometimes available at REPCO Ezy Wheel Lifter

Hey Rockape,

thanks for the pic and mention of Toots Holzimer.

I saw the doco on her years and years ago, about 12 months or so before her demise. Have often thought about her and her abilities, I reckon she could probably have outwork her old man. hahaha
She wasn't much taller than a 44 either was she. Mind you, neither am I. hahaha

She was a girl and a half that one.

Cheers, Bruce.

Bruce,
as you say she wasn't tall in stature but she sure had a great grasp of the english language at times. That is the colourful version.

I remember her giving me one hell of a dressing down at the Archer River roadhouse in the mid 80's accusing us of cutting up her road. She was a mighty woman and I can remember the day word got round that she had had been killed. It came as a pretty big shock.

It was great to she her and Rons old 25.280 MAN at Alice a couple of years ago.
They did a great job restoring it.

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All the best,
RA.

Peter,
that is a nice setup you have there.

certainly would take to breaking out of back.