So driving home from camping with a girlfriend of mine, I blow a tire. Yikes not good but no problem this girl can handle it. Lucky the only damage that was done was the blown tire, outlet cover and a some rubber makes.

What makes this tire change tricky is the fact that the trailer is a double axle and the tire is not touching the ground so every time you try to loosen a wheel lug nut the tire spins as I quickly found to be very challenging.20160805_105957

What you need before you get started:

  • Wheel Chocks
  • Jack Stands
  • Pump Jack Rated for the weight of your trailer
  • WD40
  • Wheel wrench sized to the Lug Nut
  • Torque Wrench
  • Pipe (If you need more leverage)
  • Board to jam in the wheel to stop it from moving

Before you do any maintenance on any vehicle you should always chock the wheels.  A sudden shift in weight can cause a vehicle to begin rolling.  This reminds  of me the day we did maintenance on military vehicles, we had to chock the wheels before we did anything.   When a trailer is not being moved it is good practice to use wheel chocks, nothing worse then having a run away trailer.

Next remove dust cap.

dustcap

With assistance from a helpful neighbor use a board or the end of a wood handle jam the tire between the holes in the wheel well and somewhere on the frame of the trailer to stop the wheel from spinning. While your helper holds the tire from turning, loosen and then remove the lug nuts and then remove the tire.

**If the lug nuts are not coming loose spray them and the thread of the bolts with WD40 and let it sit for 30 mins and try again**

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Once you have the rim off, clean rim and install new tire. I took the rim to a tire place to have the cleaning and installation done.

This would be a good time to inspect the brakes while you have the wheel off.

20160805_163918The new tire will not fit on as easily as the old one came off.

The trailer must be lifted so the new tire can be install. Place a hydraulic jack, that is rated for your trailer weight under the trailer, ensuring you will be lifting on the frame of the trailer.

 

You should never only use the hydraulic bottle jack to keep the trailer up while you work on it. Always use jack stands for safety. Place jack stands under the frame of the trailer. Then lower the hydraulic jack so the weight the trailer in being supported by the jack stands.

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Place new tire and rim on the hub and install bolts hand tight.

 

 

20160805_161622Place the hydraulic jack back under the trailer and lift the trailer so the weight is of the jack stands. Then remove the jack stands and then lower the trailer to the ground.

Using a torque wrench, tighten the bolts to required torque.torqueWrench

Install dust cap and the tire change is complete!

Make sure to remove wheel chocks before you move the trailer

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