Tire Blow Out - Oh No

[DMan]

A number of years ago, I was hauling a small trailer to my son's motocross races. It had everything in it from his bike, to his gear, to our camping stuff, coolers, duffels and way in the front furthest from the door was the spare tire, under half of this stuff. Of course, we were on the way home when we get a blowout and had to unload half the trailer to get at the spare and the jack and the tools to change the tire. We learned a lesson that day I'll tell you. Oh and did I mention it was pouring rain during this whole episode?

[danny28]

That sucks for sure. A crappy lesson to learn. I have never had a blow out when hauling a trailer. I have had a blow out when on vacation though. Glad you were able to fix it.

[wvbreamfisherman]

I carry two spares on my canoe trailer (and a spare set of wheel bearings) for just that eventuality. I can sympathize- it always seems to be crappy weather when you have to get otu to change a tire (or crawl up under the car in the slush to tie up the sagging exhaust pipe...).

[dinosaur]

I always carry a can of Fix-A-Flat and a portable compressor. Unless the flat causes severe damage, this males for a quick fix. It also helps if the spare is underinflated.

[limbs]

That is pretty bad luck. Were the tires in bad shape at the time or were you just unlucky and hit a nail or something. My friend has a Harley that has brand new tires and on Easter he ran over a nail and one of the tires went flat. It is never fun when new tires go down!

[wvbreamfisherman]

My experiences with trailer tires usually have been a total sidewall failure rather than a puncture. I do carry a fix-a-flat , but have used it more on the truck tires than anything else.

Also- important tip for trailering newbies- make sure you have a lug wrench that fits BOTH the tow vehicle AND the trailer lugnuts. A nice scissors jack is handy too. Sometimes car jacks don't fit under trailer axles very well.

[Cappy]

We always cary fix a flat, air compressor, 4 way lug wrench,and a good jack. We are also very careful with tire maintenance, and buy new quicker than most folks would. Still after all our care ya still have a flat on ocasion. Here is a story about one such adventure. Proof positive that s**t happens

Cappy & Pegody's World: The 2-bit Part

[Barney]

Sometimes you are out of luck and you can't do anything about it. I try to prepare for the worst which is why my car is geared up for this kind of emergencies.

[ppine]

Trailer tires fail all the time. They rot from being in the sun and from disuse. The carbon black in the rubber compound moves to the surface with use. Always cover your tires on trailers. Also, most of them can't handle speeds over about 65 mph.

I have blown tires on travel trailer, boat trailers, pop-up trailers, and utility trailers. Horse trailers are the worst, like a gooseneck with 12 horses inside.

[carmen]

That is some bad timing there with the weather too. Its actually one of the few things that still scares me to this day about driving. And oddly enough the only other thing is the steering wheel falling off. Good to hear you are safe though!!