Changing Tires on Tandem Trailer

[Outnumbered]

For those of you that have any kind of trailer with tandem axles this has to be the easiest way to change a tire I have ever used. I bought this and have had it stored in the back for years and never needed it. Well I discovered that one of the tires on my boat trailer had a failed plug and would not hold air. So this was the first time I actually needed the thing. Wow, definitely much faster and easier than messing with a floor or bottle jack.

 

[Lil Foot]

I have used this for years, similar principle, but under the axle instead of the tire.

 

[DustyRusty]

The first one only works is you have a torsion axle, not a spring-hung axle. The second one will work with both.

 

[NCL4701]

For those of you that have any kind of trailer with tandem axles this has to be the easiest way to change a tire I have ever used. I bought this and have had it stored in the back for years and never needed it. Well I discovered that one of the tires on my boat trailer had a failed plug and would not hold air. So this was the first time I actually needed the thing. Wow, definitely much faster and easier than messing with a floor or bottle jack.

View attachment 140924
View attachment 140925

I have one of those. Came in a camper trailer leveling kit I bought several years ago. The kit had two low rise things shaped like that for leveling the trailer at a campsite. Put them on the low side and pull or back onto them until it’s level, then chock under the ramps and chock the tires on the other side. With a spotter watching a level on the trailer it’s a pretty slick way to level a trailer in under 5 minutes start to finish.

The one higher rise block, which the kit referred to as a jack, looked like yours aside from mine is orange. Used it once. The one time I used it was on a Winnebago Mini 2801BHSS with leaf spring suspension. Agree it worked extremely well.

 

[rc51stierhoff]

I sure could have used one a few years ago before MX. I was coming home from place up north on divided highway that was under construction with a drop (new lane going in) off past the barrels. I had been cutting wood and using the B. the B was on the trailer and I packed wood around w/ sideboards in the stake pockets. I was loaded down good.

Spousal unit(SU) was following in the 2 door. Anyway at about the worst possible time I lost a tire and I just happened to see it in the mirror. SU calls and tells me tire blew out I said I don’t have time to talk (which had my hands full) and hung up. She called back giveing me the business for hanging up…it did not get better and I hung up again. She calls back yet again (I’ve really got my hands full) thinks I should pull off and I think there is a 12” ledge past my lane and the barrels. Well I did not…I let think foot off gas and put on the blinkers (shit I had traffic everywhere people waving telling me I was number 1…not much I could do) and let it slow down down and I crept to the first exit versus a dukes of hazard event where down the step/ledge and past the orange barrels.

Anyway we go to first exit. And I pull in the first gas station on the corner. Not nice area. I really did not want to stop there but had not much choice. I always packed heat (but this was before the boat accidents started happening) and we had our GSD. I had SU hold the leash and told her if I tell her to, drop the leash. (It never came to that though…those folks wanted nothing to do with the hill Billie’s changing a tire).

I did not have a way to jack the trailer with that much weight on it without unloading (wood and tractor). Instead I ended up building up a ramp out of split wood that was on the trailer and pulling the trailer up on it to get one of the wheels up high enough to pull the tire off and get the spare tire on.

Long story short when I got home I never did buy either of the aids mentioned above but this thread is a great reminder. I did buy a proper trailer with speed rated tires though. I do still need to buy a proper jack for that kind of weight and order one of the lift aids or whatever they are called and a new jack. I better get that ordered.

 

[The Evil Twin]

The first one only works is you have a torsion axle, not a spring-hung axle. The second one will work with both.

Yessir. Found that out the hard way. Now I carry a pneumatic bottle jack and hook it up to the onboard air on the truck. Took 15 minutes to change one on the side of the road. Then another 15 to find a hole in traffic to get back in the interstate. Lol!!

 

[6869704x4]

The first one only works is you have a torsion axle, not a spring-hung axle. The second one will work with both.

How is it different than this?

 

[Dustball]

How is it different than this?

Size. It's much easier to store the small EZ-Jack than the big Gorilla ramp.

 

[The Evil Twin]

How is it different than this?
View attachment 140984

I found that there is too much flex with the center spring hanger. At least on a 13k toy hauler. Maybe if it was on flat solid pavement it would have worked.

 

[Lil Foot]

When I was about 16 my folks decided to go tent trailer camping near Prescott.
I would follow on my motorcycle, and my Dad would join us after work with a work buddy.
About halfway there, the trailer blew a tire.
We had a spare, but no jack that would work with the trailer.
I unhitched the trailer, dropped the tongue jack as low as it would go, then extended the 2 rear leveling/stabilizing jacks as far as they would go.
Then I just cranked up the tongue jack until the wheels were off the ground.
Easy-peasy.
Used the same trick on my own tent trailer years later.
(before I found the tool pictured above)

 

[armylifer]

I have the same tire ramp that is the first one shown. I have had to use it a few times in the last 20 years. It worked perfectly with both of my travel trailers. Both trailers have sprung axles.

 

[6869704x4]

I found that there is too much flex with the center spring hanger. At least on a 13k toy hauler. Maybe if it was on flat solid pavement it would have worked.

Yeah, you can see where it had just enough room. That trailer was a skosh over 14k.

 

[The Evil Twin]

Yeah, you can see where it had just enough room. That trailer was a skosh over 14k.

Hey, if it works it works! The one time I needed it, I had to bust out the hydraulic bottle jack as well to clear the replacement wheel. That's when I went and bought a 12 ton pneumatic bottle jack. No pumping while crammed under the trailer!

 

[Donystoy]

I have an implement trailer jack on both rear corners of my tandem trailer. That along with the front tongue jack allows me to fully lift the trailer for wheel removal. Originally installed to allow easy loading of the tractor onto trailer.