Heading out west next week....suggestions

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Do you know how to jack up these vehicles to change a tire? I recently had a flat tire and for the first time in my life could not get the lug nuts loose. Someone volunteered to help me, and he did, but he put my lug nuts on backwards. I wish I had had some WD-40. I have a can that needs to go with my jack and tire iron in the trunk. While there are great people in the west, you might end up in a place where a knight in shining armor does not come riding in to help with a bad tire.
Not knowing your vehicle, it might be worth it to have your hoses and belts checked and if any are looking frayed or fragile, having them replaced.
 
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@Weedygarden what type of lug nut wrench do you have. I only buy 4-way lug wrenches. They offer a big advantage over the golf club shaped ones. Then, the ones I've seen in new vehicles are just as big a joke as the little spare tire.

With a 4-way lug wrench I can push down and pull up at the same time. It gives more control, less likely to slip off and cause injury. It also allows me to use a lot more of my body weight to apply pressure to the nut.

Also, all my vehicles have a short piece of steel pipe, just big enough to slip over the largest socket. This gives me even more leverage.

first is the 4-way followed by the golf club.

Lug wrench 1.jpg
Lug wrench 2.jpeg
 
Peanut said:
@Weedygarden what type of lug nut wrench do you have. I only buy 4-way lug wrenches. They offer a big advantage over the golf club shaped ones. Then, the ones I've seen in new vehicles are just as big a joke as the little spare tire.

With a 4-way lug wrench I can push down and pull up at the same time. It gives more control, less likely to slip off and cause injury. It also allows me to use a lot more of my body weight to apply pressure to the nut.

Also, all my vehicles have a short piece of steel pipe, just big enough to slip over the largest socket. This gives me even more leverage.

first is the 4-way followed by the golf club.

View attachment 78126View attachment 78127
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I have a 4 way wrench. That is one of the things that all of my vehicles have had after my first one had the golf club type of wrench that I replaced after my first flat with it. The golf club is worthless, imho. I am going to look for a piece of pipe for my 4 way wrench. Thank you. I also need to go through my daughter's vehicles and make sure she is set up as well. She is someone who gets in and drives, without having had those experiences of being stuck in places like the middle of Wyoming, Montana or North Dakota and without even thinking of the proper gear for changing tires. Those experiences will only happen to you once, maybe, and you will make sure you have a full size spare and whatever else you need. I need to do a good inventory of her tire changing equipment.

Another thing that I was thinking about for my 4 way wrench was to find the end that fits my lug nuts and to give it a quick spray paint so that I can tell at a glance which end is best to use.
 
Weedygarden said:
I have a 4 way wrench. That is one of the things that all of my vehicles have

Another thing that I was thinking about for my 4 way wrench was to find the end that fits my lug nuts and to give it a quick spray paint so that I can tell at a glance which end is best to use.
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That's what I've done to mine, I had some gloss black rattle can paint and painted the most used lug. I have to re-paint them every 15 or 20yrs. It makes things go quicker in bad weather or at night.
 
havasu said:
Great idea while using a star type lug nut removal tool. I never considered painting it to identify which size lug nut is used!
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The ends can be so close in fitting, and anyone who has used a wrench that is slightly too large knows how easy it would be to strip out the lug nut. Out in the middle of nowhere, that would be an absolute disaster!
 
Camalot said:
Let off the accelerator when crossing overpasses or bridges when driving on ice.
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A good piece of advice, but if you are driving a gasoline powered vehicle, the idle air motor will go from coast to decelerate, on the ecms signal, which can put you in a skid if you are not aware that it will happen, if you pay attention to when this happens on good road, there shouldn't be any surprizes, but it does catch people off guard.
 
I gave up on lug wrenches. I have a cordless impact wrench and a 3 piece lug socket set which gives me six different lug sizes. My dad taught me a lot of useful ideas. I make sure it is freshly charged, and the spare battery, before any trip.
 
Yes weather is going to be nasty, I seen a post on FB of eastern WA around the Palouse area of heavy rains, flooding, possible snow and strong winds. Please be very careful. Is there maybe any way to postpone this trip? Even the best of drivers can get into trouble on unknown roads.
 
Weedygarden said:
Maybe I need to look into this as a possibility.
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No more trying to stomp on a lug wrench, or twisting my back by pulling or pushing while bent over, or over exerting myself. Dad was in his 70's or 80's when he figured it out. I am sure benefiting from it now.
 
Tirediron said:
A good piece of advice, but if you are driving a gasoline powered vehicle, the idle air motor will go from coast to decelerate, on the ecms signal, which can put you in a skid if you are not aware that it will happen, if you pay attention to when this happens on good road, there shouldn't be any surprizes, but it does catch people off guard.
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Didn't know such a thing even existed! Imagine what I may learn tomorrow? Which is actually today, then again I guess tomorrow would actually be tomorrow (Saturday) for those of you who have chosen to read this far.
 
Camalot said:
Didn't know such a thing even existed! Imagine what I may learn tomorrow? Which is actually today, then again I guess tomorrow would actually be tomorrow (Saturday) for those of you who have chosen to read this far.
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the difference is subtle, and hard to notice with quiet exhaust, at first, the idle air motor stay open (coast) when you first remove you foot pressure from the accelerator, then after a little bit of time it closes to it,s base idle setting, causing the engine to absorb power , sometime leading to a potential skid condition in a rear drive situation
 
I hope she's ok. She's mentioned pulling a 5th wheel between PA and FL before so I'm sure she has some experience. But the rockies and cascades in winter is a whole different experience.

As long as she follows traffic and weather alerts she shouldn't get into to difficulty... other than stuck in a roadside motel in no-where-ville. Been there, done that! More than once!

And her daughter is with her... 2 heads are better than 1. (unless we're talking about some of my family members) :rolleyes:
 
Peanut said:
I hope she's ok. She's mentioned pulling a 5th wheel between PA and FL before so I'm sure she has some experience. But the rockies and cascades in winter is a whole different experience.

As long as she follows traffic and weather alerts she shouldn't get into to difficulty... other than stuck in a roadside motel in no-where-ville. Been there, done that! More than once!
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I'd just stay in the 5th wheel. ;)
 
She didn't say she was pulling and 5th wheel or an RV. She said she was pulling a 30ft trailer.

I'm pretty sure she's mentioned a 5th wheel in the past. I brought it up because I found it reassuring that she has some towing experience, thought others might also.
 
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We made it back. God was with us. The weather was perfect, most of the time. We hit the prairie in SD and I was panicking a few times. Was getting 6.1 mpg. Gas stations were few and far between. I have a trucker app that shows where gas stations are, it came in handy, many times. The one pass in MT was a bit sketchy. But not one time did I have to chain up. Made it to WA on day 4, dropped the trailer and I was so happy.
Then my daughter And I headed to Jacksonhole. Nice town, seen a few moose, did a dog sled tour and a snowmobile tour to a hot spring.
then off to West Yellowstone, Did another snowmobile tour into Yellowstone. AMAZING. Seen a pack of wolves, even our guide was pumped. A dang on buffalo walked right out in front of us.
then off to Deadwood SD. went and saw a few touristy site. Gambled $40, lol then headed home.
for those that followed or commented on the winter boot post, Baffins worked perfect
 
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