Flat Tires on the BOV

[Rick]

A lot of folks plan to bug out to some other location should they have to. In many cases they plan to utilize off road as their route at least part of the way. Do you have a means to plug a tire if it goes flat? Do you know how?

Here is some advice on how to plug a tire followed by a link to tire repair gear.

http://www.off-road-outdoors.com/tire-repair.html

http://www.cabelas.com/fryprod-0/pro...6943.uts.shtml

http://www.4x4review.com/Reviews/Pro...8/Default.aspx

[crashdive123]

Good stuff. Thanks.

[hunter63]

Thanks for the reminder, good stuff.
Also be aware that a lot of newer vehicles have a very irritating indicator light that rags at you at 4:00 AM, on Sat morning blasting down the road with the boat on the back....

I do carry:
spare
floor jack
bottle jack
farmer 48" jack (can also be used as a come-a-long)
plug/patch kit
couple of fix-a-flat cans
valve stems/wench
12 v compressor
(But think I gonna need a bigger compressor as the new truck requires 65lbs, which I found out that convenience store compressors don't really cut it.)

[huntermj]

Thanks rick ive been meaning to add a tire repair kit and one of those emergency compressors to the car kit. I guess i will get it done this weekend.

[oldsoldier]

In addition to tire change stuff I put "anti punture" liners in my tires and put the green slime in as well. Have ran over a 20 penny nail pulled it and tire "self sealed" and is still holding air. Plus if you want to lay out the $$$ you can buy run flat tires.

[Sourdough]

I should think that the people behind a BOV with any problem, would be inclined to be short tempered, to the point of pushing a problem off the road. Just my guess.

[Batch]

I have plugged many tires. I also have had two trips where we had 3 flats.

Plug kit and cans of fix a flat always.

[canid]

I don't know how many miles they would hold up, and they would ruin the tire for later use, but i've heard of mixed results [some of them good] with using injectable polyurethane foam for improvised run-flats.

[Camp10]

Slime works great but it will freeze on you. I use it in my 4 wheelers and did put it in a truck tire once when I couldnt get it to keeps a good seal on its bead. I have carried a few extra rubber plugs as well as a plug kit. I once had a huge chunk taken out of a 4 wheeler tire and it took about 5 plugs to get it to hold. After that, I added some more plugs to the kit.

On top of having the gear to plug a tire, one more important check might be to see if your current spare will release from the under truck holder. I ran into this problem the last time I had a flat. GM uses a really crappy cable setup and with the salt they put on the roads here in the winter, it will rust and freeze up. I've also learned that there is a locking system on them. You need to tighten the hanger until it clicks and then lower it. Sometimes it takes pressure to the rim to get it to release as well. It can be a real pain on the side of a muddy road trying to learn all these tricks, so take the spare down once in the driveway and spray all the metal parts!

[Rick]

And as I said in another thread, after I swapped wheels I learned at the wrong time my lug wrench would no longer fit. Really a rookie mistake but just didn't think about making sure the lug wrench fit the new lugs.

[scottmphoto]

I run a newspaper route for my state-wide daily newspaper. I'm constantly having flats. I put a little over 1,000 miles a week on my car. I carry the basic tire plug kit, an inverter and a small air compressor. I carry the same (plus a bunch of tools) on my 4x4 P/U.
When Wally-world charges @ $25.00 to fix a flat and a basic plug kit costs @ $10.00, that's roughly $115.00 (kit with only 5 plugs) that I have saved. In the last year and a half that I've been doing this, I have saved a lot of money, not to mention that I am just that more self-reliant.
My next purchase along these lines is one of the old manual tire changing machines. I know that I can pop the bead, remove and replace the tire with crow bars and there's several ways to reset the bead - but it's all a pain in the rear-end. But, it can be done cheaply.

[Sourdough]

My Bug'out Vehicle does not get flat tires.

[crashdive123]

My Bug'out Vehicle does not get flat tires.

Yeah, but does it get bunions?

[Sourdough]

Yeah, but does it get bunions?

Not the D-8 Dozer or the Ski-Doo

[Rick]

I had a buddy that owned a D8 once upon a time. I stopped by his house and he was sitting in the middle of a field with the left track layed out flat. I asked him what happened and he told me he had a flat. The track was laying pretty flat from where I stood. Those blasted things are danged heavy, too.

[kyratshooter]

I have to put new rubber on the Jeep before winter sets in. Tires last me about 5 years a set.

Being a "bugger inner" I figure that when the social order collapses and fuel is no longer available they will last me indefinately, or till I starve.

I do have an extra set of tires for the lawn tractor. In the last year that is the only vehicle I have discovered I can not live without. There was a two week spell early this spring when the only time I cranked up the car was to go get gas for the tractor.

[Rick]

I had a neighbor in Illinois that was an habitual offender he had so many DUI convictions. All on a riding lawn mower.

[kyratshooter]

I had a neighbor in Illinois that was an habitual offender he had so many DUI convictions. All on a riding lawn mower.

The country music singer George Jones had a DUI for operating a lawn mower while drunk. His wife had hidden his car keys so he could not drive and when the liquid ran low he cranked up the LM and headed to the liquor store.

Nice mower too, one of the zero turn radius Snappers.

That bust was famous in the Nashville area for years. Every time we saw someone riding down the road on the LM we wondered if they were going after booze.

[Rick]

This guy had lost his license years before and no longer owned a car. But you could hear that lawn mower go by the house in the evening. You knew he was headed to the bar. We always joked about him. When the cops drove by the parking lot it was like, car, car, car, lawn mower, car, car....hey, wait a minute.

[scottmphoto]

When I was in the Army, I HATED busting (and having to fix) the track on tracked vehicles. It IS heavy.