How to Change a Flat/ Change a Tire

In this I will be showing how to change a tire, flat or just changing a tire with the tools that are given.

If this is a situation of a flat on the side of the road you will want get off the road if its possible.

The tools behind the seat

A jack, it doesn't have to be the one in the vehicle.

possibly a second person or wood blocks.

Most will skip this step but when the vehicle is not level it can make things worse; and that’s when it falls off of the jack, then you will have to call for more help. Now some get lucky and they are in a drive way or parking lot while others are not so lucky and they land them selves in a field approach, edge of a dirt road, or the shoulder of a road. Some of the ways that you can get through an unlevel situation is, if you have some one that was also in the vehicle, they can hold the breaks when the time comes..

In most cars you have a donut, this is in the trunk under the carpet. In bigger vehicles it will be in this location or under the car and will require a bit of extra work. But with some determination it will all work out.

- Now since this is a example and this vehicle doesn't have a working winch under it the spare lays in the box of the pickup. But as the picture shows this is what older pickups have under them on the bottom of the winch, as you can tell it is broke off.

In cars, most are in the same location that the spare or donut is; and most likely they are on top or in the spare or donut. In a bigger vehicle they are behind the back seat under a plastic cover. Now these last two steps feel self-explanatory but the next ones are not as easy.

- If this is in a side of the road situation you will want to find the tools that your vehicle comes with, in the picture it shows them behind the seat in a standard cab pickup.

- In the kit it comes with a curved piece that has the size of lug nuts that come on the standard wheels the other three pieces helps you lower the spare. Since this pickup is a farm pickup the jack over time is rusted into the mount so for this I used a separate jack, and a spare bottle jack is carried in the tool box.

Now in theory every spare tire or donuts air pressure is to be checked at least twice a year, so I hope that it has some air in it. In smaller cars where it is in the trunk it made be held in with a wing nut on a long bolt, while in bigger vehicles it will take the tools that came the vehicle to get it down from under the back end, usually there is a little door on the bumper that opens, this is where you stick the tool into.

The tool breakdown that most pickups have are the same, there should be four pieces, these will all go together differently for different parts of this. So, to get the tire down, taking the two on pieces that will click together and then taking the rounded one and sticking it onto the end that fits with the hole in the rounded piece. With this large looking mess that you have now made it will go into that hole on the bumper that we talked about. Pushing this in until it stops and making sure that it is in there and lined up give it a turn back and forth, it should catch onto the winch under the vehicle. We all learned in primary school that left is to loosen and right is to tighten. With this large amount of knowledge, one will realize that if it locks in it will turn one way and not the other, this may take a bit of a push. Once it starts coming down, if looking its noticeable, just keep going until its on the ground. With old vehicles this is way easier than in newer ones, o anything newer than about a 2005 or 6 has a fancy deal that rusts solid, and at this point one can tell. One can tell by looking at the center of the wheel, and if the vehicle is newer than a 2005 or 6 at this point call for help or someone to bring a cordless grinder. But if not then keep in trucking. So, if the vehicle is gifted with the old-style release on the spare then once it hits the ground, or close to, then reach in and pull the piece sideways and slip in out so the spare can be pulled out.

We need those lug nuts lose when it gets up on that jack, it will make things go way better.

So, grab the rounded tool out of the kit and the other end of this is the lug size for the vehicle, make sure those pretty caps are off the lug nuts, or in this case the hub cap off, and stick in on there and got to breaking them loose, now this is not something that will happen on the first try sweat will form, you many have to stand on the bar a bit and use your body weight to your advantage. After the lugs are broke loose leave them on the car with the flat while you get the jack in a good safe spot, this is on preferably the frame of the vehicle or something that is strong. At this point of you have a second person have them hold the breaks and the other pump up the jack. The car will have to be up enough to get the blown tire to spin, after this is achieved get those lug nuts off and pop the blown wheel and tire off. Remind the person in the cab on the breaks to not let up or it will roll off the jack. Now get the spare or donut up there and see if the jack is up enough to get the replacement on, if not jack it up some more. Now to get on the spare, no its not going to be light be there is no backing down now. So here we go get it up and lined up on the studs, after its up there get it pushed all the way on and start the nuts back on.

- In my example pictures I am on a flat surface, so I had no need for a second person. In these pictures I show the best stop to use for jacking the vehicle up, it looks like an A. And since this is an example I am just using the same tire that was on the pickup.

Now start getting those lug nuts on and started onto the studs, grab that same wrench that was used to get them off and get them back on and as tight as one can get. Get all of them on and tight and we are there. Most if the spares and dounts don't take the hub cap or the little covers so just put them in the cab with you. Lower that jack, pickup the tools and get them in the vehicle and let the second person off the break if they are. Its done, the old is off and the new is on.