early season warning for all 2024

flechero reply :

I went on a trip Saturday to a lake about 2.5 hours away and had a little excitement... I had a trailer tire blow at highway speed. The bad part is that I didn't have a lug wrench, trailer jack or way to air the spare. I was caught, totally unprepared!

I'll save the details, but thanks to the Good Lord for a little help in being resourceful enough to improvise with what we had to get it changed.

Since most of my fishing is within a mile of where I keep the boat, I rarely do things like check my spare, etc. This is a reminder to all of you that pull a trailer (especially to those who have stored them all winter) to check the following items:

air in spare

trailer jack (not the tongue jack)

lug wrench

spare hub and tools to change

Mods- This could probably go in the outings or trip section but I figured as a warning that the most traffic would see it in the general forum.

Here is what was left of it:

Muddy reply :

Good Advice, glad you gotta out of that Okay!

Paul Roberts reply :

Ouch! That's scary. Glad you and your rig are OK.

senile1 reply :

Good advice, Flechero. Thanks.

.ghoti. reply :

Hye Keith, I think there is something wrong with that tire. Not sure, but it doesn't like quite right to me. ;D

Glad to hear you're OK. Thanks for the tip.

Mottfia reply :

good advice buddy.

fishfordollars reply :

Great advice. I always carry a 4 way, jack, spare, and a sealed up hub ready to go. You just never know.

Low_Budget_Hooker reply :

Quote
Hye Keith, I think there is something wrong with that tire. Not sure, but it doesn't like quite right to me. ;D

uh,........Ya think? ;D Simple retread and you're good to go

Glad this wasn't anywhere near as bad as it's potential.

So,....Didja catch?

ejtaylor822 reply :

Man, Keith, that's scary. Thanks for sharing and really glad you are alright.

Eddie

Sharkbite reply :

I was actually putting together a list the other day for a repair and saftey kit. I don't have a spair tire for my trailer. Since it an old kit trailer I haven't found the same size weel any were. Plus I havn't looked much either. I was planning on carring fix a flat. Does this stuff work? Also I am going to carry a plug kit.

clipper reply :

Quote
Great advice. I always carry a 4 way, jack, spare, and a sealed up hub ready to go. You just never know.

I like the idea of carrying a spare hub with the bearings already in it. Much easier than changing bearings on the road.

MALTESE FALCON reply :

Great advise. The same thing happened to me about twenty years ago.

Falcon

Sam reply :

Flech,

Thanks for the heads up.

I carry those tools when I take the boat out.

AAA will not respond to a trailer call so even if you have AAA you will be on your own.

Great advice.

Thanks for reminding us.

princecraft papa reply :

Happy to hear nobody was injures! that being said, it is a good idea to inspect/greese your trailer every spring.

just currius, the law here(Montreal, Canada) is that you must have a working spare for a trailer. The police will stop you if they don't see one, what are the laws in your state?

RLinNH reply :

Awesome advice and a timely thread. One more note to all. Don't neglect your Hubs this Spring. Not a pretty sight to have one let go on the highway.

Btech reply :

Another idea for you guys pulling boats is go to your loal mechanic shop and ask for NITROGEN filled tires. We sell it for $30 bucks for all 4 tires / lifetime of the tires.

It improves your fuel mileage

Resists corrosion of rims and sensors

Prolonged tirelife

Consistant pressure Doesn flux like air will

Its really worth the money and can help prevent blowouts such as this situation.

Thanks for the reminder!

Catt reply :

Quote
Hye Keith, I think there is something wrong with that tire. Not sure, but it doesn't like quite right to me. ;D
Glad to hear you're OK. Thanks for the tip.

Too much toe in & not enough camber; loose on entry & tight on exit

flechero reply :

Thanks everyone! I also needed this as a reminder to carry and keep said equipment in the truck's toolbox.

Someone mentioned greasing hubs every spring, but I think that's not often enough. I have bearing buddys and shoot them about every 4th or 5th time out, just making sure they remain "out" and under the spring pressure.

Quote
I was actually putting together a list the other day for a repair and saftey kit. I don't have a spair tire for my trailer. Since it an old kit trailer I haven't found the same size weel any were. Plus I havn't looked much either. I was planning on carring fix a flat. Does this stuff work? Also I am going to carry a plug kit.

Definitely get a spare. As you can see from the photo, nothing short of a new tire (and possibly rim) would help this time. So while fix-a-flat and a plugging kit might help out sometimes, I would have been stranded with them.

Russ,

We had 20+ MPH winds and freezing temps behind a nasty front... we caught, but nothing over about 4lbs. These days, I can't say no to a trip- unless the weather is dangerous, because "mom" doesn't like being left on the weekends right now.

Low_Budget_Hooker reply :

Quote
Thanks everyone! I also needed this as a reminder to carry and keep said equipment in the truck's toolbox.
Someone mentioned greasing hubs every spring, but I think that's not often enough. I have bearing buddys and shoot them about every 4th or 5th time out, just making sure they remain "out" and under the spring pressure.

Quote
I was actually putting together a list the other day for a repair and saftey kit. I don't have a spair tire for my trailer. Since it an old kit trailer I haven't found the same size weel any were. Plus I havn't looked much either. I was planning on carring fix a flat. Does this stuff work? Also I am going to carry a plug kit.

Definitely get a spare. As you can see from the photo, nothing short of a new tire (and possibly rim) would help this time. So while fix-a-flat and a plugging kit might help out sometimes, I would have been stranded with them.

Russ,

We had 20+ MPH winds and freezing temps behind a nasty front... we caught, but nothing over about 4lbs. These days, I can't say no to a trip- unless the weather is dangerous, because "mom" doesn't like being left on the weekends right now.

Like you weren't die hard enough before you started calling the wife "mom"

flechero reply :

Hard to argue there... but my threshold for weather has changed a little. I pulled the boat out at 10a on my last trip due to winds that really were dangerous... drift sock and trolling motor on high and still going backwards

I had to approach from 90 degrees to the trailer and when I turned I rode a swell over the wheel well and into the bunks. It took some effort to time it just right.

ilovefooffur reply :

Appreciate the warning. This is very helpful!

christopherjake reply :

I'm like you the boat is about a mile away from the marina and I don't usually check anything, but i'll spend the extra time to start doing it. Very good advice, thank you.

Raul reply :

A trailer flat tire without any gear to change it is one inconvenience but it can be solved, having a tire bearing tearing down to pieces and the tire coming out at highway speed at 11 PM on a Sunday ain 't pretty. >

Nothing ever happens until it happens, you learn to be prepared for anything when s*t happens to you or when you don 't pay attention to what people who had s*t happened on them have to say.

Always carry:

Spare Tire ( 2 spares are better, I know what I 'm telling you )

Jack

Wrench

A couple of bearings

Nuts

Washers

You ain 't gonna believe me ( and I don 't care if you don 't ), but I the tire coming off the trailer happened to me ..... TWICE !!!! in the same night.

See I wrote 2 spares ? yup, s*t happens twice, 2 blown trailer tires in another trip.

I retrospective it 's laughable, a trip without incidents is no trip at all ..... but we weren 't laughing when when we were stuck there having to change the bearing in the middle of the night right along the highway. >

flechero reply :

Quote
2 spares are better, I know what I 'm telling you

I know exactly what you are saying... as I put on my old, dry rotted, almost flat spare, I felt naked knowing that there was no 2nd spare and I was in the middle of nowhere at night!

dmac14 reply :

Geeze well good thing I fish from the shore , I'll just have to make sure my boots don't have any holes in them .

Raul reply :

Quote

Quote
2 spares are better, I know what I 'm telling you

I know exactly what you are saying... as I put on my old, dry rotted, almost flat spare, I felt naked knowing that there was no 2nd spare and I was in the middle of nowhere at night!

Ain 't that the truth ?

S*t always happens at the middle of nowhere and/or at the middle of the night and/or on a day when you can 't find nobody and/or where you don 't have cell phone signal; mix and match those at your will, me ? I usually get them all at once. :

kms399 reply :

funny how when you aren't prepared bad things happen. when you are prepared every thing runs smooth. when I first got my boat I had tons of issues. frozen bearings, you have to grease them more than every 3 years? ;D that was a long story. busting sheer pins, charging batteries, you name it i pretty much had it fail. now I carry tools and sheer pins and haven't had a single issue in like 5 years or so. knock on wood.

retiredbosn reply :

Man that sux, I will definitely be checking the spare, the others have already been checked.

Btech reply :

WOW its too ironic. I posted read this post yesterday and guess what shows up at my shop FIRST THING this morning. A Bass boat trailor with a blow out and a nail in the other. The guy said he had been waiting on shops to open since 4:30 AM.

He was on his way to a lake in South Carolina when he blew out a tire a mile down the road. He sat outside the shop for 4 hours waiting. Thats 4 hours he could have been on the lake.

Know what caused the blowout? ..... UNDERINFLATION. (Overinflation is just as bad) PLEASE CHECK YOUR TIRES - AND INFLATE TO RECOMENDED PSI (You can find this info on your door jamb for those who didnt know)

Raul reply :

Quote
WOW its too ironic. I posted read this post yesterday and guess what shows up at my shop FIRST THING this morning. A Bass boat trailor with a blow out and a nail in the other. The guy said he had been waiting on shops to open since 4:30 AM.
He was on his way to a lake in South Carolina when he blew out a tire a mile down the road. He sat outside the shop for 4 hours waiting. Thats 4 hours he could have been on the lake.

Know what caused the blowout? ..... UNDERINFLATION. (Overinflation is just as bad) PLEASE CHECK YOUR TIRES - AND INFLATE TO RECOMENDED PSI (You can find this info on your door jamb for those who didnt know)

Well, the man most probably don 't read BassResource, the best bass fishing forum on the net.

flechero reply :

Quote
(You can find this info on your door jamb for those who didnt know)

Hmm... no doors on my trailer.

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