You are so darn good. I know you were a mechanic, but it's so nice to see a true professional mechanic sharing all the right info. Thank you! Everyone here can rely on you and on the info and techniques and tools you share. Speaking of tools, when the video started showing the tightening of the lug nuts on the new wheels/tires ... and then the sound of an air wrench came on the video ... I almost dropped my fork full of dinner back onto my plate ... NOOOOO! But then, I realized it was just a sound effect. You are so mean. :-) For other readers/watchers out there, never let anyone use an air wrench to install lug nuts or they will most assuredly warp the metal wheel and/or the brake rotor. Always install/tighten lug nuts by hand, and then use a torque wrench exactly as shown in this video. And, that being said, as a long-term diesel/gas truck mechanic, I've known personally of three scissor jacks failing, and relatively new ones at that. If you use a scissor jack, please please please also put a positive support under the rig (such as a jack stand ... jack the rig up higher than needed, then lower the rig onto the jack stand, NOT with the weight on the scissor jack) in case the scissor jack fails. Especially if you're going to be under the rig ... please don't squash yourself. Also, I've found that using the tongue jack will usually give me enough room to remove either the front or rear tire on a trailer dual axle, especially if the trailer is parked on a bit of a slant, but even if on the level, you should be able to get either a front or rear tire off by simply jacking up or lowering the tongue jack. On the other hand, I love that ramp and carry two of them. Oh, boy, a 4x4 block on top of that bottle jack is a great idea, thank you ... I'll be changing out my 2x4s for 4x4s. That's a great idea. Aargh, sorry about the tire problems. When I got my brand new Escape trailer in 2018, it had THREE different load rating tires and THREE different PSI rating tires! And one of the tires was over three years old ... on a brand new trailer. Besides problems with different load ratings and PSI ratings (and it had two different speed ratings on some tires), it's illegal, VERY illegal in the USA (and maybe Canada too) to run a rig/vehicle with tires of different ratings on any one axle. The tires can be different brands, that's ok, but not different ratings. Reece eventually drove down to Tacoma, WA, with enough brand new tires already mounted on wheels (and, yes, already balanced) to swap out all FIVE tires (including the spare) so that I had five tires the same ... all Rainiers, excellent tires, though Goodyears are better. Reece recommended 35 PSI ... way too low ... I set them at 55 PSI. And, again, super great info from you about load/weight rating etc. Obviously, you know that you know what you're talking about ... your followers on the blog can rest assured you do too! Only problem with running tires at a lower PSI might be damage to the sidewalls with a lower inflation than recommended. I know this is a long comment! :-) But I couldn't help myself. Everything you say is super duper, just wanted to add a bit that might help. You, both of you, are the BEST!
Hey Ann, I can't tell you how much we appreciate your comments!!! We should hire you as our quality control person! We actually took down our ViAir video so that I could re do the battery connection the right way. Thank you for catching my mistake and letting me know!!!!!!! Since I made the video private I was unable to respond to your comment that you made about it. Great advice to always torque the lugnuts by hand! I couldn't agree with you more about having a support when using a jack, any kind of jack. We put the spare tire on in case of a jack failure. Hard to believe you had all those different tires on your trailer!! Glad to hear Reece made it right though. Thanks again, you ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!
That ViAir video was important. I learned a lot from it! I really did. Re-do that battery connection thing and then get it back online. We all need each other! :-)
Good idea to put that spare on with the bottle jack while waiting for your new tires to be mounted. I lower my fifth wheel off the bottle jack onto jack stands in that situation, which is another good way to do it.
Wonderful tutorial and great to see your steps. I haven’t changed the tires in our RV myself as I have been fortunate to have the tire shop do it. Glad you stressed balancing as 2 tire shops have told me that they generally aren’t balanced. This hasn’t ever felt good to me & I had them do it. An aside. We traveled all summer, yay, and my husband asked me to chill on the YT videos as it was killing our data plan … so I am binge watching now I am home. Rhonda, great add on at the end … I never knew those details! 🤠
Hey Jim! We're finally getting caught up on comments after our trip down from Alaska! Thanks for watching as always and glad you can have a tire shop do the work! Awww, thanks for bingeing us!!
Another great informative video! I'm glad the scissor jack worked, as I have been counting on using my Tacoma jack with my 17B. I had thought about getting a bottle jack, but will give that a miss now. Cheers
Excellent video! Old tires are also good for splitting firewood. Stack firewood ends inside the center hole and to to town without having to pick up pieces that didn't split the first time.
Thanks for putting this video out. We have a 2022 Escape 19. Looking at repacking the wheel bearings before our next trip in OCT. Was happy to see my truck jack should fit to jack up the trailer. Also ... loved the sound effects.
Helpful video; We did a Denali glacier landing using Talkeetna Taxi. Perfect weather and more importantly landing too. I should have got the sweatshirt.
This is a great video as one of my biggest concerns is what to do if I get a flat? This video makes a solution appear relatively easy and certainly doable.
This video is super informative! I would like to add to your tire knowledge the psi is like you said for the tire to not be as stiff while if the psi is too low it will feel like it is dragging. The add to that is the wear of the the tire, if the psi is too high the middle of the tread will wear out more quickly, too low of a psi will cause the outer edge tread to wear uneven. Now here is a question for those of us just getting started in the Camper life! Can the four corner leveling jacks be used too raise one side of the trailer for tire changes?
Thank you Christina! Thanks for the informative comment. No, you can't use the jacks to raise the rv. They are only meant to stabilize the trailer and not for leveling or jacking
Very helpful video, thank you! Would you recommend leaving the bottle jack on while adjusting the brakes? Also, have you repacked the grease in the wheel bearings?
Hi Daniel, thanks for watching! I prefer to use the trailer aid ramp when doing most work. For adjusting brakes I would drive up on that. I haven't had to fully repack the bearings yet. Next year I will!
Often the trailer tires are smaller diameter than the tow vehicle. When tow vehicle is moving 60mph, the smaller diameter trailer tires are in effect traveling faster
Check pages 59-60 of this document. However, this is based on the 2017 Owners Manual. Check your own manual if you have one: escapetrailer.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/2017OwnersManual1.pdf
I have a tight squeeze into my camping spot which makes it hard to go onto boards to level. Is it safe to jack up the camper as if to change a tire, place the boards underneath the tires and set it back down?
Hi Porter, I don't see why that wouldn't work. It would be safest if your trailer was attached to the tow vehicle while doing that and the wheels are chocked
