It was a great day out on the trail - and then this happened

[RedlandRanger]

This happened last week but I thought I'd post it here for fun. I had just had a great day out on an old abandoned trail - I got back to the truck (a little later than I expected), sent my wife a "I'm on my way home" message from my Garmin messenger, and headed out. I hadn't gone a quarter mile when the TPMS starts freaking out telling me my drivers front tire was at 8 PSI. I knew something was wrong - I immediately stopped, got out and heard a distinct "ssssssss" from the tire. It didn't take long before the tire was completely flat. I sent my wife another Garmin messsage telling her what happened and that I would be late.....

Thankfully, I have a full size (mostly) spare. I've never used it on this truck, but I did have to use it on my prior Ranger, so I kind of knew how to get the spare down. I pulled out the scissor jack, and the rods for it. I used the tire wrench to loosen all the lugs first and then got it up in the air. I had a bit of a problem getting the rod into the correct spot, but finally was able to get it so that it would crank down the spare. Got the spare out and changed it out. Probably took me all of 20 minutes (maybe). Once I got the tire off, I saw the issue - I must have hit something - there was a 2" gash in the sidewall! After getting the tire changed, I resumed my trip home - MUCH slower and more carefully. I didn't have a second spare..... Got home fine, about an hour late.

The next day, I called Discount Tire (where I bought the tires) and told them what happened and that I'm sure this was not a fixable issue - I asked them to order a new tire - they did and the following day, I took it in to get the new tire installed. It was most certainly not fixable, but since I only had about 5k on the tires, they didn't balk at only replacing one. I also apparently bought the road hazard warranty, so I it was only $58 instead of $300. I was pretty happy about that.

Everything worked out great - just a little inconvenience to go get the new tire. I've loved these Toyo AT3's but was pretty disappointed in this - I don't remember driving over anything that should have done this, but I obviously went beyond what the tire will handle as far as rocks/sticks, etc. I was on a tertiary forest service road that gets VERY little traffic. It was narrow and rocky. It kind of looked like it might have been a rock that did it since there was a "smudge" on the sidewall that looked kind of like a rock.

I didn't get any pictures unfortunately... If you read this far hopefully you are as well prepared as I was and something like this is just a minor inconvenience.

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[Radioman]

Glad it all worked out and you got safely home.

 

[Mighty Little Blue]

This happened last week but I thought I'd post it here for fun. I had just had a great day out on an old abandoned trail - I got back to the truck (a little later than I expected), sent my wife a "I'm on my way home" message from my Garmin messenger, and headed out. I hadn't gone a quarter mile when the TPMS starts freaking out telling me my drivers front tire was at 8 PSI. I knew something was wrong - I immediately stopped, got out and heard a distinct "ssssssss" from the tire. It didn't take long before the tire was completely flat. I sent my wife another Garmin messsage telling her what happened and that I would be late.....

Thankfully, I have a full size (mostly) spare. I've never used it on this truck, but I did have to use it on my prior Ranger, so I kind of knew how to get the spare down. I pulled out the scissor jack, and the rods for it. I used the tire wrench to loosen all the lugs first and then got it up in the air. I had a bit of a problem getting the rod into the correct spot, but finally was able to get it so that it would crank down the spare. Got the spare out and changed it out. Probably took me all of 20 minutes (maybe). Once I got the tire off, I saw the issue - I must have hit something - there was a 2" gash in the sidewall! After getting the tire changed, I resumed my trip home - MUCH slower and more carefully. I didn't have a second spare..... Got home fine, about an hour late.

The next day, I called Discount Tire (where I bought the tires) and told them what happened and that I'm sure this was not a fixable issue - I asked them to order a new tire - they did and the following day, I took it in to get the new tire installed. It was most certainly not fixable, but since I only had about 5k on the tires, they didn't balk at only replacing one. I also apparently bought the road hazard warranty, so I it was only $58 instead of $300. I was pretty happy about that.

Everything worked out great - just a little inconvenience to go get the new tire. I've loved these Toyo AT3's but was pretty disappointed in this - I don't remember driving over anything that should have done this, but I obviously went beyond what the tire will handle as far as rocks/sticks, etc. I was on a tertiary forest service road that gets VERY little traffic. It was narrow and rocky. It kind of looked like it might have been a rock that did it since there was a "smudge" on the sidewall that looked kind of like a rock.

I didn't get any pictures unfortunately... If you read this far hopefully you are as well prepared as I was and something like this is just a minor inconvenience.

That is why I have only bought tires from Discount tires for the last 30+ years. Never had any issues with customer service. Are those E rated tires I would not go off road with anything less. I run with 5 (full size matching spare) KO2. Can’t wait till they wear out and go to KO3 maybe KO4 by then 20k on them now and still look new.

 

[RedlandRanger]

This wasn't really off roading - this was just driving on a forest service road - granted, it was a tertiary road and somewhat rough in spots but I've driven thousands of miles on roads even worse. These aren't E rated tires. This is only the second time in 25 years of driving on these kinds of roads that I've had an issue. Last time was in eastern Oregon where they use crushed granite for the roads and sometimes the crushing creates sharp edges on the stone and slices tires. This was just run of the mill crushed gravel.

I have to say, I've been impressed with Discount Tire - they didn't impress me terribly the first time I went in, but they are definitely growing on me. I've used Les Schwab for 40 years and always been happy with them, but Discount Tire is moving up my list of preferred tire shops.

 

[LB'sTremor]

DT is awesome I wish I had one closer to me!

LB

 

[Grandaccess]

No pictures?....didnt happen, LOL

 

[Cmar]

Has happened to me only once on a rough trail in my old Bronco, when the side of a front tyre got pinched between between rim and a rock whilst crossing a stream bed, (I'd deflated them a bit for extra traction, the track was steep and rough) and like yours went down almost instantly. Other wise all my "off road" flats have happened on what were officially called "designated roads"

 

[Cmar]

Mind you in some parts of Australia THIS is considered a "designated road" (Pic is one of the 1,100 dune crossings on the French track across the Simpson desert) And yep that was my faithful old Bronco. Even here you have to be careful as although it's sand, Mulga bushes and trees grow by the side of the track and drop branches. Because they only grow about 1" every hundred years the timber is as tough and as hard as steel. A Mulga splinter will go right through a tyre if you are unlucky.
Bulldozed by local contractors back in 1962/3 on behalf of joint venture between French Petroleum and SANTOS ( Australian oil and gas company) to conduct seismic surveys and drill test holes for oil and gas.
Now used by 4x4 enthusiasts as a fun and challenging trip. An average crossing takes about four days. It can be done in less, but you risk breaking your vehicle, and that's something you really don't want to do out there, as there is absolutely nothing in the 400 odd km wide crossing. Help can only come from Birdsville in the east or Mt Dare in the west.

 

[DukeCanBuildit]

Mind you in some parts of Australia THIS is considered a "designated road" (Pic is one of the 1,100 dune crossings on the French track across the Simpson desert) And yep that was my faithful old Bronco. Even here you have to be careful as although it's sand, Mulga bushes and trees grow by the side of the track and drop branches. Because they only grow about 1" every hundred years the timber is as tough and as hard as steel. A Mulga splinter will go right through a tyre if you are unlucky.
Bulldozed by local contractors back in 1962/3 on behalf of joint venture between French Petroleum and SANTOS ( Australian oil and gas company) to conduct seismic surveys and drill test holes for oil and gas.
Now used by 4x4 enthusiasts as a fun and challenging trip. An average crossing takes about four days. It can be done in less, but you risk breaking your vehicle, and that's something you really don't want to do out there, as there is absolutely nothing in the 400 odd km wide crossing. Help can only come from Birdsville in the east or Mt Dare in the west.

That was a big truck by Aussie standards. I was in Sydney in 1989 and it was cool to see all the small Toyotas, Datsuns, Holdens, Fords and such - there were no “big” cars like at home. The Japanese cars were the same as the ones we had back in Canada except instead of model names, they had model numbers, 120i or something along those lines. After a week or so, I got used to the size of the cars and they all started to seem normal until I saw a parked Ford Bronco taking up more than its fair share of the road in Woolloomooloo. It looked absolutely massive next the rest of the vehicles on the street. And it was right hand steer.

Your mates must have been envious of that beast.

 

[Cmar]

That was a big truck by Aussie standards. I was in Sydney in 1989 and it was cool to see all the small Toyotas, Datsuns, Holdens, Fords and such - there were no “big” cars like at home. The Japanese cars were the same as the ones we had back in Canada except instead of model names, they had model numbers, 120i or something along those lines. After a week or so, I got used to the size of the cars and they all started to seem normal until I saw a parked Ford Bronco taking up more than its fair share of the road in Woolloomooloo. It looked absolutely massive next the rest of the vehicles on the street. And it was right hand steer.

Your mates must have been envious of that beast.

Yep Ford Australia built RHD Bronco's and F100's up until about 1990 from converted Canadian knock down kits, but then stopped. Later they built RHD Explorers from about 1999 until 2006 and then stopped again.
Ha Ha I loved that car, it was an 81 model, I bought it second hand in 86, with about 80,000 Km on it and when I sold it to a friend from the Jeep club I was in it had ~500,000 Km. It still had a perfect body and he was going to swap it onto newer one that had a perfect driveline but got rolled.
It came with a Dana 44 track lock in the front diff, and a Ford 9" slippery in the rear from the factory- it would go anywhere, and despite it's weight was a fantastic sand runner.
The gear box, transfer case and power train were still good, although in that 15 odd years I owned it, I went through I think from memory about 5 sets of tyres, two clutches (never wore them out, kept breaking the diaphragm springs because it was a daily driver in city traffic), one set of uni joints, (got water in them on the Cape York trip) one brake line (vibration crack from the Simpson trip) 1 side window (attempted theft) two sets of brake shoes, and 1 set of rings in the engine at about 350,00
My friends used to joking call it Cam's mobile lounge room.

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