Many of us, including me, have changed lots of tires. You get good at it with practice. I've learned to do it in about 5 minutes.
1. Yes, you must open the TM.
2. Yes, you must remove the fender skirt.
3. YOU MUST NOT put the jack under the axle! The jack must be placed under the TM frame.
In my opinion, every owner must have the following items in an easily accessible location in the tow vehicle, or in the rear bumper compartment of the TM.
1. A bottle jack. A small one, rated 4 tons or so, with a lift of 7 inches or so, is plenty.
2. A few pieces of 2x6 or 2x8 board, 12-16 inches long or so.
3. A cross-arm lug wrench. I prefer it to an L-shaped wrench, since it is easier to remove a lug nut that some idiot overtightened with an air wrench.
4. A square-drive screwdriver to remove the fender skirt. In an emergency, you may be able to do it with a #2 Phillips screwdriver, but that is not a good plan.
5. A roll of paper towels. Tire changing is dirty work.
6. A decent flashlight or lantern, in case you have to do it at night.
A small tarp to kneel on is another goodie. And it wouldn't be a bad idea to have a torque wrench, though I don't.
You should do one other thing. At home, in the comfort of your driveway, practice taking the spare tire out of its carrier, and putting the failed tire back into the carrier and raising it into place. For me, anyway, this is the hardest part of changing a TM tire - the rest is easy.
Bill
|