Jacking up by the road side

[Stag About Town]

Hi All
There is a lot of good advice on the forum about jacking the car and where to place axle stands but I wonder what is the best procedure to use if faced with a flat tyre on a cambered road. My Stag came with a small bottle jack but I wonder what use this would be in those circumstances. What do you guys do or plan to do if you have to? Can always call out the breakdown service I suppose.

Thanks

John

[stagmuffin]

Any roadside jacking is going to involve a high risk from impacts from other traffic not to mention the potential for failure from soft or uneven road surfaces .I would always at least try to find a safe spot to pull in driving slowly as in walking pace .if you have a spare and a jack then get it safely up and changed ( place old flat wheel under car until new fitted ) while placing any passenger further upstream waving a hi viz or other to warn oncoming and slow it down at night marker warning lights would be good reflective triangles etc the more warning you can give the better.as for jacks you can buy small trolley jacks very compact in a plastic carrier on-line or halfrauds i believe very much worth it if you need to jack at road sides as they are more stable,and also the extendable wrench to remove nuts oooer mrs as this makes it easy and carry a kneeling pad and some disposable gloves . that's my tuppence if it helps the other thing to do is ring the breakdown service as just about everyone does nowadays ........now thats probably way too much info lol

[LAMBRETTLAD]

Almost 99.9 % I will call motor services to change the tyre,uness on a very quiet road ,as main roads are far too dangerous . I'm never in too much a rush,I used to carry a trolly jack in my youth ,now i don't ,so I'm not tempted to try .

[stagmyson]

i always cary mini trolly jack in my car

[mole42]

I've only had one flat tyre in the last 30 years.

But I always carry hi-viz and triangles these days, it's other vehilcles that are many times more dangerous than jacking the car!

[Motorsport Micky]

Side of the road with a puncture there's often a problem with lack of height to get a trolly jack underneath to access suitably strong jacking points.

To make that easier I use an electric scissor jack, you can slide it in underneath almost anywhere even when the puncture causes a lack of height. The remote control is on a suitable length lead so you can keep an eye on traffic whilst lifting the car from an out of the way position, as stated above by others a hi viz vest and warning triangle makes the job safer. Electric scissor jack with 2 ton capacity available from e bay around £60.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-Ton-12-Volt-Electric-Automotive-Car-Scissor-Floor-Jack-2-Tonne-4000LB-Capacity-/302219797908?hash=item465db42594:g:q~sAAOSwax5YnDNQ

This is just an example there are others.

It's so useful contained within it's own carrying case it's easy to move around cars and I take it with me on holiday when caravanning rather than mess with trying and get a jack under an axle if punctured (as always never needed over last 15 years but there if required).

Micky

[Markvh]

Phew. I misread the topic title for a second there!

[LAMBRETTLAD]

it's that Derbyshire WHATA ! take more rum with it !!!

cheers from an ex Matlock resident

[Stag About Town]

Side of the road with a puncture there's often a problem with lack of height to get a trolly jack underneath to access suitably strong jacking points.

To make that easier I use an electric scissor jack, you can slide it in underneath almost anywhere even when the puncture causes a lack of height. The remote control is on a suitable length lead so you can keep an eye on traffic whilst lifting the car from an out of the way position, as stated above by others a hi viz vest and warning triangle makes the job safer. Electric scissor jack with 2 ton capacity available from e bay around £60.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-Ton-12-Volt-Electric-Automotive-Car-Scissor-Floor-Jack-2-Tonne-4000LB-Capacity-/302219797908?hash=item465db42594:g:q~sAAOSwax5YnDNQ

This is just an example there are others.

It's so useful contained within it's own carrying case it's easy to move around cars and I take it with me on holiday when caravanning rather than mess with trying and get a jack under an axle if punctured (as always never needed over last 15 years but there if required).

Micky

Thanks for that Micky. I didn't know such things existed. John

[Stag About Town]

Any roadside jacking is going to involve a high risk from impacts from other traffic not to mention the potential for failure from soft or uneven road surfaces .I would always at least try to find a safe spot to pull in driving slowly as in walking pace .if you have a spare and a jack then get it safely up and changed ( place old flat wheel under car until new fitted ) while placing any passenger further upstream waving a hi viz or other to warn oncoming and slow it down at night marker warning lights would be good reflective triangles etc the more warning you can give the better.as for jacks you can buy small trolley jacks very compact in a plastic carrier on-line or halfrauds i believe very much worth it if you need to jack at road sides as they are more stable,and also the extendable wrench to remove nuts oooer mrs as this makes it easy and carry a kneeling pad and some disposable gloves . that's my tuppence if it helps the other thing to do is ring the breakdown service as just about everyone does nowadays ........now thats probably way too much info lol

Thanks for the good advice. I have bought a small trolley jack that I use at home so could carry that in the car for emergencies but think I will go with the flow and phone the breakdown service if I ever get in that situation.
John

[MandM]

I carry A small trolley jack behind the back seat in the hood well, purchased it from Aldi £20, it will fit under the diff or trailing arm, also a set of folding axles stands will fit inside the spare wheel, with a couple of 3/4 thick squares of ply on top, just in case of soft ground, but only for use if safe. and as has been said, I always use the wheel as extra safety by placing it under the car.

[TR5convalescent]

If you're white haired like me, fit under 30 year old lads will volunteer to do it for you. Had a puncture in my Mondeo about a year ago and within minutes of getting the jack out, two different lads had approached and offered help.

These youngsters eh! They even deny us the pleasure of grumbling about how useless they are!