Rear Flat Tire Change Roadside Tips

[1967coronet]

Im with dadsbee on this one.
Find a correct bumper jack that fits your car. If you have mags make sure to carry
a breaker bar and socket that fits.
Couple of shop rags to keep it from scratching the chrome.

 

[WileE]

Am I THAT old compared to everyone else here ?? Huh ? When we had a flat tire out on the road anywhere, guess what we used ?? A BUMPER JACK ! That's it ! No problem. No damage. No injuries. You don't go under a car to change a wheel/tire. Oh yeah, guess what, a few years ago I had a flat on my Cordoba. Pulled car over on a side road, and VOILA ! Bumper jack, and spare changed in minutes. ( No one was hurt, including the ol' geezer while performing this exercise )

 

[WileE]

I'm actually afraid to ask how many here have never used a bumper jack.

 

[RemCharger]

I'm actually afraid to ask how many here have never used a bumper jack.

It's a fair question.

 

[Kern Dog]

I have.
I have also used a manual tire pump. I don't use either of those things anymore because newer and better things have come along.
Bumper jacks can and do bend or scratch bumpers. Back when you could get a replacement bumper for fifty bucks, that was fine but try to find a shop to straighten and rechrome your bumper now. You could spend $800 to correct a bumper.
My Charger is not a 100 point show car but I still like to keep it looking good. The bumpers on my car are thin and narrow. A Coronet or Satellite bumper may be better suited to lift a car but I still wouldn't do it unless the car looked like this:

 

[mr340]

When using a bumper jack always slide the spare tire partially under the car in case it does come off the jack and after removing the flat tire swap it out for the spare while installing the spare.

 

[Daves69]

When using a bumper jack always slide the spare tire partially under the car........

Lol, like this? (from '78)........

It's been years possibly decades since I've actually used a bumper jack. Scissor jacks are more useful IMO although I feel the bases are too small.
My flats have been on trailer tires for my boat. A scissor jack for a flat on I57 just outside of Chicago with semis barreling by @ 60-65 would be a bit unnerving.
I bring my old 35 buck (clearance) aluminum Walmart floor jack along and a battery impact JIC such occasions occur these days.

I'm considering a tri air bag lift to replace it though.

 

[GTXDAN]

I'm with KD here for sure because bumpers are a major cost now a days. Just get a scissors jack and weld a bigger base on it. And like MARPAR said get a socket and cordless impact to run the jack and change your tire. My old camper had scissor jack stabilizers mounted on the back so I got a HF impact extension and cut the drive end off and welded a socket on it and used that with a cordless drill to run the stabilizer jacks. I could park the camper and have it all level and stabilized in about 10 min.

 

[1967coronet]

With all the repop China bumpers on our B bodies I get the point about bending.
Original USA bumpers and the correct bumper jack should be just fine.
But yeh I would hate to jack up a china repop bumper.

 

[Dennis H]

Scissors Jack. Easy. Carry AAA.

 

[WileE]

With all the repop China bumpers on our B bodies I get the point about bending.
Original USA bumpers and the correct bumper jack should be just fine.
But yeh I would hate to jack up a china repop bumper.

In this case ^^^ absolutely would not jack up a crap aftermarket bumper. I was referring to OEM.

 

[Fishtaco1969]

I carry a new in the box 8 Ton Harbor Freight Bottle Jack with me in my 69 Charger. Easy to use and can lift anything.

 

[GTXDAN]

Lol, like this? (from '78)........
View attachment 1890950

It's been years possibly decades since I've actually used a bumper jack. Scissor jacks are more useful IMO although I feel the bases are too small.
My flats have been on trailer tires for my boat. A scissor jack for a flat on I57 just outside of Chicago with semis barreling by @ 60-65 would be a bit unnerving.
I bring my old 35 buck (clearance) aluminum Walmart floor jack along and a battery impact JIC such occasions occur these days.
View attachment 1890957

I'm considering a tri air bag lift to replace it though.

I looked at one of those air bag jacks. I'm thinking you need a good volume of air to get it to work and not take forever to inflate. Those cordless and 12v compressors take a bit to inflate a flat tire. I've carried different ones for years in my camper and none of them impressed me on the speed it takes to do the job. All the advertisements say they will do it in a couple of minutes, but if you read the small print it says that's starting from 20-25 psi. I've never seen one that will put 80 psi in a truck tire. I just carry one of those short stubby bottle jacks now and a board to use as a ramp to pull the trailer on. The last big trip we went on I ended up just buying another new trailer tire and carried it in the truck. You can always find someone to change a tire, but finding a tire is not as easy.

 

[68 Sport Satellite]

I carry a new in the box 8 Ton Harbor Freight Bottle Jack with me in my 69 Charger. Easy to use and can lift anything.

OP here - I've used bumper jacks, scissor jacks, and hydraulic floor jacks. The jack itself was not my original issue. It's do I also need to carry jack stands to change a REAR tire on my Plymouth Satellite? Front tire changes are no problem whatsoever. For the rear tires, this car requires jacking up higher than the same year Dodge due to the lower wheel lip and if I lift at the rear end pumpkin, the leafs won't drop down to allow clearance to remove the rear tire. So, now the question is, if using scissor jack or bottle jack to change a rear tire so the leaf springs are not also lifted at the same time, are we comfortable with jacking one rear side of the car up without damaging the car since it's a unibody? I did this once on this car before and it creaked and moaned and I thought maybe with all the weight it was going to twist something and require repair, so I stopped and let it back down. Please tell me I'm wrong and that lifting from one side on these cars is ok....if not, I'm going with the tire plug repair kit approach for the rear tires.

 

[Don Frelier]

So, now the question is, if using scissor jack or bottle jack to change a rear tire so the leaf springs are not also lifted at the same time, are we comfortable with jacking one rear side of the car up without damaging the car since it's a unibody?

You should certainly be able to jack it up using the front leaf spring bracket support off the rear frame rail.
I've done it 100's of times.