Tire Rotation

With a few highway miles awaiting me this week, I decided it was time to rotate the tires on White Horse. Usually the tire shop you bought the tires from will rotate them for you, but that place is back in Gillette. No problemo. 

Good tire rotation really extends the life of your tires. Not sure how often they say to do it, but every 15k miles or so is probably good. Been too long for us. 

The wear pattern on the inside of the front tires is of concern for me. This back-and-forth cupping usually means you have a tie-rod end out, or something that is causing the front wheels to not work in unison. For another day. 

Safety first. Our drive has a slight incline. Don't need any runaways around here. 

Once we blocked up the front, we jacked up the back and set her on stands. Then we could jack the fronts up independently. 

Thank God for airguns. 

Pulling the tires is always a good opportunity to look over the brakes. Good shape. 

My rotation pattern is backs to front and cross the fronts when you go to the back. 

Here's a trick with big tires that you need to lift off the ground. Stick your foot under the tire before it gets to the lugs, and roll it over it. Then you can give it some lift with your foot. Or you can use a tire-iron. 

I like to set the lug nuts on with the airgun and wrench them down with my long ratchet. I can almost hear Mr. Reachard yelling in my ear, "You have to torque those nuts down!" We work with what we got around here. 

Now is also a good time to grab the neighbor kid and check your tie pressure. 80psi in back and 70psi in front. 

While we were at it, we dusted off the interior. 

Ready to run. 

Good stuff. An ounce of maintenance is worth a pound of cure. I'd be happy to have the tire shop rotate my tires for me, but they aren't around. I could pay someone, but why-for when you can do it yourself. Besides, gives a guy a chance to check on his rig. Tires are where the rubber hits the road. If they are in good shape, the chances of not making it home for dinner are a lot slimmer. Let's ranch.