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Bob and the Tire Change

Follow Bob as he learns how to change a tire for the first time.

By Jon LamboPublished 5 years ago 6 min read
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(Courtesy of youtube.com)

Bob is a manly man. He loves working on his truck, combing his big bushy beard, hunting, fishing and reading his book on how to fish. Out of all the manly things Bob knows how to do, he falls short in one area: changing a tire. Bob has never had to change one before because his truck has rather large tires, but today it finally happened. Bob was driving behind a garbage truck. Being that Bob is a manly man, he always feels the need to have no one in front of him. The garbage truck was driving slow, making Bob very angry, so, Bob decided he was going to speed up and pass the truck. Seeing this made the garbage collectors angry so, the garbage collector throws a large bag of trash in Bob’s way. He had no choice but to run over it, causing whatever was in the bag to puncture his tire! Bob knew he must calm down if was to ever stop the car safely and get the tire changed.

Firstly, Bob immediately puts on his emergency flashers. Using two hands on the steering wheel, Bob softly pumps the breaks while slowly bringing the truck to a stop in the emergency lane. Before stepping out of his truck Bob looks in his driver side mirror to make sure there are no cars coming.

Once out of the car Bob knows he must keep a sharp eye on the traffic, as he attempts to change his tire. Keeping that in mind, Bob walks around his truck to figure out which tire has blown. Flat on the front driver side. Bob is not happy because he just bought that tire! Once Bob has identified the area affected, he can begin to develop a plan of attack. Since the tire is close to the road, Bob was very nervous. He knows that he is in a very dangerous place. He must keep a watchful eye out for traffic.

Since Bob is a manly man, he is always prepared. He goes to his truck bed and pulls out a car jack. It is important to have a good quality car jack. Cars weigh tons and you don’t want to be around if the jack fails causing the car or truck to come crashing down. Next, keeping a watchful eye on traffic, Bob goes down on his knees to look under the truck. Bob is looking for the frame of the truck and the spare tire. Before Bob starts to jack up his truck, he must grab the spare tire under the bed of the truck. Most trucks and cars have a small hard surface around the tire to place the jack head. Once this has been located, Bob places the jack underneath of the flat surface. While Bob was pumping the jack up, he was sure glad he bought the correct jack. Since his truck sits up higher than a car, Bob had to buy a larger jack. Bob keeps pumping until he feels some tension while pumping. Then Bob opens his cab door and moves his seat to retrieve his tire iron.

A tire iron is for taking off the lug nuts that hold the tire on the truck or car. It is notable to state the reason for leaving some weight on the tire is that when you go to break the lug nuts, the tire won’t move. With only a small amount of weigh on the jack, Bob begins to break the lug nuts with his tire iron. Bob is a man’s man so, no matter how tight they are, he manages to break their grip by putting his weight into it along with all his muscles. After all the lug nuts are broke, Bob continues to pump up the jack until the tire is slightly off the ground. It is then that Bob remembers his jack stand. A jack stand is piece of equipment that you place on the car or trucks frame so if the jack does fail it won’t fall on you. Bob is alone, but he still checks to make sure no one is in the car at this point before jacking the car entirely up. The slightest movement could cause it to slip. By this point Bob has all the lug nuts loose enough to spin them off by hand. He places them all in a pile close to him where they won’t be in the way or get lost.

Once the lug nuts are off and out of the way, Bob grabs the bad tire, pulling it off. He places the bad tire off to the side, making sure it is not in the road and won’t be in his way when he places the spare on. Standing up, Bob still makes it a point to keep the traffic in mind. After taking the bad tire off Bob knows he must place the spare on. This can get challenging. Picking up the tire he tries to align the holes with the lug nut screws. After lining them up, Bob pushes the spare on the wheel hub. Bob now has to put the lug nuts back on. He goes back to the place where he had laid the lug nuts. Picking them up one by one and placing them on the screws, he tightens them down by hand, as tight as he can. Checking traffic, Bob goes to let the truck back down, but remembers his jack stand. Once the jack stand is out of the way he can turn the jack release. It is a shiny screw with a flat or square edge on it. The jack handle should come out of its socket and fit over that screw. Bob knows that he should release the jack by slowly turning the screw. Then after the tire is firmly on the ground, Bob must take his tire iron and tighten the lug nuts. It is very important that he uses the star method. The star method is tightening the lug nuts in a star like pattern. Doing this is to help prevent the rim from becoming bent, while making sure you have the tightest push against the tire.

Bob cleans up his mess and jumps back in the truck. Turning off his emergency lights, he then turns on his turn signal to merge back onto the road. On the drive home, he doesn’t go over 50 mph due to the spare. Reading in his manual, it says that he should replace that blown tire as soon as possible. Driving on a spare is dangerous in its own right.

Bob takes this drive to a tire shop to reflect on what he has learned today. Be observant of others and pay attention to the road conditions. It is important to practice the star method every time you must change a tire and above all: be aware of traffic conditions. Although Bob is a manly man, if he wanted to all he would’ve had to have done was called for a tow truck.

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About the Creator

Jon Lambo

“Mouth closed, chin down, and eyes up.” - Kyokushin Proverb

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