7 Overlooked RV Tools ➕ 1 Important Maintenance Routine You're Missing

seven inexpensive tools every rver should have plus a maintenance process I perform once a year all of which can make a really bad situation a little bit more bearable as an rver or having a tire blowout is probably one of the scariest things that can happen and it's stressful enough getting safely to the side of the road but you still have to change the tire unfortunately you're on a stretch of highway with no exits in sight and driving further could risk more damage or possibly an accident so the reality is unfortunately you're probably changing the tire on the side of the road now there's a lot of tools available to do this like bottle jacks bottle jack axle adapters tire ramps torque wrenches air compressors but those are not the tools I want to talk about today instead today I want to talk about some tools and supplies that I personally think don't get mentioned enough okay you've managed to safely pull off to the side of the road before exiting the vehicle I'm reaching for my high visibility vest I always keep one of these in my center console it's doing you no good if you have to exit the vehicle to get it these are inexpensive they increase your visibility on the side of the road especially at night guys please get one of these next also something I keep in my truck are my mechanics gloves and while These are nice these aren really what I wanted to show you especially if you're handling a tire that just blew apart these are going to be much better leather gloves heavy duty Gardener gloves or even food grade or butcher gloves will resist punctures much better than mechanics gloves now these won't give you the dexterity you're going to get with mechanics gloves but if you're handling a shredded Tire with exposed belts or possibly a cracked or really hot rim these are going to protect your hands much better so we can exit the vehicle now to start assessing how much damage we have this next tool comes from our friends in the trucking industry we've all seen these before so we know they work right I keep these reflective triangle markers in the toolbox in the back of my truck they're not expensive I'll put links below if you need to pick one up and this box contains three markers the first marker goes about 10 ft back on the driver's side the second goes 100 ft back in the middle and the last triangle goes 200 ft back on the passenger side placement changes if you're on a road with two we traffic I'll link to a video down below that goes into more detail but like your high visibility vest these are going to increase your visibility plus being that they're 200 ft back they're going to give traffic a chance to get over to the left lane now this next one may seem like common sense to a lot of people and while we all love our Electric Tools these days myself included they're not going to help you if your batteries are dead so get a good old fashioned breaker bar and a pipe to increase the leverage on your breaker bar is never a bad tool to have either okay so the next thing to consider is that when this happens it may be nighttime and while flashlights are great they really aren't the best tool for this type of situation so instead of a flashlight pick up one of these headlamps they'll obviously give you the ability to work handsfree another nice tool to have is one of these Wireless portable and rechargeable work lights there's about 47,000 companies that make these so they're not expensive most of these recharge with a USB or USBC cable mine have these handles that can be used as a stand or a hook magnets on the back and they are extremely bright I feel like I got these at Home Depot I don't remember exactly I've had them for a while but I'll put Amazon links to a product that's similar down below did you know we do not charge a membership fee to watch any videos on this channel they're all free for everyone to watch our Channel sponsors help us keep the lights on and I want to keep it that way so I want to thank Camco for sponsoring today's video the Camco taste pure filter is hands down the most popular water filter in the RV industry with over 39,5 star Amazon reviews and it just got better it's been redesigned with an advanced six-step filtration system It's Made in the USA and simply put it provides pure and clean water this is a perfect filter for part-time rvers and if you're a full-timer who already has a filtration system putting these before your current filters will help prolong the other filters life even if you RV with bottle drinking water The Taste pure filter helps protect against things like algae bacteria and heavy metals that are still in the water you're using to wash your dishes and shower with guys this is an RV essential I've been using these for eight years I'll never connect my RV to Campground water without one of these I'll put links down below so you can pick one up now none of this matters unfortunately if you can't get the spare tire unmounted and onto the RV or the truck if you lose a truck tire so at this point in time I want to show you guys the quick and easy maintenance I talked about at the beginning of the video to make sure I can get these tires down should we need them spare tires on RVs are usually mounted on the rear bumper of the trailer now there are some exceptions and of course different locations but for the most part these are relatively accessible so we're not using our spare tire and the lug nuts for the spare tire can get pretty Rusty you can get a product called bow Shield rust free spray it on there let it sit for a couple minutes hit it with a wire brush spray it off with a little bit of water it'll clean the rust right off then finish up with a little bow Shield T9 I'll put a link Down Below in the video description but keep those spare tire lugs free of rust so you can get it off if you need to it's probably also not a bad idea that once you get everything cleaned off just crack these lug nuts loose make sure they're not seized and if you want you can apply more rust free or more rust preventative at that time jumping over to the spare tire on the truck I'm going to grab my lug wrench and extension bars and lower the tire spare tire storage on a truck is obviously different instead of being mounted to a bumper bar with lug nuts they are usually fastened under the bed with a cable hoist now the actual spare tire hoist assemblies are relatively inexpensive you can get them for about 40 to $100 depending on your truck you may need some extra bracketry but I'm not doing this maintenance to save myself $100 I do it so should we need this tire I know the drop assembly is going to work and it's going to work quickly so I can get off the side of the road as quick as I can a lot of water gets under here when driving in the rain this water doesn't really have anywhere to quickly evaporate over time all that moisture and road salt can start to eat at these assemblies which can cause them to corrode and lock up after lowering and removing my tire I just spend a few seconds inspecting the winch and all the bracketry that connects it to the truck I'll just pop off the Cotter pin that connects the extension bar to the spindle make sure it's in good condition and not corroding if this is showing any signs of where just replace it now if this Cotter pin fails it's very difficult to remove because your tire is covering the access to this assembly next I'll just remove the extension and hit the spindle with some bow Shield T9 it's an awesome water displacement lubricant and rust preventative it dries so it won't attract dirt later I'll reattach the extension and cotter pin and give it a few spins to move the lubricant around and behind the spindle I'll inspect the cable for any damage or corrosion the majority of this cable is inside the assembly housing for 99.9% of its life so you probably won't find anything but if you've never used a spare tire you might be surprised I'm also inspecting all the hardware at the end of the cable that holds the tire in place and all I'm really looking for here guys is enough damage that might prevent or Advance enough to prevent the tire hoist assembly from working properly within the next year before I do this again next starting at the assembly where the cable exits the housing I'll apply more T9 this is safe on plastic and rubber so feel free to use this liberally I'll also coat the entire cable itself since the spare tire is out this is a perfect time to do a visual inspection which is another reason I perform this maintenance it kind of forces you to put eyes on your spare tire you know which isn't a bad thing to be doing once a year anyway check the Treads check the tire manufacturer date and of course a great time to check the tire pressure my front tires call for 60 PSI the rears are 80 psi so I'm going to keep the spare at 80 psi since it's quicker to release pressure than it is to increase it before putting the tire back up I'll position it so the valve stem is all the way at the back of the truck for easy access when I'm checking tire pressures and last I'm just just remounting my spare tire there's one more thing I want to touch on today but before we get to that if you guys enjoyed the video please let us know hit that like button down below and if you want to see more videos like this we hope you consider subscribing I do this once a year like I said before I always do it at the end of winter for obvious reasons something I didn't need to do this round but during this process if you notice a lot of dirt or road debris it might be worth cleaning off and applying a metal primer or undercoating on areas that look a little beat up or aged knock on would you never have a tire blowout but if you do these tools and procedures will hopefully make tire changing a little bit easier as always all the products in this video are linked down below and we'll see you guys soon

Channel: RV Tips & Travels

Views: 60,556

Keywords: rv tips, rv modifications, rv upgrades, rv mods, rv life, rv how to, rv maintenance, camping, rv travel, travel trailer, rv tips and travels, rv living, camping hacks, rv diy, rv renovation, travel trailer tips, rv, rv tips and tricks, rv living full time, rv lifestyle, rv hacks, best rv accessories, rv must haves, rv camping, rv gear, full time rv living, travel trailer tips and tricks, rv essentials, rv hacks and ideas, rv frame flex, rv 101, rv tool kit, rv tools

Id: _uYnZ5_rg9w

Length: 8min 11sec (491 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 21 2024