Around a tire retreading commercial tire dealership there’s plenty of work being done. We keep thousands of tires moving around and going to their correct places. We load retread shops, warehouses, trucks, trailers, bins, and pickup trucks with the 100lb. donuts every day. When we’ve got to go vertical, and improve the carrying capacity of our floor space, we use teamwork, tractors, and technique to avoid sore backs.
Medium truck tires stacked 8 high tower 2 feet over the height of the average man. To create these stacks, we use a machine called a “stack squeeze”. The stack squeeze converts energy stored in Natural Gas to hydraulic pressure. The hydraulic pressure created by the tractor’s engine and transmission moves pistons that in turn actuate large rubber-coated steel paddles. The Stack Squeeze easily handles huge, 2000lb. off-road tires. It also can place 400 lbs. of medium truck tires on another 400 lbs.
of medium truck tires, to create a stack of 8. The stack squeeze does a lot of lifting for our operation, but it’s not always available when tires must be raised up to conserve limited space. The Stack Squeeze
Leverage makes going vertical with truck tires less straining on the lower back. Leverage helps so much it deceives people that see a pickup laden with truck tires and think that the driver/loader is a He-man. Really the driver or loader simply uses leverage to get the tires into place. In a yard, warehouse or truck box, the “stair stacker method” employs leverage to stack tires with very little lifting. In the “stair stacker method”, a technician uses the ratio of the width of two medium truck tires, to the height of one medium truck tire. The width of two tires equals one half of a tire’s height. Therefore, the two-tire stack makes an excellent fulcrum for a tire. The technician simply pushes on the top of a tire that is right next to a stack of two tires. By “lifting” the tire this way, the technician does not lift with his body.
He simply pushes down on the top-half of the tire. Once the third tire is on top of the other two, he adjusts as necessary. The adjusting to place the tire correctly requires only a small fraction of the handling force required to dead-lift a tire into place. The true stair stacker method uses this 2-tire-width-as-a-fulcrum process to build up to a stack 8 high. One simply keeps starting stacks right next to the highest yet incomplete stack so that one can use the growing stack as a fulcrum. Once a technician using the stair stacker method has a stack of three tires, he lays another on the ground right next to the stack of three. This fourth tire that the technician stacks begins the second stack. The fifth tire he rolls up onto the fourth, placing the bottom sidewall right up against the first stack, and then uses the two-tire width height difference between the first stack (of three tires) and second stack (of only one, aka the fourth tire) as fulcrum to help place this fifth tire as the fourth tire on the first stack.
The sixth tire becomes the 2nd tire on the 2nd stack. The seventh tire stacked will become the fifth tire on the first stack and will be double-fulcrumed: from ground to the top of the second stack, and from the top of the second stack to the top of the first. The process is repeated until the allotted area is full. When loading a 26’ truck-back full of casings, the stair stacker method can save the driver’s back hundreds of pounds of lifting.
Leverage is one of those facts of nature that if it’s not with you, it’s against you. Although some of the techniques described here may seem counter-intuitive or unlearnable, they certainly are not and will save your health if you have a lot of work to do as we do here at McCoy’s!
Thanks for reading!
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A house is only as sturdy as its foundation, and your RV is only as reliable as the condition of its tires. While we’ve discussed RV tire basics before, it’s time to address how to take care of your RV tires in storage.
Prepping your RV’s tires for storage is essential no matter the time of year. With that in mind, here’s how to care for your RV tires before putting your rig in storage.
RV tires are constantly exposed to abrasive chemicals and harmful substances such as motor oil, industrial cleaning solutions, and anything else spilled on roadways.
That’s why cleaning your tires and removing those substances is the best place to begin when putting your RV in storage. Fortunately, you can work this into your seasonal RV winterization process. Use a basic RV wash kit bundle if you don’t already have appropriate RV cleaning supplies.
It’s best to work from the top down when cleaning the outside of your RV, so cleaning your tires will be the last thing you do.
Hose your tires down thoroughly to remove an initial layer of dirt and debris. To clean the rims, use a soft brush to remove any remaining residue.
You’ll need a special tire cleaner for the tires themselves like the 303 Tire and Rubber Cleaner. This cleaner is easy to use. Spray it on, let it sit for 1-2 minutes, and then wipe it off with a microfiber cloth.
Before storing your RV, check your tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) or grab your tire pressure gauge and check the pressure in all tires when they are cold. Check inside and outside tires if your rig has dual tires on the rear axle. For dualies, installing an extended tire valve stem will make it much easier to check the pressure on the inside tire.
The pressure reading should match the recommended pressure specified on your RV’s vehicle information label and it should be equal for all tires on a given axle. The maximum tire pressure on your tire’s sidewall may be higher than the pressure recommended by the manufacturer.
This is because most tires are made to fit a wide variety of personal and recreational vehicles.
On the other hand, the manufacturer’s recommendation is based on the weight and design of your RV model. That’s why it’s a better metric than the maximum pressure on the sidewall. If tire pressure is low or high, inflate or deflate tires accordingly. Leaving a tire under-inflated can lead to flat spots, but you should never exceed the maximum PSI specified on the sidewall.
It’s also smart to check your tire’s air pressure periodically while it’s in storage. Tire pressure drops 1-2 PSI for every 10-degree decrease in air temperature, and the inverse is true when temperatures increase. By checking tire pressure regularly, you’ll hopefully also notice a possible leak before a tire goes completely flat.
The best way to reduce strain on your tires in storage is to jack it up to take most of the weight off your tires. You should consider jacking up your RV when it’ll be in storage for more than three months.
RV tires are not meant to be sitting in one place for months at a time. The longer your RV is immobile, the more important it is to take most of the weight off the tires.
There are two ways to accomplish this: using your RV’s built-in hydraulic leveling jacks or placing your RV on jack stands (also known as ‘stack jacks’). Let’s briefly cover the pros and cons of both approaches.
Your RV’s hydraulic leveling jacks are sturdy enough to take some of the weight off your tires for short-term storage (2-3 months). That said, they are not a recommended solution for long-term storage and you should never use hydraulic jacks to lift your RV’s tires completely off the ground.
Your jacks should also be in good condition before using them for short-term storage. For example, a visual accumulation of hydraulic fluid on or at the base of a jack is a sign they need to be serviced.
If you do use hydraulic jacks, park on a level surface and place stabilizing pads under the jacks.
Then extend the jacks to lift your RV until most of the weight is off the tires. Try to keep your RV level during this process as well. Keep your RV tires touching the ground so you don’t place too much stress on the jacks. The extra points of contact will also help to keep your RV stable while it’s in storage.
Be aware that lifting your RV onto jack stands requires your stands to be appropriately rated for the weight of your RV. It will also require a heavy-duty floor jack to lift your RV if it’s not equipped with hydraulic jacks.
Most people don’t have these RV accessories in their tool kit, which is why they may opt for using chocks and tire cradles (more on that later). But if you are putting your RV in long-term storage (aka more than three months), jack stands are the way to go.
For this method, you’ll need a minimum of four heavy-duty jack stands rated for the loaded weight of your RV. This is the combined dry weight of your RV plus the weight of all personal belongings, appliances, and camping gear loaded in.
Estimating loaded vehicle weight can be tough, so the easiest thing to do is drive to the nearest truck scales. This will give you an accurate weight to use when choosing heavy-duty jack stands.
Because you’ll use a minimum of four stands, divide your loaded vehicle weight by four to understand how much weight each jack must hold. For example, the jack stands required for a 10,000-pound RV will need to hold a minimum of 2,500 pounds each. And if you want to play it safe, add an extra 500 pounds to your calculation when you’re shopping for jack stands.
Now it’s time to talk about proper jack stand placement. Proper jack stand placement is approximately six inches inside the innermost tire on the axle tube. To put jack stands in place, there are two basic methods: using your RV’s built-in leveling system or using a heavy-duty floor jack.
If your RV is equipped, use your leveling system to raise all tires until they are barely off the ground.
Then, place a jack stand inside of each tire and slowly lower your RV until the axles are resting on the stands. It helps to have a spotter during this process to tell you when your RV is resting firmly on your stands.
If you don’t have hydraulic leveling jacks on your RV, you’ll need a heavy-duty floor jack to lift your RV and put stands in place one at a time. This floor jack will also need to be rated for the loaded weight of your RV.
Please consult your RV owner’s manual for more details on your manufacturer’s recommended jacking procedures.
RV and trailer stabilizing jacks are meant only to keep your rig from tipping back and forth when you’re walking around inside, or from swaying too much in high winds. They are not meant to bear the full weight of your trailer.
To put stabilizing jacks in place, you start be leveling your trailer and then extending the jacks just until they make contact with the ground of a jack pad.
For this reason, they do not take any weight off your tires and are not a viable solution for tire care when your motorhome or travel trailer is in storage.
Some people argue that the effort to jack up your RV isn’t worth it for short-term RV storage. If you elect to forego the previous step, you should still put wheel blocks or tire cradles between your tires and the ground.
Tire cradles ensure that your tires rest evenly and help with proper weight distribution. They also reduce the likelihood of your tire developing flat spots during extended storage.
To use tire cradles, place them in front of your tires and pull your RV forward until the tires are centered in the cradle. For long-term storage, it is recommended to remove the cradles and roll your RV forward or backward every 1-2 months so that the weight is resting on a different part of the tire. This will help to prevent flat spots from developing.
Tire covers protect your tires from the impacts of all types of weather.
Rain, excessive sunlight, wind, and snow all negatively impact tire life. By covering your RV’s tires in storage, you’ll increase their longevity and prevent things like tire dry rot.
Tire covers are inexpensive and easy to install. Simply slip them over the top of the tire and then secure the bottom. Some are tightened with sewn-in bungee cords and others feature a strap-and-buckle security system.
For appearance’s sake, tire covers can even be color-matched to your RV to give it a streamlined look when it’s in storage. While tire covers are essential when storing your RV outside, dust and other airborne debris can impact your tires in enclosed storage space as well. So go ahead and put those covers on no matter where you’re storing your RV.
Here are a few more useful ideas to maximize the lifespan of your RV tires:
This is especially important if you don’t put your RV on jacks. Keeping the tires of your motorhome or travel trailer in the best condition is important. If you have any questions, reach out to Camping World’s service department.
Tucker Ballister
Tucker Ballister is our Technical Content Writer. He’s a lover of the open road and the proud owner of a 2021 Sunlite Classic travel trailer (his 3rd RV to date). Check out more of his RV adventures, gear reviews, and outdoor advice at thebackpackguide.
com.
With the onset of the new season, motorists have a question - how to properly store tires? Can I store them in the garage or on the balcony? What happens if the requirements are not met? We will tell you how to handle tires removed from the car.
Tires are made of soft elastic material that is subject to deformation. In inappropriate conditions, they quickly lose their properties. If you have not learned how to properly store tires, you may experience such unpleasant consequences:
Don't risk your safety!
According to GOSTs, tires can be stored in a dry place, sheltered from precipitation, at a temperature of -30 to +40 C°.
These requirements are met by garages, outbuildings, storerooms, glazed balconies and other similar premises.
Interested in how to store tires in winter? The main enemies in this case will be snow and water. They can damage the tire by causing the sensitive material to warp. The same applies to discs that can be corroded. To maintain the properties of the tire in winter, good ventilation should be provided. It will be even better if you can organize heating.
If you need to know how to store wheels in the summer, then you should pay attention to bright sunlight. UV radiation is also detrimental to tires: it deteriorates their properties, causing accelerated wear. Therefore, you should buy special covers made from natural materials. In order for the tires to remain elastic and durable after the end of the summer season, you need to periodically turn them or shift them, observing all the requirements.
If you don't have space to put your wheels in your garage or on your balcony, you can take your tires to a special warehouse.
The advantages of such a solution are:
Properly storing tires is not difficult, but you need to do some preliminary preparation. Each tire should be thoroughly washed from dirt - adhering soil, asphalt particles and other substances can destroy the material. During this procedure, you can carefully inspect the surface of the wheel, finding cuts, punctures and other damage on it.
It is advisable to store tires on disks - in this case, they retain their original shape better. In addition, with the onset of the new season, you will save on the services of the service center. Each tire should be pre-treated with silicone grease. Do not confuse it with a color restorer that contains a solvent! In winter, the lubricant will prevent the formation of ice: it will fill the pores of the tire and push the water out of them.
In the summer season, the composition forms a protective coating that will help prevent the elastic material from drying out.
To store summer tires, it is advisable to choose heated rooms. With a strong decrease in temperature, they can “suffocate”, covered with microscopic cracks. This is fraught with rapid stratification during high-speed driving and a complete loss of control. If there is no heating, you need to put the tires in a dry closed garage or shed where snow and water do not penetrate.
If summer tires are afraid of frost and moisture, then winter tires are afraid of ultraviolet radiation. When folding them on the balcony, be sure to cover the wheels with a piece of thick cloth. But do not forget to leave a couple of holes for ventilation so that moisture does not accumulate inside. It is undesirable to store winter tires without disks: in the warm season they become very soft and easily deformed. The consequences of such damage will be unpleasant and even dangerous.
Most motorists are wondering how to store tires on rims? We have already said above that this method helps to save time and money during the off-season “changing shoes”. The ideal option for placing tires on rims is in limbo. To do this, you can install special brackets on the ceiling or in the wall. In this case, the main load is assumed by the metal rim - the soft part is not subjected to unnecessary loads.
To know how to store wheels on rims, you also need to pay attention to pressure. The optimal indicator is from 1 to 1.5 atmospheres. At a lower value, the tires are at risk of squeezing, and at a higher value, bursting. Tires on steel or light alloy rims should be lowered before storage. In a specialized center, experienced employees will take care of this, but in the garage you will have to do it yourself.
What to do if there is no space for hanging tires on the rims? In this case, you can not put them vertically - if the pressure decreases, this will lead to deformation of the frame.
It is best to stack tires in a pile, like a children's toy "pyramid". In this case, the following recommendations should be observed:
By knowing how to store your wheels on rims, you will save their properties, increase road safety and reduce your costs.
Many car owners have to store tires without wheels, a set of which is quite expensive. In this case, you will have to follow other recommendations. If you decide to store your tires without rims in your garage, never hang them from the ceiling or stack them. In both cases, the elastic material will be constantly subjected to excessive loads. This will lead to tire deformation, which we have already discussed earlier.
How to store tires without rims? To do this, install them vertically. In the absence of discs, this situation will be the only correct one. It will evenly distribute the load on the tire carcass. If you are interested in the question of how to store wheels without discs in the ideal case, you should know that they should be rotated periodically by 30–40 degrees. If possible, you should do this once every two weeks.
To store wheels without discs in the garage, you can buy special covers. They protect the surface of the tires from friction, UV exposure and moisture. Summer and all-season tires require special care in the cold season - be sure to treat them with silicone grease and put them in a dry place.
We told how to store summer and winter tires, what requirements must be observed with and without rims. So you will significantly reduce the cost of car maintenance, as well as make your trips really comfortable and safe.
Twice a year you have to change tires - from summer to winter and vice versa. Of course, this creates some inconvenience, but the main problem is not even the process of changing tires, but its proper storage until the next season. In fact, proper storage of tires is very important, if you put them in the wrong conditions, the rubber itself can deteriorate, and you will have to buy new tires for the next season.
Choosing the right storage conditions is not as easy as it seems, especially for residents of multi-storey buildings who do not have a dacha with a dry and warm shed or garage. Keeping tires in a room in a residential apartment is harmful both for the tires themselves and for the residents of the apartment.
Well, how to properly store tires, read further in the article.
When choosing a place, it is important to consider that the rubber of the tires does not tolerate ultraviolet radiation.
This applies to direct sunlight and artificial sources of ultraviolet radiation. Under the influence of ultraviolet radiation, the very structure of rubber changes, its elasticity decreases. Also, do not store tires on black asphalt, greasy or oily surfaces. And in principle, any chemically active environment is harmful to tire rubber - a reaction begins, as a result of which the rubber loses its properties. Another taboo is storage next to ozone-producing electrical appliances, rubber can also react with ozone, the natural aging of the material is accelerated. Such devices include, for example, the operation of electric welding.
Choosing the right temperature is also very important. It is optimal for storage to choose a range from +10 to +25°C. It is allowed that the temperature drops to zero and rises to +35°C. Another important factor is air humidity, it should be kept within 60-80%. If the air is too dry, microcracks appear on the rubber, and it loses its strength. If it is too wet, the spikes of winter tires and cords of rubber of any seasonality and type begin to corrode.
If the room is heated, then the tires should be stored at least a meter away from the heat source, it is especially important to keep them away from air-blowing heaters, such as convectors.
What places can an ordinary car owner choose for storage:
If the necessary humidity and temperature are maintained in one of these rooms, then it is quite acceptable to store tires there. But outdoor storage is strictly contraindicated, you can store tires on the street for up to a month, no more, and even then covering them with a canopy or any material that does not let the sun's rays through.
But it is best to entrust the storage to the Wheels for Free store, in our warehouses the required level of temperature and humidity is maintained, and the sun's rays or cold damp drafts will not reach your wheels.
Tires must be cleaned and rinsed before being sent to storage, and this procedure is independent of where the rubber is stored.
It is especially important to wash chemically active substances from tires - oil, bitumen, diesel fuel, etc. As mentioned above, such substances react with tire rubber and disrupt its structure at the molecular level.
The ideal option is to treat the tires with a special agent after washing, but we are not talking about the chemistry for blackening tires, which is used in car washes, it contains too chemically active substances. There are special products for caring for rubber tires based on neutral silicone. One of the useful qualities of these tools is the displacement of moisture from microcracks, which is very useful when sending a tire to storage.
It is advisable, after dismantling the tires, to mark where and which of them stood. Such marks can be made with chalk or a felt-tip pen on the inside of the tire or on the back of the rim if the wheel is stored as an assembly. Why is this needed? Even on a fully serviceable car, uneven tire wear can be observed, in which case they are advised to be swapped.
The answer to this question depends on how the wheels are stored - assembled or the tire is removed from the disk. It is most convenient to store tires on rims, this is useful for the tires themselves and facilitates the process of seasonal change of car shoes. The disk protects the inner part of the tire from the ingress of condensate and chemically active substances, prevents tire deformation during the tire fitting process.
When storing on a disk, the wheel is optimally hung on a hook; a separate hook is mounted for each wheel. You can fold the wheels - with the disks they are placed horizontally in a stack one on top of the other. But if the tires are not suspended, then once a month they are recommended to be turned over so that the rubber does not deform. The tire pressure is about half bled. But it is impossible to store rubber vertically on the disk. Especially if it is on stamped discs, which are heavier than cast ones.
A constant static load on the tire will cause it to deform.
If the wheels are stored without disks, then the recommendations are directly opposite. Tires cannot be stacked in this case, in order to avoid deformation of the sidewalls. Hanging is not worth it for the same reason. It is optimal to put tires without rims in a row on a shelf or any suitable surface. To store such tires, special racks with crossbars are used so that the tire stands and does not roll. It is important that the crossbars are made of round material without sharp corners.
The most meticulous drivers advise changing the position of the tires once a month during any storage to avoid deformation. To make the process of changing positions more uniform, it is better to mark each position, for example, with chalk. If there is absolutely no place to put tires without rims in a row and it is possible to store them only in a pile, then once a month you also need to shuffle this pile to reduce pressure on the bottom tire.
Often, when buying new tires or after tire fitting, the owner of the tires gets to use plastic bags that are issued for old tires so as not to dirty the interior of the car. In such a package it is very convenient to transport tires, but not to store them. If the tire is stored in a well-ventilated and dry area, then it simply does not need additional packaging, dust does not spoil the tire.
But if the tire is stored in a damp room or in the open air, then it is better to wrap it in a material that can pass air. Condensation collects in cellophane, humidity rises, plastic packaging in this case will only bring harm.
Where plastic bags can really come in handy is when storing tires in the garage. The fact is that from the car, in any case, there are vapors of chemically active substances that settle on the tire and react with it. So sealed plastic packaging in this case will only be useful. At the same time, it is better to wrap tires not in winter, but in summer, when the evaporation of the liquid is most intense.
If you cannot ensure the correct storage of rubber - entrust it to us. In addition to a wide range of goods, employees of the Kolesa Darom store offer seasonal tire storage services. With us, your tires will lie in safety all winter or summer without losing their qualities and without taking up useful space in the house.
If you select all storage tips in one list, then it will consist of the following items:
It is not allowed to store tires in rooms where the temperature drops below zero or rises above + 35 ° C, where humidity is increased or decreased, heating devices are located close to the tires or ultraviolet rays fall on the rubber.
It is better not to store tires outdoors, even in warm regions.
Tires must be washed and treated with a special solution before storage.
The position for storing tires must be chosen depending on whether they are stored on disks or disassembled.
