Poked a hole in my new Duratrac! Right thru the rubber lug! (plugged FTW)

Roger that...

If I was doing more irrigation jobs, my life would be more tuned to heading to Baja! The best way to stay up on Baja trips and events is to join BajaNomad.com forums. It is a little crazy sometimes like this one, but overall it is a good place to read about conditions, places, see photos and read trip reports. Several members are Americans or Canadians who live in Baja, a couple of Canadians have bed & breakfast places...

My web site has most of my Baja trips to 2010 as well as lots of information to help plan your Baja trip: http://vivabaja.com

My new Viva Baja Blog is where you can see my 2011 Baja trip photos (3 trips so far): http://vivabajablog.blogspot.com/ Please have a look (lots of Tacoma in action shots, naturally)!

 

i work for firestone and we offer road hazzard on every tire we sell. if the customer decides to buy is the only thing, and thats for lt or pass. tires

 

I just did a search for tire plugs and guess who's thread I came across. I also recognized Saline right away. How was the road and where else did you go? When is the next DV trip? We're planning on going in October.

What plug kit do people recommend?
Crom, how do you like that compressor? I was planning on getting that one but then read the 400P is much better.

 

Tore my sidewall on my 4 month old BFG all terrain last week. Plugged it on the trail and ran it till the end then drove home. Never had 1 in 6 months with my duratracs

 

I have the same one. Don't use it any longer but it's a great compressor.

 

Bought one of those slime kits recently. Hopefully it will sit under the seat until needed.

 

One year to the date of this thread I had to plug another tire again due to some shit I ran over yesterday don't even know what it was or where it was.







I plugged it but Discount would not balance the repaired tire. They prorated my replacement certificated and I'm getting a new tire out of it. I'm gonna keep this tire and use it as a trail spare.

I like the 90p compressor. It does the job. I plan on saving up for the expensive dual ARB compressor and spring for an onboard tank as well.

Have not made it out to any trails recently as I've been very busy at home.

 

Heres a little trick that can save you some hassel on the trails. Buy the plug kit with T handles. Rotate your tire so the pucture is facing down, lower the jack slowly so the T handle, placed upside down on the ground, inserts itself into the tire using the truck's weight. Then you can eaily ream the hole and repeat process for installation of the plug. Not too dangerous if you do it slowly.
Laziness is the mother of all invention and innovation.

 

Sounds like a great way to make a new tire puncture if something goes wrong!

I think I found an even simpler and safer way. The rasp tool pictured below allows one to "twist" the tool inside the tire easily, like a drill bit, and then pull straight out to complete the rasp function. I did that about 3 times today and called it good. Worked well.

 

I had one flat on my Baja trip, and it turned out to be in the same place and same tire as the only other flat I had... So, either the patch failed or lightning strikes twice in the same place! I have the same plug kit, and it took three plugs to stop the air escape... twice.


Hole repaired near Coco's Corner.


Patched, at Gonzaga Bay.

 

Nice pics David. Yeah, it's not a question of if, it's a question of when is it going to happen and being prepared to recover from it and fix it. Nice to see you had what you needed to get it fixed. At least your punctures are in the center. My last three have all been on the shoulders.

 

that sucks! thinking about the arb compressors too. looking forward to seeing your install

 

I destroyed two 315 bfg at's in a 6 month span. Discount tire charged me 43$ for each to replace the warranty certificate. I probably should've kept both as they were both about brand new. One cut through an entire block of tread to the belts, the other was a small cut in the sidewall, I folded a plug and stuck it through and it held no problem.

I carry HF tire spoons and some patches from Napa, as well as solvent, a stitch tool, and some wire to stitch a small cut if need be; along side my plug kit.

Napa has some really nice plug kits, as well as individual tools but I bought some cheaper t-handled ones at walmart and then picked up a shit ton of plugs and some extra compound. Just make sure you get a t-handled one. The ones I got feel pretty solid, I wouldn't trust anything that feels flimsy. I also have had one that didn't have a slot at the end for the plug, it was just a solid eye and that was a pain in the ass, make sure the plug tool has a slot so you can pull it straight out.

Oh and I carry starting fluid to reseat a bead as well as spare valve cores, a tool, and spare valve stems. Discount gave me a couple stems for free.

I have a puma 12v OBA compressor but I carry a cheap slime one from walmart as backup. Flats suck.

Oh yeah, I've got a little bottle of liquid soap too.

 

The best plug kit on my opinion is the TrailGear kit. It's pretty much an exact copy of the ARB plug kit for way way cheaper. I recently bought my own kit to carry in the taco and I also have a cheazy generic kit in my crawler. Ive seen people on the trail who have used as many 50+ plugs to repair a torn sidewall..good enough to get you off the trail as a last resort.

 

Click me for tire repair knowledge

I'd also practice some of this shit if you've never had to do it, on a junk tire, at home, or on a flat at home, plug it, get it to hold air, then take it to the tire store for a real repair.

 

I know I'm a little late to this party but WTF are you doing in Death Valley in August?!

 

All you have to do is get it started in the hole, or just line it up and let gravity do the rest. And it sure beats removing a wheel just to get the same job done!

 

that wasn't the guy who's spare got 'lost' by chance was it?

if so I saw pics of that tire and holly crap I never saw such a thing in my life. after that I bought more plugs

 

If you're revering to the pics from lastyears Trail-Gear's customer appreciation run/bbq then yes if you browse over at pirate4x4 there are quite a few awesome examples of how a tire plug kit can save the day.....now, time to clean up and go home. 13 hour day in triple digit numbers ftw

 

Good job on the trail fix. Duratracs puncture very easily. Especially the sidewall.