First experience with a flat with my Taco

So while I'm driving back home down a pretty country road. I drove past a construction zone and hear a pop. Didn't think anything of it, then saw the "exclamation point" hazard on the dash. I pull over and hop out and I can hear the hissing sound. Back passenger tire had a bent piece of metal in it that was folded over itself, so it was pretty much a straw in my tire. This is when it got interesting....
So I pull out my oem jack for the first time ever and wouldn't you know, it's short and to make it worse, I'm on a short, crappy, dirt shoulder that isn't far from even. I find a flat piece of concrete and started jacking, finally, some movement. Luckily, I had a tire plug kit and cigarette lighter pump from my last SUV. I get the lug nuts off and pull the tire off...mistake. Because of the suspension and hill, the rotor dipped down just a hair too low for me to easily put the tire back on. So now I'm trying to figure out how to raise that part up just a little higher so that I could put the tire back on. After a few minutes, I decided to just grab a set of ratcheting ties, looped it around the axle (bad I know) and hooked the end to the far side of the bed. Luckily I didn't take much but lesson learned.
First thing after work, I'm buying a new jack, a couple tall jack stands, chop up a few wooden blocks, and get another tire plug kit to keep in the truck. Live and learn.

 

Hopefully next time I get a flat, its on a road with a proper shoulder.

 

where did you place the jack? If you place it under the axle...the jack has plenty of extension....

 

^^bingo,. Glad you were creative enough to fix your situation though.

^^ drum

 

x2 and why did you feel the need to remove the tire just to put a plug in?? I just plugged my driver's side tire yesterday from a nail puncture and never even got my jack out. Glad it worked out but you definitely did things the hard way.

 

yup..get the jack under the axle.

while you're at it..practice getting that spare tire out while you are in a nice driveway. personally, i think that is the shitty part of the job. you jam the end of the jack rod into the spare tire winch thing. it is like a square peg into a round hole. it sucks. and you have to push that rod into free air space to even find the winch hole..it is a really good time!!

 

Yep, hard enough to get the spare in day time but try doing that in the dark...

 

I'll bet if there was some pink around that hole, you'd have no problem finding it!

 

After all, it is "I love pink" month!

 

I didn't think it was ok to jack it up by the axle so I did it a little in front of the back wheel. I was a little irritated that I had to dig through the woods to find a spacer for the jack. Good thing there was a pile of broken up concrete near by. By that point, I was just ready to get it done. The jack went up and the tire was off before I realized that was a bad place. Now I didn't just want to sit the bear hub (thanks Sandman614!).

I usually don't take the tire off for a plug but the piece of metal was deep and the jack on a rock was sketchy. I didn't want anything to tip over. If I knew it would've been such a pain to get back on, I would have risk it.

 

Double check the manual, he jack should go under the axle. The ubolt plate on the bottom, probably. The factory jack can't support the weight of the whole vehicle by the frame, it just lifts the wheel by compressing the suspension.

I saw a young kid destroy his jack by trying to lift the front of the truck at the frame. It goes under the a-arm up there.

 

Yes I had to change my first flat with my truck the other day.
Same thing hit something in the road, tpms went off, tire flat as a pancake.
The conditions were not as horrible as yours but I was on a back road no cell signal so took out the tools.
It all went ok except for the tire underneath was filthy though was very grateful it was there.
The jack did fine & prayed it would stay up since the top isn't that big, like the size of half dollar.
I had to have faith it would be ok.
Lifting the tire well I did ok, I got it up there, it wasn't pretty but it worked.
Yes lowering the tire was the biggest pain in the a$$

 

Truck manual should verify under the axle is good to go.

 

No doubt I did it the hard way! Its one of those things you don't think about until it's done wrong. We all know how to change a tire and it's rarely something you dig in the manual for but I should have!

 

It's all about being SAFE. Surely, we've all done things 'out of procedure' to get ourselves out of a pinch. As long as you didn't get hurt and have learned.
Sometimes, you gotta do what you gotta do.

I hit a piece of flying debris on the highway last summer. It took a chunk out of my grill, gouged my front bumper and slashed my front tire. Thank God for the TPMS. I got off the highway and to a parking lot safely. I can't say much for my OEM jack - frigin thing wouldn't go up at all after endless cranking on it. Called the husband and he brought out the Craftsman hydraulic jack.

As for the OEM jack... We played with it enough until it finally started working (after we got home). I'm not sure I'd trust it again. But then again... Husband and AAA are my backup.

 

Lol, don't beat yourself up about it. There's definitely worse ways to experience a flat tire.
I had one with the girlfriend's car when we were on our way home from NH this summer. In the middle of a thunder & lightning storm, on top of a hill, in a big field. And it was a front tire, and she's just got one of those crappy cheater spares. I think I must've set a world speed record for the "jack the rear, pop the good tire off and the spare one, drop the rear, jack the front, pop the flat tire off and the good tire on and drop the car" event.
Crappiest. Flat. Ever.

 

^This. It probably would have been easier to remove still on the truck, cause then you can really put some elbow grease into removing it cause it's still anchored to the truck. I did it a week and a half ago on mine. Same thing, rear drivers side. Chunk of metal that looked like a miniature pick axe. Once I pulled it out my tire deflated in under 2 minutes if not less. Reamed, plugged, pressurized and good to go in 15 minutes.

 

LOL. BEST LAF TODAY

 

I had to change a tire in -10° weather in WY with about 50 mph of wind blowing the snow tacked on. What happened was I hit black ice and started spinning, spun towards the median and hit a gravely spot and ripped the tire off the wheel. And to top it off I was wearing shorts and a light jacket and sperry top siders