Tip for Triton owners - and maybe other trucks?

[topt]

I had a flat yesterday as I was barrelling down Highway 7. Thanks to the Pajero passenger that pointed it out to me as they went past.

Went to take out the jack and bits from behind the rear seat back to take off the wheel - but could not get the jack out........ It is held in place by a winged nut that (on mine) was impossible to turn by hand. Trying to use the wheel brace to knock it loose did not help much either. Fortunately I had pulled off where there was some sort of "encampment" and some of the workers came to help out. Thanks to them I was on my way a lot quicker than I would have been.

So suggestion is you may want to check you can actually get your jack out of the box as it were otherwise you could end up stuck should you get a flat in an out of the way spot.

[Jitar]

PJS has the same over tightened wing nut.

Must be a Mitsu specialty.

[firefox999uk]

Thanks for the heads up on that...will try mine tomorrow.

Have a nive Day.

[pitchag]

Also check you HAVE a spare tyre mine was stolen not long after I bought the pickup, on checking around it is quite a common theft from pickups normally done in shopping centre car parks, they back up to your vehicle and drop the tailgates and work undetected undercover, I now have a heavy duty chain and extra strong lock on my spare after spending 4000+ Bt replacing it, some people replace with an old rim and "get you home " tyre to deter the thieves.

[Daffy D]

Good idea to check things work that you may need on the road side.

Better to do it at home than find out the wing nut is stuck tight in the middle of the night in the pouring rain.

I practiced changing a wheel on my Toyota pick-up and found that a couple of blocks of wood for the jack to stand on were a help, also a metal tube extension for the wheel brace (lug wrench) for tight nuts would be useful so now carry these in the car.

And yes check regularly you still have a spare wheel

[jacko45k]

Another common mistake is assuming the supplied wrench will get those fancy new wheel trims off that you had put on in the shop.

[FvH]

Good idea to check things work that you may need on the road side.

Better to do it at home than find out the wing nut is stuck tight in the middle of the night in the pouring rain.

I practiced changing a wheel on my Toyota pick-up and found that a couple of blocks of wood for the jack to stand on were a help, also a metal tube extension for the wheel brace (lug wrench) for tight nuts would be useful so now carry these in the car.

And yes check regularly you still have a spare wheel

Also check your spare tire air pressure, mine was zero when i checked.

They not check this at regular maintenance. even by the official dealer

[tingtongteesood]

It's the little things in life that can make or break your day, a great tip !

[impulse]

Pair of vice grips, reversible screwdriver and adjustable wrench in the glove box have saved my bacon several times over the years- all for less than $15.

[paulchiangmai]

Pair of vice grips, reversible screwdriver and adjustable wrench in the glove box have saved my bacon several times over the years- all for less than $15.

A reversible screwdriver? I have about thirty screwdrivers and just checked them all to see if they are reversible, every one would turn to the left or right When I took my car in to a Mitsubishi dealer for it's 10,000 k service they asked me if I wanted them to rotate the wheels around the car, I said yes, using an air gun it took all of two minutes to do this as the car was already up on the hoist, they charged me an extra 400 baht for this. The other day I took the car in at about 20,000 for a service and again they asked me if I wanted the wheels rotated, I said no, the next day I did the job myself after finding the wheel nuts could not possibly be undone by the supplied wrench, fortunately I was at home where I have a long strong bar and socket, I invited my wife to undo one and she didn't have a dogs chance, it took all my strength and weight to crack those wheel nuts. Will they never learn? On my last car I took it into a Dunlop dealer for new tyres and when finished I took out the wheel wrench and invited the tyre fitter to undo one nut, goes without saying he could not do it.

[hkt83100]

And yes check regularly you still have a spare wheel

And don't forget to check the air pressure once in a while. A flat spare wheel doesn't help much.

[maximillian]

Recently I noticed a nail in my rear tire; the tire didn't lose any air though. Went another 70 km to reach home. There I repaired the tire myself without removing it.

Now I carry a plyer, a small electric compressor and a knife in my tool kit.

[Gatorade]

Thanks for the "heads up".

I have been caught out like this but now find that those puncture repair bottles which blow the tyre up and seal the puncture at the same time work very well. Particularly when it's raining stair rods and you don't want scuffle around trying to jack up the wagon.

A friend of mine got round the problem of having spare wheels nicked on two of his wagons by painting white stripes on the tires!

[Bredbury Blue]

Also check you HAVE a spare tyre mine was stolen not long after I bought the pickup, on checking around it is quite a common theft from pickups normally done in shopping centre car parks, they back up to your vehicle and drop the tailgates and work undetected undercover, I now have a heavy duty chain and extra strong lock on my spare after spending 4000+ Bt replacing it, some people replace with an old rim and "get you home " tyre to deter the thieves.

The thiefs target pickups with red plates knowing the spare tyre will be brand new and never used therefore easy to sell on. Ours was thieved in the first 2 weeks of red plate.

[keithcresswell]

Have just spent 15 minutes trying to get the back seat of my Triton down, I'm sure this hasn't done my hernia any good. Can anyone tell how to do this. The Thai manual doesn't seem to give any clues,

[topt]

Have just spent 15 minutes trying to get the back seat of my Triton down, I'm sure this hasn't done my hernia any good. Can anyone tell how to do this. The Thai manual doesn't seem to give any clues,

Roughly in the middle of the back seat at the top should be a thin loop of material. Pull that up and it should release the catch and just pull up/forward.

Worth getting an English version of the manual - do you know how to release the spare tyre from underneath? Without the manual (and the help of the guys) I would not have had a clue!

[Totster]

Also check you HAVE a spare tyre mine was stolen not long after I bought the pickup, on checking around it is quite a common theft from pickups normally done in shopping centre car parks, they back up to your vehicle and drop the tailgates and work undetected undercover, I now have a heavy duty chain and extra strong lock on my spare after spending 4000+ Bt replacing it, some people replace with an old rim and "get you home " tyre to deter the thieves.

The thiefs target pickups with red plates knowing the spare tyre will be brand new and never used therefore easy to sell on. Ours was thieved in the first 2 weeks of red plate.

First thing I did was put a heavy duty chain and lock on mine.

totster

[PETERTHEEATER]

I have an original Fortuner and the spare wheel is under the rear chassis hoisted by a drum and chain winch. The winch is operated

using a Tee handle and screwtogether extension rod from the toolkit. If you have never tried it on your Fortuner do it now or you will never be able to deal with installing the spare at the roadside. I had a fixed tool made up for me by a local metal shop once I found the shortcomings of the provided kit.

[Whitson]

On trucks, the spare wheel usually needs to be 'wound' down my inserting a long rod into the mechanism from the rear of the vehicle. There are devices available to prevent thieves using this method. Another propriety device needs a gararge to affix part onto the chassis, this pokes through the spare wheel hole and a lock is then affixed onto this.

Theft of spare wheels is endemic in Thailand, and dealers should sort this out rather than offering load of other useless goodies on first purchase.

I keep a half inch drive handle (with sliding extension) near the jack and a suitable sized socket to undo the bolts (cheap purchase). Undoing the wheel nuts requires a long bar (force x distance) to exert the necessary torque to undo the nuts.

Check your tyre pressures when you refuel and get them to do the spare. I usually give a 20 baht tip and they will refill the water (with a couple of drops of liquid soap) clean the windscreen and the headlights. Cheap for peace of mind.

Come on folks....you need to think a bit ahead and not leave everthing to chance.

[topt]

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I have an original Fortuner and the spare wheel is under the rear chassis hoisted by a drum and chain winch. The winch is operated
using a Tee handle and screwtogether extension rod from the toolkit. If you have never tried it on your Fortuner do it now or you will never be able to deal with installing the spare at the roadside. I had a fixed tool made up for me by a local metal shop once I found the shortcomings of the provided kit.

On trucks, the spare wheel usually needs to be 'wound' down my inserting a long rod into the mechanism from the rear of the vehicle. There are devices available to prevent thieves using this method. Another propriety device needs a gararge to affix part onto the chassis, this pokes through the spare wheel hole and a lock is then affixed onto this.

Theft of spare wheels is endemic in Thailand, and dealers should sort this out rather than offering load of other useless goodies on first purchase.

I keep a half inch drive handle (with sliding extension) near the jack and a suitable sized socket to undo the bolts (cheap purchase). Undoing the wheel nuts requires a long bar (force x distance) to exert the necessary torque to undo the nuts.

Check your tyre pressures when you refuel and get them to do the spare. I usually give a 20 baht tip and they will refill the water (with a couple of drops of liquid soap) clean the windscreen and the headlights. Cheap for peace of mind.

Come on folks....you need to think a bit ahead and not leave everthing to chance.

This was my point to keithcresswell - unless you have tried to do it the process may come as a shock to you if you are only used to replacing a tyre on a European type saloon car.

To undo the wheel nuts the Thai guys stood on the wheel brace to initially loosen - sad to say I let them get on with it so do not really know how hard or easy it was.....

[JacChang]

They don't seem to use torque wrenches much around here, which I religiously follow to.

For those who seem to have a hard time getting the nuts off from their wheels, try some anti-seize compound on the outer threads. It works wonders. The heat in Thailand along with the water, over time will cause rust and what have you, resulting in difficulty when removing the nuts. And yes, it's safe.

[HUAHIN62]

I keep 2 cans of "tyre weld" in the Triton. I once got a flat on a soggy dirt road and the jack just sank into the dirt and couldnt change the tyre.

[lostmebike]

Good idea to check things work that you may need on the road side.

Better to do it at home than find out the wing nut is stuck tight in the middle of the night in the pouring rain.

I practiced changing a wheel on my Toyota pick-up and found that a couple of blocks of wood for the jack to stand on were a help, also a metal tube extension for the wheel brace (lug wrench) for tight nuts would be useful so now carry these in the car.

And yes check regularly you still have a spare wheel

Also check your spare tire air pressure, mine was zero when i checked.

They not check this at regular maintenance. even by the official dealer

There are also a lot of other things they don't check at the main dealers

[heybuz]

another tip diesel engines is block the egr valve the reintroduced exhaust gases clog the intake manifold,also fit a catch can.

[BradinAsia]

Thanks for the heads up on that...will try mine tomorrow.

Have a nive Day.

+1 -- Helpful posts like this make TV(dot)com worth it weight in gold to many members.

I just checked the jack behind the back seat of my 2010 Triton. Indeed, the wing-nut was too tight to loosen by hand,

but I was able to loosen it using a sturdy old key (not my ignition key) placed between the wings of the wing-nut.

Thanks for this. Simple things can sometimes cause big problems, especially if it's after dark in an isolated area.

Edited July 23, 2014 by BradinAsia

[BradinAsia]

They don't seem to use torque wrenches much around here, which I religiously follow to.

For those who seem to have a hard time getting the nuts off from their wheels, try some anti-seize compound on the outer threads. It works wonders. The heat in Thailand along with the water, over time will cause rust and what have you, resulting in difficulty when removing the nuts. And yes, it's safe.

The shops usually use those pneumatic power hammer-drill-type tools which can be much too powerful.

A friend in Japan took his Toyota MR-2 to the shop to get new tires. The mechanic using a large pneumatic

tool, actually broke off three of his wheel studs. The shop tried to charge him to replace the studs. After he

made a rather big noise to the shop owner they finally repaired it at their expense.

A lot of mechanics have very little training and little common sense.

[Gandtee]

Pair of vice grips, reversible screwdriver and adjustable wrench in the glove box have saved my bacon several times over the years- all for less than $15.

A reversible screwdriver? I have about thirty screwdrivers and just checked them all to see if they are reversible, every one would turn to the left or right When I took my car in to a Mitsubishi dealer for it's 10,000 k service they asked me if I wanted them to rotate the wheels around the car, I said yes, using an air gun it took all of two minutes to do this as the car was already up on the hoist, they charged me an extra 400 baht for this. The other day I took the car in at about 20,000 for a service and again they asked me if I wanted the wheels rotated, I said no, the next day I did the job myself after finding the wheel nuts could not possibly be undone by the supplied wrench, fortunately I was at home where I have a long strong bar and socket, I invited my wife to undo one and she didn't have a dogs chance, it took all my strength and weight to crack those wheel nuts. Will they never learn? On my last car I took it into a Dunlop dealer for new tyres and when finished I took out the wheel wrench and invited the tyre fitter to undo one nut, goes without saying he could not do it.

A piece of 1inch/ 18inch iron pipe is what I have and have and used it several times, and there's the wrench!!

[Maybole]

Another related thing. After a service, check that all the tools (including jack) are still there, or remove them before taking the vehicle in.

This happened a few years ago in Bahrain. I bought a new Volvo,and took it to the dealer for its 1000km service. It was returned to me minus: spare whee, all tools, jack, and all floor mats.

The dealer swore blind that they had not been in the car when I took it into the workshop. It took a letter to Volvo Customer Services in Sweden before they were all returned by being dumped outside my house.

[UKCanuk]

I had the same situation with our PJS but had a small toolbox in the back with a vice grip which did the job. The spare is indeed a real magnet for thieves if it's the original spare part. I replaced the original tyre and rim with a 1500 baht set from the local shop which doesn't seem to attract the same attention as the original.

[keithcresswell]

Have just spent 15 minutes trying to get the back seat of my Triton down, I'm sure this hasn't done my hernia any good. Can anyone tell how to do this. The Thai manual doesn't seem to give any clues,

Roughly in the middle of the back seat at the top should be a thin loop of material. Pull that up and it should release the catch and just pull up/forward.

Worth getting an English version of the manual - do you know how to release the spare tyre from underneath? Without the manual (and the help of the guys) I would not have had a clue!

Thanks for the info . I have managed to get the back seat down now and found an old road atlas and a baseball cap. However since I changed to larger rims I have no hope of getting the wheels off as I now realise the nuts are buried too deep.

Looks like I will have to rely on my roadside breakdown service.

Thanks anyway.