Flats on the trail - who's had one?

[ExplorerTom]

Who has had a flat on the trail? What was the brand/model of the tire? What were you doing at the time? What was the trail like? What was the condition of the tire at the time?

I've never had a flat on the trail.

I've seen/heard from several people that run the BFG A/T and have never had a flat. Just about any expedition style video/blog I've seen they are running this tire and have commented on how they have never had a flat.

[Chris]

I'll be the exception Tom, the only flat I've ever had was witha BFG/AT when wheeling in AZ. The tire was very low miles and only mildly aired down. That set of tires was my third set of BFG/ /AT's so obviously I was a fan. The previous 2 sets were 33's, these were 35's and terrible tires. The flat was caused by a rock cutting the sidewall. It was replaced under warranty. The tires then started cracking on the sidewall, very disappointing for BFG's. Someone told me that BFG had been bought by Michelin and the rubber compound changed. I never knew if it was true and sold the truck and will never buy any BFG tire again.

[daniel_sach]

I blew a bead coming up Bunker hill on lower independence trail. Goodyear MTR. PSI = 12 Stock Rubicon wheel. To much pressure on a step and blew the bead. Winch up to a flater spot but soon realized we did not have the special lug nut lock.... yeah bad day. even vice grips and beating ona socket wouldnt take it off. waited 6 hours to have one brought down then changed the tire... a little ether and a match would have solved it also... popped the bead back on.

[Jim]

a match would have solved it also

I'm assuming you mean a match to ignite starter fluid to "blow up" / re-seat the tire??

An option to carrying a match or lighter... Jumper cables (most have a set). Connect both ends to the battery as typical, negative end to the rim. Positive gets tapped to near the open bead area for a spark & ignition!

Reason for the negative to the rim - reduce chance of bad-spotting a wheel bearing if they are used for the return path of the juice.

Regarding the lug nut security key (I have'm too)... "I've heard" (never tried it) that a low quality socket of the good enough size can be hammered into the end of the security key. It would give a socket connectable option to remove the security key/lug nut. :2c:

[Rick]

a little ether and a match would have solved it also... popped the bead back on.we almost caught my Dads truck on fire doing that at Hells Gate. 42" tires are a little harder for that trick,just be careful and have an extinguisher close by

[Brad]

BFG MT KM2, 245/75/16, aired down to 18psi. I think I caught the inside sidewall on a sharp rock or tree trunk. Sliced through. I have the discount tire warranty on all my tires so it only cost me $31 or so to mount and balance a new tire.

[scout man]

we almost caught my Dads truck on fire doing that at Hells Gate. 42" tires are a little harder for that trick,just be careful and have an extinguisher close by

Not saying I wouldnt do this (I have and will) but a good buddy of mine lost part of two of his fingers with this trick. He had the rim off the truck and used a bit much ether. When it ignited it jumped off the ground towards him and his fingers ended up inside the bead when it set. Just throwing it out there so people realize the risks.

I lost a Baja Claw (I think) on Spring Creek on day. Just barely caught a sharp rock sticking out of the hill and put a huge gash in the sidewall. Barelly touched it, in fact, I had pretty much come to a stop and ever so slightly rolled forward again and it popped. It was pretty rediculous, but not the worst thing that happened that day.

[Rob]

I lost a Baja Claw (I think) on Spring Creek

That doesn't count, Steve. It was on Spring Creek. :D

[Java]

I've always run BFG ATs until my current Duratracs and have never had a flat. I have had plenty of nails, but I usually see or hear them before the tire loses air and I just plug them. I haven't had a flat with the Duratracs (yet) either, but I like to think it's because I'm a really kick ass driver. :thumb:

[4Runninfun]

Only once, it was with my current trxus MT's 255-85, I blew a bead snow wheeling up on mt. herman. I had slid side ways into a rock and poped the tire off the rim a little while later. I threw a ratchet strap around the tire and grabbed the CO2 tank and got it back on the rim.

[scout man]

That doesn't count, Steve. It was on Spring Creek. :D

So true. That was the day that everything went wrong too.

[xaza]

I have had one tire get the sidewall ripped on a sharp root, was on some plain truck tires in my Bronco II. I also picked up a nail on my way to Spring Creek, heard it hissing at first stop on trail (couple minutes in) Drove brothers truck back to gas station in Downieville and bought their overprice tire patch kit and was back to the trail in no time.

[Fordguy77]

Knock on wood, but i have never had a flat on the trail or at all even, running all sorts of different brands, I personally believe it only partially comes down to tire construction, and the rest comes down to luck. That being said, Like Old Chris, I am no longer a fun of the BFG ATs, and to be honest never have been really impressed with the tire. The reason there on my FJ60 now is soley because the price was right and had much more tread than the tires i was running.

[glacierpaul]

Had the tip of a valve stem ripped off last summer on a Wheeler Lake run. This is reminding me I still have not installed the Viair Heavy Duty ADA 400C (JK) in the Jeep...
I have had one flat, knock on wood, on my Ford. Had to use my sledge hammer to get the rear wheel off! The tire tread was low and I had picked up a nail from a jobsite. Goodyear Workhorse was the tire.

[jaymoto]

knock on wood so far been luck. last weeknd up left hand we ran into an xj that bent his rim and blew is bead off. With no spare I handed him a BIG! hammer and said go to work. After him beating on rim for 30min i put my pump to it and all was well again.

[Haku]

Not saying I wouldnt do this (I have and will) but a good buddy of mine lost part of two of his fingers with this trick. He had the rim off the truck and used a bit much ether. When it ignited it jumped off the ground towards him and his fingers ended up inside the bead when it set. Just throwing it out there so people realize the risks.

I lost a Baja Claw (I think) on Spring Creek on day. Just barely caught a sharp rock sticking out of the hill and put a huge gash in the sidewall. Barelly touched it, in fact, I had pretty much come to a stop and ever so slightly rolled forward again and it popped. It was pretty rediculous, but not the worst thing that happened that day.

Uggh....that was quite a day. I thought that was a Procomp X-terrain or whatever tire that did that though. That was just the horrible icing on a really crappy cake of a day though.

I got two flats in 100 feet of trail on the Plane Crash trail last year with the stock tires that came with my truck (bargain brand all terrains). Blew one tire, used a spare, then blew another one 100 feet further. Not so great of a day there either, as we had to go back down to the campsite and beg for a spare tire from someone down there and then Red Rhino brought the only spare tire I had at home up from Denver, which was a 35" tire and it rubbed all the way home. Needless to say, I went and got a set of real tires shortly there after. They happened to be BFG AT's and they are holding up great so far. Did Red Cone and OCG on them, both times aired down, and no complaints.

My crawler has 37" Pit Bull Rocker radials on it, and those are TOTALLY burly. Tire weighs around 75 pounds and the sidewalls seem like they are a quarter inch thick. I run them at 4psi on the hard trails and absolutely no issues so far. I also ran them at 0psi on a snow run once and they also did great there. Heavy and really aggressive tread though, so maybe not a great DD tire.

[scout man]

I thought that was a Procomp X-terrain or whatever tire that did that though.

Yea, you might be right. I had both brands in quick succession around that time.

[KnuckleHead]

Took out a side wall somewhere on Wheeler Lake. 31" BFG not that great of tread at the time but where working great, even as a flat. Didn't really realize it was flat till we stopped at the top for lunch......

[RidgeRunner]

The only flat I've ever had on the trail was a BFG A/T, 31x10.50-15 on a stock Cherokee wheel. Rock cut the sidewall. It was an older tire and didn't really change my opinion of BFG at all. I've had several sets of A/Ts and KM2s since then with no problems.
It was a pretty moderate trail, just a bit of a rocky climb and it was wet. Spun a bunch and slid sideways into the rock.

[Minnesota]

I had one this winter. Definitely caught me off guard. Was snow bashing in Gordon Gulch at ~20 psi. Previous generation MT/R on stock steelie. There were big off-camber washout total dirt "gutters" in through the meadows that we kept getting sucked into. Got out to look at something else and heard the hissing. Front must have gone in harder than I thought at an angle, and it pushed the sidewall back enough to jam some dead grass in between the bead. Relatively high pressure + a little bit of grass = "Wow, well I'll be...!"

[Rob]

I saw Chris at a tire shop in Moab this morning getting a flat fixed on his 4Runner. I think he picked up a screw on the "Main Street" Trail. The hardest obstacle to get past is the Moab Brewery. :rolleyes:

[Brad]

I saw Chris at a tire shop in Moab this morning getting a flat fixed on his 4Runner. I think he picked up a screw on the "Main Street" Trail. The hardest obstacle to get past is the Moab Brewery. :rolleyes:

:lmao:

[glacierpaul]

That is funny Rob!