Flat tire with full load in the bed?

Anyone heard of a ridgeline owner getting a flat with a full load in the bed?

I would love to hear how it was handled with the tire and jack trapped in the trunk.

I heard about this one time, at band camp... ;)

It's definitely something to consider when loading the bed. I reckon one should strongly consider stowing the spare and tools somewhere else instead of making them inaccessible with a load. It can happen in other vehicles too, where the spare is under a cover in the luggage compartment.

It can happen in other vehicles too, where the spare is under a cover in the luggage compartment.
Unloading a suitcase is a heck of a lot easier than unloading 1/2 a ton of ____ (fill in blank with your choice of a load, i.e. gravel, mulch, rock, etc.).

Anyone heard of a ridgeline owner getting a flat with a full load in the bed?

I would love to hear how it was handled with the tire and jack trapped in the trunk.That's why there's a place in the bed to mount the spare. If you know you're going to be carrying a load, relocate your spare before loading it down.

Anyone heard of a ridgeline owner getting a flat with a full load in the bed?

I would love to hear how it was handled with the tire and jack trapped in the trunk.
That's easy.... just call AAA! :D
Would be worth it just to see the look on their face!:eek:

Unloading a suitcase is a heck of a lot easier than unloading 1/2 a ton of ____ (fill in blank with your choice of a load, i.e. gravel, mulch, rock, etc.).
I guess you have never seen my cargo compartments once I have loaded them with "essential gear". I tend to over-prepare for possible emergency scenarios, if that's possible. It must go along with being a professional emergency responder. ;)

That's easy.... just call AAA! :D
Would be worth it just to see the look on their face!:eek:
My Dad called AAA when his Pilot had a flat. The tow truck that changes the tire does NOT carry an air compressor, so that they will be forced to tow you if there is no air in the spare (or, I suppose, if you can't get to the spare). Although, I doubt they could tow an RL with a full load in the bed.

Can the factory jack lift an extra half-ton?

Although, I doubt they could tow an RL with a full load in the bed.
For the record, Ridgelines should be carried and not towed.

For the record, Ridgelines should be carried and not towed.
I know. I still consider the flatbed as "towing." Good point for those who don't know though. :D

This is one point that the RL naysayers always bring up. But if you think of the odds of you getting a flat in the first place, and then the odds of that happening when you have a load of loose material in the bed, it's somewhere between slim and none. Plus you can take your spare out and put it in a more accessable place.

Flats are a pain no matter where the tire is located. My worst experience was with an Explorer with the infamous Firestones, Cactus stem through the sidewall, 107 degrees outside, back seat folded flat and the whole cargo area packed. Jack was easy to get to in the side storage area but gee some rocket scientist put the lowering rod under the rear seat.
So lets see....
Explorer - I had to unload some cargo to get to the tool under the seat and then lay on the ground and baked my.....to get the spare tire out from under the SUV.:eek:

In the Ridgeline - It would have been unload some cargo, reach in the trunk while standing on the baking ground and not baking any of my fond areas. :o

Now if it would have been in the mud, which one would you prefer?:confused:
I'll take the chance of having to unload some cargo from the Ridgeline any day of the week.

Nothing pisses me off more than when I am headed to dinner with my wife and kids with a full load of gravel and I get a flat. I never leave the house without a load of gravel, and it seems every time I do I get friggin flat, and that damn spare is always in the trunk! I wish I had bought a SilvRamitan-150 so I wouldn't have this problem.






Just kidding.

Nothing pisses me off more than when I am headed to dinner with my wife and kids with a full load of gravel and I get a flat. I never leave the house without a load of gravel, and it seems every time I do I get friggin flat, and that damn spare is always in the trunk! I wish I had bought a SilvRamitan-150 so I wouldn't have this problem.

Just kidding.

LOL. My thoughts EXACTLY!

There is an option to put your spare on the side of the bed. I saw a picture of that somewhere (?).

There is an option to put your spare on the side of the bed. I saw a picture of that somewhere (?).
Like maybe the owner's manual?

Like maybe the owner's manual?
Someone actually read thru that thing???:D

Someone actually read thru that thing???:D
You have to do something when you have a new vehicle and nowhere to go. ;)

Ok - SO -

New info for me: Ridgeline is to be towed (carried) on a roll-on style flat-bed car carrier and NOT towed on two wheels?

Am I to assume that this is because of the 4WD system in the truck?

Boy am I glad to hear this info, because that way I can make sure to specify in 15 years when it breaks down for the first time (at 500K + miles) how they are to carry it!

-ridgeln

Ridgeline is to be towed (carried) on a roll-on style flat-bed car carrier and NOT towed on two wheels?
Correct.

Am I to assume that this is because of the 4WD system in the truck?
Correct again. It might be a good idea to read the owner's manual on this particular issue. I don't have mine nearby or I'd provide the page number. :)

I'm going to go and look now and read up on this - glad (again!) to be a part of the ROC!

-ridgeln

Yes, you can mount your spare on in the inside of the bed, toward the front, using one of the bolt holes in the side of the bed. Honda engineers thought of this ahead of time, so you have a place to put your spare, if'n you have a full load, a long way to go, and you want easy access to your spare. Does that make sense...? :confused:

Yes, you can mount your spare on in the inside of the bed, toward the front, using one of the bolt holes in the side of the bed. Honda engineers thought of this ahead of time, so you have a place to put your spare, if'n you have a full load, a long way to go, and you want easy access to your spare. Does that make sense...? :confused:

Are you asking or stating?

If you are asking then yes it makes sense. If I know I'm not going to have any reasonable way to get to my spare for an extended period I would mount my spare in the bed. Also not a bad place to carry a second spare for an off-road adventure.

If you are stating then, I agree. :)

We considered this hypothetical when we went to Canada. Perhaps that's not the type of load lowrider90 was envisioning, but if you've seen the photos of how full our trunk is always packed and how full we packed our truck bed, you know it would have taken some digging to get the spare out.

The things in our trunk are in easy to grab containers. It takes about a minute to pull it all out of the way. All our gear and bags that filled the truck bed would have taken a couple of minutes to clear enough space out of the way to access the tire. Again, they were easy to grab and pass items.

I hope never to have to change a tire on the Ridge, but if we do, we will deal with it. Like others have said, it's always an inconvenience to have a flat. Sometimes it's worse, sometimes it's not so bad.

If we were really concerned about the possibility while hauling a load and needed the whole truck bed, we would put the spare in the back seat area until the load was dumped.

I just installed retrax cover so no more room for spare tire in its assigned location.

Really the bigger issue is flat tire while towing. I do not think think you can tow with the compact spare tire. So if you are thinking ahead, get a hydraulic jack, full size tire and hope you do not get a flat going down hill with a trailer.

Like maybe the owner's manual?
...huh?
...owner's manual?
When I looked in the glove box of my new RL, there was no Owner's Manual, only a card saying,
"Please visit www.ridgelineownersclub.com (http://www.ridgelineownersclub.com) for answers to all of your questions. You will find this to be the premier source of information for all Ridgeline issues."

No kidding, .....really! :rolleyes: :D :p :cool:

You are the man farmguy!! :D

Yes, you can mount your spare on in the inside of the bed, toward the front, using one of the bolt holes in the side of the bed. Honda engineers thought of this ahead of time, so you have a place to put your spare, if'n you have a full load, a long way to go, and you want easy access to your spare. Does that make sense...? :confused:

Only one more problem to solve, the tire is not locked up when it is bolted into the bed.

On my previous truck, ended up getting a rear wheel flat in the rain. The spare was under the bed, held up by a threaded rod that you had to unscrew after you crawled under there. The next day I bought a kit to put the spare in the bed. It had an option for a lock, bought that too. Never had another flat. :)

If we're within our home turf on the Wasacth Front, we call our dealer and get a rescue sent out to us.

I would just green slime it and then take the truck back to honda and have them change out the tps sensor

Nothing pisses me off more than when I am headed to dinner with my wife and kids with a full load of gravel and I get a flat. I never leave the house without a load of gravel, and it seems every time I do I get friggin flat, and that damn spare is always in the trunk! I wish I had bought a SilvRamitan-150 so I wouldn't have this problem.






Just kidding.

Problem solved: pack a shovel.;)

Only one more problem to solve, the tire is not locked up when it is bolted into the bed.

On my previous truck, ended up getting a rear wheel flat in the rain. The spare was under the bed, held up by a threaded rod that you had to unscrew after you crawled under there. The next day I bought a kit to put the spare in the bed. It had an option for a lock, bought that too. Never had another flat. :)

OlYella..... I didn't say this would solve all the potential problems...but it will solve the problem of space access when hauling a large load in the bed. Like Truckin' said......I guess if you were worried about spare access/somebody stealing your spare, you could fold up one of the back seats and put it back there.

Sorry to hijack the thread, but has anybody had their RL towed away without their knowledge? As in, you accidentally parked in an area where you weren't supposed to. I gather not all tow truck drivers are rocket scientists. How much damage would be caused if it were towed the normal way?

With the tire under the bed it is open to be stolen or vandalized as well.

Tell you a story My first truck was an 85 S10. One day I was driving out in the woods and got a flat, well went to crank down the spare under the bed and all i had was a frayed cable......my spare had fallen off. Anyways while I was walking back home through the back dirt roads and hills .....I see some thing it was my friggin spare laying in the middle of the dirt road. Apparenty the cable had broke and I had dropped my spare about a half mile from home. Back then there was no traffic out there, so rolled my spare to my truck and off i went. Had to carry my spare in the bed for the rest of the time i had the truck.

My point is there is a pro & con to wherever the spare is and there are circumstance THAT can happen to make either placement a pain in the butt.

A couple of points to ponder.

1) Jacking a fully loaded truck is going to be a tremendous pain in the ____, no matter where the spare/extra tire is located. I don't believe the standard supplied jacks are meant to jack the truck plus 1,000+ pounds. It doesn't matter if the tire is mounted on your roof, you will have to call someone with a jack that can lift the truck or haul you away. If you have a spare tire it probably won't handle the extra load in the bed anyways.

2) Tires mounted under the bed of the truck are a pain in the ____ also. As pointed out in previous posts, those under bed mounted tires can be stolen or can fall off. One just fell off a couple of months ago on the interstate here in town (big accident). Also, I have had experience of the cable winching mechanism being rusted/crusted in place. I had to crawl underneath the truck and hammer off all of the rust/crust in order to wiggle the tire down.

3) Statistics would heavily favor you getting a flat tire under normal driving conditions which is an unloaded bed/trunk except for emergency essentials. If normal driving conditions is a bed full of sod or gravel, then you bought the wrong truck or you need a trailer.

In summary, a flat tire is a very rare occurance and an inconvenience. No matter where a spare tire is mounted there will be pros and cons. I for one, love the location of the Ridgeline's spare and roll the dice when the bed is heavily loaded.

On a side note, the spares mounted to the rear of a vehicle are convenient and secure when locked, but are a nightmare in a minor rear end fender bender. The spare caves in the back of the vehicle and blows out the rear window. A accident that would have been a few hundred dollars quickly reaches thousands of dollars. When they test the bumper impact for the safety tests, they take the rear wheel off. In real life that little bump into a bollard is now a big expense.