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Published Oct 2024
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Travel & Touring| Camping & Caravanning
By: Brendan Batty
You may have changed a tyre or two on your car, but how do you manage a flat on your caravan?
Caravan tyre punctures can happen at any time and for a wide variety of reasons. Common causes include punctures from something like a nail or screw, valve failure, poor maintenance, over or underinflation, or from striking something hard and sharp, like a pothole or gutter.
Tyres can also fail because of manufacturing defects or just because they are old. Fortunately, tyre punctures aren't very common, and most of us will drive for years between dealing with one. That is probably why we are uncertain about what to do if we experience a flat tyre on our caravan.
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If you do find yourself with a flat tyre on a caravan, it's not very hard to deal with. As long as you've got a decent jack and tyre tools in your vehicle or caravan, it should be no more than a minor inconvenience on your road trip and a story to share at camp.
Here are the steps to follow to get you back on your way again.
1. Find a safe place to pull over
If you get a flat tyre, gradually slow down, staying as straight as possible and look for a safe place to pull off the road. Find somewhere that's flat and firm and well away from passing traffic. If you have to keep driving a little further with a flat tyre to get somewhere safe, then keep doing that rather than risk your safety for somewhere convenient.
2. Safely park your vehicle
Once safely parked, put the vehicle in gear or park, apply the handbrake, turn off the engine and turn on your hazard lights. Get everyone out of the vehicle and well away from traffic or the side of the road.
3. Prevent your caravan from and vehicle moving
Leave your caravan or trailer hitched to the vehicle, but chock more than one wheel to prevent either vehicle from moving anywhere.
4. Prepare your tools
Get your jack, tools and the spare wheel from their storage locations. Put the tools near where you'll be working. Lie the spare tyre behind or in front of the wheel to be replaced so it will catch your caravan if the jack fails once it's raised.
5. Find your jack placement
Place the jack under the caravan at one of the correct jacking points (which should be outlined in the owner's manual). Usually, the spot directly under the axle of the wheel to be replaced is the most efficient spot, as you only need to raise that wheel without fighting the sag of suspension as the caravan lifts. Depending on the sort of jack or clearance under the axle, this is not always possible, though. If you don't have a firm, flat surface, use a jacking plate under the base of the jack (a 30cm2 piece of thick plywood works great) or move the caravan. Wind it on enough that it's jammed in there, but it's not lifting the caravan yet.
6. Loosen your wheel nuts
Loosen your wheel nuts by turning your wheel brace a couple of turns anticlockwise, but don't remove them. If they've been tightened with a rattle gun in a workshop, you might need to apply extra leverage to your tyre iron to get them undone.
7. Lift your caravan
Raise the wheel to be removed until it is just off the ground, and gently rock the trailer to make sure the jack is stable. If not, lower it and reposition it so that it is. Once it's stable, raise the trailer enough that you can remove the punctured tyre and replace it with the inflated one.
8. Remove the wheel
Remove the wheel nuts one at a time, leaving the bottom one until last so the wheel doesn't kick out. Remove the wheel and put it where your spare was, under the caravan acting as a brace if the jack fails. Never go under a vehicle that is only supported by a jack.
9. Fit your spare wheel
Replace the wheel and lightly tighten the wheel nuts, bottom one first, to help locate the wheel on the hub. Once the wheel is centred, use the wheel brace to fasten them, beginning at the bottom and tightening the opposite wheel nut next, rather than working around them in a circle. If the wheel spins as you do this, either lower it slightly so some friction with the road keeps it in place, or jam a chock under it.
10. Lower your caravan, perform a check and pack up
Lower the caravan completely and check your wheel nuts again with the brace. Put the punctured tyre back where it goes, then put the jack and wheel chocks away, but keep the wheel brace handy. Load everyone back into the vehicle and, after a few kilometres of driving, pull over somewhere safe and recheck the wheel nuts.
How to avoid a puncture on your caravan
Sometimes, a flat tyre is completely unavoidable. Unfortunately, our roads are littered with all sorts of sharp debris just waiting to find its way into our tyres, like screws, nails, broken glass and sharp rocks. They're usually too small to see, so we don't notice them until our tyres are already flat.
The best defence against such things is to have new or near-new tyres that still have plenty of tread and, therefore, a thicker barrier of protection against them. In fact, the condition of our tyres is one of the most significant contributing factors to avoiding flats. Tyres that are in good condition are less likely to puncture; they will also keep you safer.
Tyres naturally leak air, partly because it seeps through the rubber. Air can also leak through old, dirty or stuck valves or through imperfections in the seal between the rim and tyre. Tyres can lose between 1-3psi per month, even if they're in good condition. If you don't regularly check the pressure, it won't be long before the tyres have deflated enough that driving on them could be doing damage. Particularly with caravans, which may sit idle for months, checking the air pressure before each trip is very important.
As tyres deflate, their sides flex more with each rotation, which can cause them to overheat. This can shorten their useable life, increase the likelihood of uneven tread wear or lead to a blowout. If they are really flat, tyres can even roll off the rim.
Another common cause of flat tyres is from larger hazards on the road. The hard, sharp edges of potholes, gutters, truck tyre shrapnel, anything that's fallen off another vehicle or hitting a gutter or curb too hard, can all cause punctures. Driving to the conditions and without distractions can really help you avoid these hazards and keep your tyres away from harm. Even if they are unavoidable, slowing down as you negotiate your way across them can significantly reduce the stress you put your tyres under.
UV damage and extreme temperatures can also prematurely wear our tyres, which could lead to a flat. Caravans that sit idle for long periods can be particularly susceptible to this as the tyres might constantly be in the sun and weather, unlike our everyday vehicles, which will often move around or be parked in the shade. Signs of cracks in the rubber could be an indication your tyres are on the way out and should be replaced. Covering your tyres or shading them from the sun can extend their life.
Of course, you can also prevent a flat tyre becoming a tow truck home by making sure your spare is in good condition. Many caravan spare tyres are fitted to draw bars or rear bumpers, so they are often easy to inspect and keep inflated. Whenever you check the pressure of your tyres, don't forget to check the spare.
Do flat tyres cause caravans to crash?
There are instances where flat tyres have led to serious vehicle accidents involving caravans. In one incident in Queensland in 2021, a caravan rolled after the four-wheel drive towing it is suspected to have blown a rear tyre. However, in the vast majority of cases, vehicles don't crash when they get flats. More common, tragically, is that people pull over in unsafe locations to check or change tyres and end up being struck by other vehicles.
Some handy tools to travel with
Tyre care gets even easier if you don't have to tow your caravan to a service station to check on them. Keeping a few extra tools handy will make that possible.
Get yourself a decent tyre pressure gauge so you can easily check the pressures of your caravan tyres at home or in storage. If you have your own portable compressor (available from most auto parts, four-wheel drive or camping stores), you can even inflate them at your convenience rather than as you are leaving for a trip. A valve key, a small tool that helps remove and replace tyre valves, plus some spare valves, can also solve simple valve leaks and should cost less than $20.
If you are travelling extensively or into remote, offroad areas, consider carrying a second spare wheel, particularly if your caravan has wheels or tyres that are less common sizes.
Tyre plugs, which are only useful for small punctures to the middle area of the tread (and are quite hard to use), are best reserved as an absolute last resort. Cans of tyre sealant, which you spray into the tyre via the valve, are also available, but the 'goo' can cause tyres to unbalance and, again, are for emergencies only.
Need some more caravan advice before setting off?
We're running free caravan safety training sessions in Perth and regional WA to help you travel safely.
Last updated: October 2024
