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Psxace · 12-24-2020, 02:48 PM

Went camping this week and getting stuff ready to pack and leave noticed what looked like nails from a pallet or crate in the side of tire. Luckly one of our group had a floor jack and cordless impact . We changed the tire in about 20 minutes. Question is any one have a preference on jacks hydrolic or electric jack that will lift a Class C Sprinter off the ground. What experienced have you had.

onawing · 12-24-2020, 03:31 PM

Always carry a 11 ton hyd jack. Had to use twice on same trip this year to change two of the rear tires

Psxace · 12-24-2020, 10:23 PM

Thanks for the info.

CharlesinGA · 12-24-2020, 10:37 PM

Your Sprinter HAS a jack in it already, a real nice, two stage German made jack. You really should get it out and operate it. Mine was stuck and took some doing to free up the pump. Its under the passengers feet along with the vinyl bag with a screwdriver with interchangeable bits and a couple of other tools.

Just turn the knob on the floor and lift it up. Warning, its a little tricky to get back in place exactly right. Might take a pic of it before you remove it. Its two stage, so it lifts very high. Mercedes owners manual shows where to place it.

Also, the torque on the lugnuts is 133 lb/ft. The studs are none too big so be careful to not overtighten them. I seriously doubt that a cordless impact got them tight enough, you should have then retorqued at the earliest possible time.

I carried a 15 inch long 1/2 inch drive extension, a 24 inch breaker bar, and a deep 19 mm socket with me. I also had a 0-250 lb/ft Harbor freight torque wrench. I took a 2x6 and drilled staggered holes in it to put the breaker bar thru, at the right height to break the rear lugnuts loose with.

The wheels on a Sprinter 3500 use split conical washers under the lugnuts and must be there. I heard they had eliminated them from the 2019 model, but not sure about this.

Charles

arcaguy · 12-24-2020, 10:42 PM

In your particular case it looks like you are in luck, one came with your rig. In the more common situation where a jack does not come with the rig I would suggest a hydraulic jack that lifts vertically instead of a floor jack. The reason is that they take up a lot less space, are lighter and are usually much higher in capacity that a floor jack. Make sure that whatever jack you have will get the coach high enough off of the ground to change a tire. Leveling blocks can help here if they're robust enough. Just my opinion, I'm sure others will suggest something else.

Unplanned Tourist · 12-24-2020, 11:28 PM

A quick hint. If you have a flat, drive the flat tire onto a block around the same height as the tire with air in it. You will have less jacking to do, and it will be more stable.

Psxace · 12-25-2020, 06:19 AM

Thought about the jack supplied with the sprinter. I’ll check it out. I just love the Sprinter only had four months and 4000 miles drives great and awesome transmission.

sibe · 12-25-2020, 07:21 AM

I have bought a 20 ton HF jack.. I love the "drive flat tire on the block to bet some working room..

O also keep an extension, socket, breaker bar.. to aide in taking a tire off,, Factory stuff is more of, perfect condition stuff in a pinch with lots oh luck...

KregChar · 12-26-2020, 08:55 AM

I too have the Harbor Freight 20 ton jack driving around with us plus the tools needed to change a tire. I am not getting stuck again on a campground on a Sunday trying to find someone that can change a tire. I also have a HF tire changer at home. I have used it for the dolly tires already and I changed one of the RV (E450) tires with it too. It gave me a good fight, but in the end I won. Including moving the RV onto a level surface the whole thing took me an hour from discovering a hole in the sidewall to letting the rig off the jack again.

Calson · 12-27-2020, 02:00 PM

In the past I have used a bottle jack that sat on a 12x12x1 inch piece of plywood and added 4x6 sections if needed. For a DRW RV I would inclined to use the Mercedes jack on the front tires and something like this for the rear wheels but would convert a 12 gauge extension cord section to extend the its reach.

https://www.amazon.com/ABN-Ton-Elect...motive&sr=1-88

If it is an outer tire then anything to drive the RV up onto to get the outer wheel off the ground would be better and safer than usiing a jack.

I would also want to have a DC impact wrench and the appropriate impact socket for the lug nuts. Even the ones that sell for less than $100 are good enough for the job.

With the DRW RV putting in some stop leak and driving to the nearest tire shop with a puncture would be a viable option. Using a Viair DC compressor I can keep enough air in the tire to drive a short distance to either have the tire replaced or to get to someplace that is safe and away from traffic to change the tire myself.

With all my vehicles and more than a milion miles of driving I have experienced a total of one road puncture and two tires failing from problems with the beads. In these 3 situations I was able to drive the vehicles to a tire shop and have new tires mounted on the wheels.

twinboat · 12-31-2020, 10:22 AM

Driving up on the inner tire to remove the outer one can't be done without a jack.

The lugs hold both wheel on and if the inner wheel doesn't kick out and fall off, it will at least move, making re-tightening it properly, impossible.

Unplanned Tourist · 12-31-2020, 10:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twinboat

Driving up on the inner tire to remove the outer one can't be done without a jack.

The lugs hold both wheel on and if the inner wheel doesn't kick out and fall off, it will at least move, making re-tightening it properly, impossible.

Very true, but it will give you more room to get your jack under the diff housing.

CharlesinGA · 12-31-2020, 11:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twinboat

Driving up on the inner tire to remove the outer one can't be done without a jack.

The lugs hold both wheel on and if the inner wheel doesn't kick out and fall off, it will at least move, making re-tightening it properly, impossible.

A couple or three days ago, I made a similar post to yours, and I noted, these were not Budd wheels (which would allow you to remove the outer wheel with the inner wheel still secured) and the next time I looked at the thread, a day or so later, my post was gone, and a couple of other posts about driving up on ramps were gone (one even had a photo of a ramp attached). But, yes, you are correct, do NOT attempt to drive the inner up on a ramp expecting the wheel to stay in place when you loosen the lugnuts. Bad plan.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unplanned

Very true, but it will give you more room to get your jack under the diff housing.

I agree that it will give you more height for a jack, but jacking under the differential housing on many vehicles is a bad plan. I think the Sprinter maintenance manual (and possibly the owners manual) is specific about NOT jacking under the "pumpkin"

Best would be a multistage shorty jack that will allow you to jack under the axle at the leaf spring. I like the Sprinter jack but it lifts the rear at the front spring hangar and motorhomes are so tail heavy that it is a little precarious.

A Sprinter frame is quite thin material. The cutaway frame is actually the frame with flanges that are welded to the flat bottom of the body on a van, that since there is no body, they made a similar flanged piece that is placed on top of the lower piece and welded to it. At the cab the top piece tapers down under the cab seats to nothing. This is why the floor of a Class C on a cutaway Sprinter chassis is so high above the cab floor. Its not a nice heavy frame like a Ford E series or a pickup.

Charles

twinboat · 01-01-2021, 01:03 AM

I have seen many dual wheels, with outer flats.

The axle sits maybe 1 to 2 inchs lower, because the inner tire is still supporting the weight of the vehicle. You don't need boards under the tire to fit a jack.

If its a front tire or both rear tires, that are flat, then there will be clearance issues. In that case you try re-inflating a tire to lift it.