4” Sidewall Gash Trail Repair

Today was a heck of a day. On a scouting trip I came across a beautiful bull elk which I pray is in this area in a few weeks when general rifle season starts. I also laid in the grass with my dog and watched a cow elk from 25 yards at broadside. Later going to another area I clipped a rock that broke into a very sharp piece that gashed the sidewall of my BFG KO2 C rated tires.

All air was lost within about 45 seconds. Looking at the damage admittedly was worried. I was about 6 miles in the woods outside of Superior MT knowing that I only had an ARB plug kit and CO2 air. I’m thinking this is my first trail tire repair and it’s a complete sidewalk gash.

The repair started with threading two zip ties to keep the gash together and better hold the plugs. This was by far the hardest part. The ARB kit has one kneedle nose pliers and I always carry a leatherman for a second. If I didn’t have both of these items I wouldn’t of been able to thread those zip ties.

After about an hour and a half with most time spent on the zip ties I was able to get about eight plugs in the gash and filled it up and it maintained the tire pressure to allow me to drive back home which was 50 miles to the tire shop that has the hazard warranty.

Honestly call me stupid but I’m still on the fence whether I should carry a spare. I don’t carry one primarily because of the weight but secondarily I have upsized my tires. Third, is my first flat tire ever with at least 250,000 miles of driving in my life and plenty of forest service roads. I have read about this bush fix before and I always felt that I would be able to limp back to civilization if I needed to and I proved that today. I need to think about it but I may still not carry a spare.

 

Are you a troll?

 

I've done many of those same style tire repairs and have used 4 packs of tire plugs , zip ties and can of tire glue to get me off the trail

 

That's a righteous field repair.

Personally I always view it in units of time. If it's faster to repair, I repair it. If it's faster to swap it for the spare, I swap it.

 

I’ll call you stupid for not carrying a spare. That would’ve been a 15 minute job with a spare and a whole lot safer on the drive home.

 

Tire glue... I’ll have to look that up. What else I am missing from an emergency repair kit?

 

What about the instances when Rock crawling on sharp rocks and destroying two tires from sidewall punctures . I applaud the OP on the awesome Bush fix

 

Gorilla glue works awesome !!!!

 

Well done on the repair. What did you manage to air up to (psi) with that? Did you just use typical rubber cement with the plugs?

I carry a minimum of one matching full size spare. For longer trips, I carry two. I also keep them on matching wheels with tpms sensors to keep a total of 6 in my rotation schedule.

 

I’m not saying it’s not a good skill to have or necessary when you manage to wreck more than one tire. It’s a whole lot of unnecessary work though when you can just swap in the spare and be on your way.

 

A spare tire maybe.

 

I was able to put it at 25 psi and watched the dash like a hawk all the way home. Only lost about 1 psi along the way. Whatever glue the plugs have on them stock is what I used.

I wouldn’t be so opposed to carrying a spare if I did a five wheel rotation and would use it more. But the cost of the rim, tire, tpms, and tool to reset myself every rotation, has made me avoid it. I actually sold my spare but I have rims with snow tires so I might use one of those. I have a month long road trip coming up and I don’t think I’ll risk it also will have a newborn on board and baby momma won’t be too amused if I have to do this again.

I’ll pick up the gorilla glue. I think I’ll get some heavy gauge metal wire, or metal zip ties as I feel that would be much easier to stitch a tire back together in the future.

 

I've used safety wire which is 0.032dia along with safety wire pliers , much more stronger than tie wraps

 

A full size spare... you got lucky this time.

 

Impressive, never would have considered the zip ties.

I agree on the need to carry a spare, even if it’s not a full sized matching one. I would rather limp out on a tire that’s an inch or two smaller, than one with a giant gash on the sidewall.

fwiw I have used my full sized spare 3 times now in about 2 years. I will never not have one.

 

Perfect! Stuff looks great and will soon be part of the kit.

 

Oh Yeah!!! Living on the edge. Here is a dude that knows how to enjoy living life with the confidence to count on himself. Anyone who calls you stupid, just doesn’t get it. They’ve never taken a risk in their lives and maybe it’s better that they didn’t. You sir, ROCK!! Keep on keepin on.

 

You seem like a guy who knows the game!