One necessity is a jack. This is the
standard Ford screw jack that was issued with every car
until 1925, when it was replaced by a pressed steel version. Some people dislike this jack, but I've found it perfectly adequate. Along with the jack, it's good to have wheel chocks to be sure the car doesn't roll, and at least one 2 x 8 or 2 x 6 block to put under the jack. Sometimes two blocks are better than one. |
If you carry a spare front wheel you
will need
the #1349 Ford wrench... |
...and if you carry a spare rear wheel
you'll need a wheel puller, a socket to fit the wheel nut,
a breaker bar to get it good and tight, pliers, and cotter pins |
If you have demountable
rims, a Ford #2335 wrench is good for the lug nuts. It's also used for spark plugs and head bolts. |
My opinion of Ford's little tire irons
is that they make changing a clincher tire the job from
Hell. I consider them suitable for display only.
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I carry three of these inexpensive 24"
irons from Harbor Freight, more than twice the length of
the Ford irons. They exert plenty of leverage to stretch a
clincher tire onto the rim.
This is not intended to be advertising. I'm just showing what works well for me. |
On the recommendation of a fellow Model
T aficionado who has been in the game for many years,
I bought this bicycle foot pump. I used it successfully — once. |
The next time I had a flat and tried to
use the foot pump it wouldn't get much above 40 psi, which
is woefully inadequate for clincher tires. Several
passers-by stopped to see if they could help. The man on
the left had a battery-operated pump which might be OK for
mower tires, but lacked the guts for clincher pressure.
The other fellow lived nearby, and fetched a tank with
enough air in it to do the job.
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For a Model T with six volts or no
battery at all, a modern twelve volt compressor obviously
is not a choice. But before catalytic converters came on
the scene you could get a pump that screws into a spark
plug hole and is operated by engine compression to pump
ambient air (not fuel mixture from the engine). In fact
these pumps are still sold for motorcycle use, and vintage
models like this can sometimes be found on eBay. To use
one of these you would have to make an adapter for it to
fit a Model T plug hole.
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Another air source that requires no
electricity is the same one that was used a hundred years
ago. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I could pump
a clincher up to 72 psi with this.
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The secret to using an original pump or
a reproduction is in the connector. A modern connector has
a center post that depresses the pin in a tire's Schrader
valve and holds it open. This is no good, because the old
pump has no check valve. If you have a modern connector on
the old pump and screw it onto the valve stem, air from
the tire blows into the pump and raises the handle like an
old time hydraulic shop lift, but a lot faster. Every
stroke you make with the pump pushing air into the tire is
met by the same air coming right back out. I solved this
by using a small grinder to remove the center pin. That
lets the Schrader valve in the tube stem act as a check
valve. The air the pump pushes in stays in. If you have an
old pump that lacks a check valve and has a
mistakenly-installed modern connector, you can buy an old
style pinless connector (Lang's Part #2338CS) or you can
remove the center post as I did on this one. I used a
small grinder, but a better way would be to remove the
valve from an old junk valve stem and screw the stem into
the connector as a guide to drill out the post without
damaging the threads. Just be careful not to drill too
far.
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Nowadays these are usually plastic, but
you can still find the old style metal stem caps. Either
one is good to use as a backup in case the Schrader valve
inside the stem develops a leak.
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The stem valve is one car part that's
about the same today as it was a hundred years ago. You
won't need it often, but when you do you really do, so
it's good to carry a few spares.
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Not every valve wrench is as elaborate
as this one, and it doesn't have to be. All it has to do
is remove or install a valve in the stem.
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This stem cap doubles as a valve wrench
if you need one. It's on a spare stem that serves as a
handle.
A dab of Loctite can keep them together. |
So let's say you deal successfully with
changing your tire or tube and you drive on to the next
town and go to a tire shop to have your flat repaired.
That may happen, or you may be told (as I was), "Nobody
does tubes anymore." You may be lucky enough to find
a real tire shop in the same town, as I was, and they will
fix your flat. But in case you don't find such a place,
it's a good idea to carry a patch kit containing a couple
of tubes of rubber cement, and several patches. Most patch
kits include something to rough up the surface before you
apply the rubber cement, but if yours doesn't you can
include some coarse sandpaper.
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Talcum powder is a good lubricant to
help a tire slide onto a rim.
A pill bottle will hold enough to do several tire changes. |
Murphy's law, and fate in its infinite
whimsy, may decide that you should enjoy some unscheduled
pneumatic entertainment far from any help, perhaps even
beyond cell phone range, so it's wise to be prepared.
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