Before a big vacation or outing, make sure you review this list so you can confidently take your car on the road without fear!

Tire plugging repair kit:

I not only carry one in the truck, but carried one on my motorcycle and used it to get my wife’s bike from the middle of nowhere, to a motorcycle shop for a new tire. Plugging a motorcycle tire is very dangerous and ill advised, but thats how I roll.

Air compressor:

I actually have two (one is none). One is a small 12 volt that takes forever and a day to use, and the other is a battery powered one that I will go into a bit more detail later on.

Jumper cables:

In my case,I not only have cables,but I also have a charged battery that is capable of jumping off a car. This is a unit made by schumaker that has a battery that you can run the compressor off,or jump a car with. nowadays with delicate electronics and computers controlling virtually everything our cars do, you can inadvertently do serious harm to your own vehicle while trying to jump start another.

If you don’t have a separate jump off system like mine, I would suggest you disconnect a cable from the battery you wish to charge,and reconnect when you are done. Don’t allow them to try and crank the car while you are charging because even that could damage your alternator with a sudden surge.

In the kit there is a tire plugger. Very simple to use and if done correctly,can last the life of the tire. I’ve had people argue with me concerning this,but I’ve plugged tires on my 18 wheeler and literally drove hundreds of thousands more miles on the plugged tire. Truck Tires are very expensive and plugging has saved me thousands of dollars, both in the cost of a new tire,or the cost of a service truck coming out to repair it on the side of the road.

Jacks, chains, rope ,blocking materials:

I’ve written a previous article concerning vehicle extraction (both yours or someone elses) and I won’t go into great detail here,I will describe what I carry with me at all times.

Chains ,jerk straps, come-along, rope, jacks, blocking.

Its a good feeling being able to hook a chain on someone who has gotten stuck or slid off the road,and pull them to safety. If you live in a rural area and you don’t stop to offer assistance to someone who might be a neighbor,that is a real reflection on your character and some folks are like me,I aint forgettin who helped me,and I dang sure aint forgettin who drove past me in my hour of need.

Food, water, clothing:

You may just be going to chinamart to run in and grab a widget,so its ok to wear the shorts you’ve had on all day with short sleeves and flip flops. But its 30 degrees now that the sun has set and you are on the side of the road out of gas,or with a flat tire. I think its a good idea to keep a hat and a jacket in the truck all winter long. some folks don’t have the winters we have here in Louisiana, and the thought of wearing shorts and flip flops in February is foreign to them.

But here,it might be 65 during the day,and below freezing at night. If you left to visit a friend at 10 am and stayed far longer than you had planned,you are now betting your life on nothing going wrong with a vehicle that has a thousand parts and any one of which could stop working at any time.

Food would be something I carried with me if I lived in the north,but water is something I have in the truck at all times. Dehydration occurs faster when you are outside fixing or repairing something that caused you to break down.

 

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Having a set of chains in your car/truck will also prove valuable in an emergency. A few months ago a buddy of ours was driving to Big Bear for a fishing trip. The weather was set to be sunny and warm. But 30 minutes from the cabin they noticed a road closure sign. Officials were turning cars around who didn't have chains for their own safety. Unfortunately, our friends had to come back down the mountain and locate a store to purchase chains. If they had thought ahead, they would've been prepared and could have avoided the inconvenience and additional cost.