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My cobbled together budget spare

jwardell

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I'm baffled why the Rivian change tire mode requires a jack. Steps should be:
1) Raise suspension to full height
2) Remove cover for puck cover for appropriate tire to be changed
3) Insert threaded, telescoping jack stand type device that has puck on end already and adjust hand tight to secure between ground and truck
4) Go inside and select which one tire to raise (technically lower suspension on that tire)
5) Replace tire
6) Reverse directions above

Specs say the Rivian has "fully independent suspension". This would be a reliable feature with no reliance on hydraulic jacks that will eventually fail. Other than lugging the space in/out of the back, it's minimal physical effort. You could change the spare while off-roading in the wilderness or on the way out to eat and not break a sweat.
This is freaking brilliant!
Of course, Rivian already kind of does this with camp mode auto-leveling.
For safety though it would have to be SURE that it is supported by a good jack stand, and that's probably the gotcha. Thought it kind of already does that too because it senses and errors if it can't lower as expected
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cowsr4eating

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Thinking about this more. If the Rivian can only independently air up the suspension, not retract, what if they fully lower the suspension on all 4 wheels, then only raise the three wheels that do not need to be changed. I agree the vehicle would need a solid jack stand with a turn screw adjustment to ensure the jack stand is securely in place. Then raise up the suspension on the wheel just replaced. Worst case the jack stand needs to backed off a few turns to remove it, but if the tire was flat when the suspension was lowered, the jack stand could simply be pulled out as it would not be touching the frame. This would not work if you totally FUBAR'ed the tire on an incline and could not get to level-ish ground, but all but the most robust scissor jack would have the same issues. Basically you may need to drive on the bad tire some to get to level ground. If a slow leak you'd get notice, and you have the onboard compressor to limp a leaky tire along.

If you Google "Swivel Style Jack Stand", there is already a jack stand like what I think we'd need on amazon. The one I saw was for Cat style road equipment, so we would not need one as heavy duty for a 7000 lb vehicle, but it it works for a backhoe, it would work for a Rivian.
 

Ohm Boy

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DP351, while I am not going to show pictures of my version of your artistry, because it is not exactly as aesthetically pleasing as yours is, your wonderful recipe was perfect, and I even had the perfect size three-quarter inch hardwood plywood as a scrap in my workshop. Thank you so much for this idea. The only thing left is to receive the jack that I ordered also from EV Sportline.

Ohm Boy
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