What to Have in the Rig

In this day of cell phones, AAA, and even car purchase plans that come with a certain amount of road side service, it has become less and less important to be well equipped in case of an emergency.
KNOW THIS: There will be some point where you are out of cell phone range, or it is freezing cold or piping hot outside, or you simply don’t feel like waiting for someone to come and assist you-maybe all of the above. While the most common incidents that will keep you stranded are a flat tire or a dead battery, it might come down to something simple like running over something on the roadway, hitting a pothole, or out of nowhere, your car starts making some ungodly screeching noise. It would be nice to be able to see underneath the car well enough to know that you just need to merely pull a branch out of the wheel well. So what exactly should you have in the trunk or in an emergency kit to help you out?

- First and foremost, you need to have a way to jack the vehicle up.
9 times out of ten, you can spend $70 to $150 to get a good 2 ton
floor jack, that has a long handle on it, that will lift the car more than a centimeter every 5 minutes, like the factory provided jack that came with your car.
HOWEVER: If your car is low to the ground or has a very limited
area to move a handle around, OR has a small space where you can put the top of the jack against to safely lift the vehicle, you might want to stick with the factory version. How do you know?

DO A TRIAL RUN!

Understanding in advance that this sounds like ridiculous, preachy overkill, the best way to know how the jack works, how it fits under the vehicle, and/or if it’s even worth a darn, is to go out some lazy Sunday afternoon (after the game of course) and try to jack the car up. If you have a truck or SUV, the chances are good that a larger jack will work and you can get one without this little experiment.

- Murphy’s Law dictates that it will be dark, wet and probably cold when you have a problem: So, you should have a piece of cardboard, perhaps a broken down box, 3-4 feet by 2 feet, in the trunk. This will also serve as a great surface to put your wet gym clothes, or potentially leaky groceries on anyway. When that big day comes, you will have something to kneel or lay down on, so you don’t have to ruin your $200 Van Heusen slacks or skirt.

- It goes without saying-though we will say it anyway- that you should have a nice, bright flashlight. While the led models give off a bright light, sometimes they can have a strange hue to it that is a bit too directed. Probably best to have a light on some kind of platform that you can put on the ground and aim, so you don’t have to try to work with a cold steel flashlight in between your teeth, while semi trucks speed by mere inches from your legs. Something that, while bright, also throws light over a fairly wide area. Of course, throw another set of batteries in the trunk. Secret tip: Duct taping the batteries to the light will make sure you aren’t fumbling around in a dark trunk trying to find the batteries when you need them.

- A can of fix-a-flat: This aerosol, silicon goop, or WHATEVER it is can be nothing short of a miracle with many of the flat tires you will experience. In fact, it’s not a bad idea to have 2 cans. Invariably, one might not work, or you will have the nozzle half on the tire stem, sending green manna all over the ground, mixing with your tears. 2 cans will make sure that you have enough to get the tire full enough to get to somewhere safe (hopefully home). Also get the can that is a couple of bucks more that has the small hose on it, so you aren’t trying to wrestle the can onto the tire stem.
No it won’t fix sidewall damage, and won’t help if you have a flat due to a tire stem problem, but it can get you at least a few miles without having to take the tire off. It can even put a little more air into your spare tire if need be.

- A couple of universal wrenches or pliers, and one each of a Phillips and standard screwdriver-CHECK.

- Of course jumper cables: Need we say more?

- For the “well capitaled” or gadget obsessed: There are even mini generator/compressor/jumpstart machines available that run off of your interior power jack, that will get you some air in a tire that is not leaking too severely, jumpstart a dead battery, or even provide some extra juice for your cell phone. $100 or so is the going rate on these, and we can guarantee that the one time you need it, and you HAVE it, the Benjamin will seem like the best investment you ever made.

- A grubby pair of shoes, and gloves: No matter how careful you try to be, most times you crawl out from under a car or truck looking like you work in a coal mine. No sense ruining your wingtips trying to find out “what is making that noise!”
So hopefully this provides a practical, reasonable guide for some go-to items to have on hand for that automotive doomsday scenario. Of course, you could just sit on the side of the road dialing for dollars, and sobbing quietly to yourself until someone comes to the rescue, but what kind of a story would that make;-?