I have never lost one,(although I have heard of it happening) but I do a LOT of 4 x 4 driving. After changing a flat and trying to tighten the nuts up with the wheel wrench in 2 feet of mud and then off-roading some more to get back to the highway on a couple of occassions a couple of the lugs got fairly loose. I had to retighten them. I figure theres no harm in having 2-3 on hand. This hunting season the torque wrench is coming with me because I have a tendancy to try and drive over everything and will most likely need to change a tire or two.

I responded to a similar thread over on EDCForums about a week ago. That thread, and the first bright, warm day in what seems like forever inspired me to turn out the minivan and get some pictures of what's inside.


Here's the jumble in the back, looking as organized as it ever does. It never ceases to amaze me how little space there actually is behind the back bench seat in a Caravan. From left, there's a medium-sized blue duffel, a Black & Decker battery charger/jumpstarter, a pair of small backpacks, a one-gallon gas can, and these are stacked on a surplus wool blanket and a 10x10 tarp. These items are crammed in behind the two rows of bench seats with car seats/boosters for my three kids.


Here's the same view, with a sheet to keep most of the stuff out of sight, and the umbrella stroller (seldom used) on top.


Here, spread out on the wool blanket shown on the bottom right of the first photo, is the big blue bag and its contents. On far right is the tool bag, with assorted tools, a gas siphon, some flares. Moving left are the jumper cables, a folding triangle reflector, a pair of reflective vests, two bags with a roll of squashed toilet paper inside, a pair of Turboflares. Moving left again, a bag of bungees, paracord, and tarp clamps. Several dust masks, and another bag with white cordage, zip ties and iodine. Finally, the small shovel that sits under the back seat (not in the big blue duffel).


The old surplus backpack. 6x8 tarp, Grundig fr200 crank radio (am,fm,shortwave), 32-oz Nalgene with water, bandana and metal cup, 'Warmth Kit': disposable poncho, disposable foil blanket, 2 hand/1 body chemical warmers, 2 heavy duty garbage bags. Cold Steel 4-inch All-Terrain knife, metal knife/fork/spoon, Survival Kit cards, Esbit stove & 9 fuel tabs, hand chainsaw, 2@20-foot hanks of paracord, 1 can beef stew, 2 pouches of tuna, lighters, Boy Scout sparker, Sparklite, small Swiss Army knife.


North Face pack with Purell gel, 6x6 and 6x8 tarps, bungee cords, sausage, trail mix bars, Miso soup mix, firestarters (lighter, Blastmatch, Sparklite, candle, Boy Scout flint), paracord, can of beef stew, three can Ecofuel, and red stuffsack with a Coleman stacking mess kit with pot, skillet, two plates and four mugs.


Odds and ends from around the rest of the minivan. From the glovebox and underseat drawer: gloves, 8 AA and 5 AAA batteries, pair of CR123 batteries, cell phone charger, Nuwai TM-115 3-watt hi-lo, River Rock 2xAAA .5-watt headlamp, lighter, compass, white box of Bandaids. Stowed under seats are: a Costco rainsuit, First Aid kit, 2 hooded space blankets, a large umbrella and a power inverter that plugs into the lighter/power outlet. The inverter help when I want to listen to books on tape - the cassette player in the car stereo doesn't work, so I can plug in an old boombox. Also, I like having it in case I would ever need to use my son's nebulizer while on a road trip (he has allergies).

My inventory isn't complete here - I see that there were a few items in the bags that I didn't have on the older inventory on my Palm Pilot...and the meds in the First Aid kit almost all need replaced - lots of aspirin and stuff like that that expired in 2006 or even 2005.

Nice kit. I can assure you that there's not any more room behind the seat of a Windstar, especially with 5 kids. "Honey, why do we need to carry both a single stroller and double one in the car all the time?"

I recently bought one of these for vacations and camping. It's a low-end model and feels a little flimsy but it seems to be ok for occasional use. Twenty cubic feet in that baby!

For any of you that have a small folding shovel, try it out in the backyard one day, my father keeps one in the farm truck and one day when i had gotten stuck and was trying to dig out the handle broke. luckily there was a tractor on the way to pull me out but that doesn't always happen, the shovel was an old army surplus to boot.

Hey,

My Ford F250 at work needs a special socket to lower the wheel from under the box. I never knew this until I got a flat last summer, I guess it is for security of the spare.

Once in a remote spot I managed to twist the lug-nut head off a 4 position wheel wrench (using a cheater bar on seized lug nuts). Had to call for a tow truck to bring me a socket and long bar.

I now check my lug nuts once in a while to prevent them from seizing.

Mike

I watch the guy at the tire store so he doesn't get too enthusiastic with his air wrench.

Jeff

Good tire shops use an impact wrench, followed by a torque wrench, on lug nuts. Others use an inpact wrench only, and seem to get them too tight. If you go off roading and/or thru water much, I suggest applying some oil to the lugs from time to time. I have bent four way lug wrenches into pretzels trying to remove super tight rusty lug nuts in the past...

I retorque the lugnuts my ownself with a torque wrench after the shop does any work. Just because. (see the words about my friend's marmot chewed hose above)

My Dad and I (100 years doing our own car work between us) use a little dab of anti-seize on the lugnut threads (NOT THE CONE SURFACE) to prevent rust/seizure. While it's not recommended, and my lawyer will deny that it was me that posted this, neither has ever had loosening from this practice.

I rotate mine every 5000-6000 miles so they tend to not have time to get rusty. I jack up the front and put on jack stands then start the iol draining while doing the tire roatation so I combine both maintenance work at one time.
I sat down one day with the manual and printed off some index cards with a maintenance checklist, lug not torque, oil capacity, etc so I can just check off each step so as to not forget or have to look something up.

After I managed to split a regular deep well socket, I switched to carrying an 1/2" drive impact socket & a ~3' breaker bar (cheap import, the quality brands don't come that big).