First Flat Tire Change & Broke Ozzbros lock

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davecoon13
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First Flat Tire Change & Broke Ozzbros lock

Post by davecoon13 »

I was returning from dinner with my wife in her car. As we pulled into our Driveway she said that my Baja's rear tire was flat....

In Darkness, I changed the tire. Fortunately, I have a hydraulic floor jack and X shaped Tire Iron at home. The hardest part was prying the under-hood fuse box loose. Since I have the Automatic Transmission, I had to insert a 15Amp fuse into the FWD socket to disable AWD and only have FWD. I was hunting for fuses in my tool shed and couldn't find any. It wasn't long before I realized there were spare fuses in the lid of the engine fusebox.

For the life of me, I couldn't get the Baja's screw jack to turn, so I am glad I was at home. Being at home afforded me an X wrench tire iron and a hydraulic floor jack. Plus, it is better than being on the side of the road, so I was able to learn how to do this so I will be able to do it more quickly the second time when I am on the side of the Interstate. Those screw jacks are what I call Knuckle Busters, every time you turn the handle, they scrape your knuckles once the car gets up high.

I just got the tires 1 month ago, so I hope to goodness that they honor the road hazard warranty!!! I bought the hazard warranty with my new tires.

Supposedly, the 6year 60K Subaru Added Security Warranty would have covered road hazard on the Potenzas, but I replaced them recently with new tires.

The worst part of all this is I stupidly set my Ozzbros cover on the driveway face down, and now the lock knob is broken. The knob on the Ozzbros lock has bent to the point that the key no longer works.

Does anyone know if I can get a locksmith to repair the lock? Can I contact Roger Ostemeyer for a new lock? How is the Ozzbros lock mounted to the plywood?

I will take my Wife's car to work tomorrow (She usually takes the train) and then go to the tire shop after work, hazard warranty in hand.

Dave
2003 Baja Sport
4EAT Silverstone
36K Miles
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davecoon13
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Post by davecoon13 »

Sidewall Puncture. Tire replaced under Road Hazard Warranty

I got a new lock at Home Depot that is the same size and shape and changed out the lock on the Ozzbros cover. The lock I got is compatible with the Ozzbros strike plate. 4 drywall screws hold the lock to the plywood. There is a hard plastic piece underneath the lock. It was tricky to line everything up but I replaced the lock.
mbaksic
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Post by mbaksic »

Dave,
Sorry to hear about the troubles you had, but thanks for the lock info. At least I know that I can get one with no problems at all to fit my cover. At least the cover itself wasn't broke, that would be a real pain to fix up. :lol: Mike
Even though I work on Dodges, I don't own one.
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davecoon13
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Post by davecoon13 »

mbaksic wrote:Dave,
Sorry to hear about the troubles you had, but thanks for the lock info. At least I know that I can get one with no problems at all to fit my cover. At least the cover itself wasn't broke, that would be a real pain to fix up. :lol: Mike
Roger Ostemeyer at Ozzbros also said he would send me one. Lowe's didn't have one that would fit, but Home Depot had one.

I found out that the secret is that you just need to do a Google search for "Jimmy Proof" and a bunch of compatible locks come up. Look for "single cylinder" You just need to be careful that you get one with a turn knob on the inside, not one with a keyway on both sides.

The one I got at Home Depot was a different brand though. The original keyway was not compatible with the new lock base, so I had to change the whole thing out. I was able to keep the original lock cover though.

It seems like the hole placement is standard across the different manufacturers that look the same. Some of the Heavy Duty Yale locks are designed differently though.
mbaksic
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Post by mbaksic »

Thanks again for the info, Dave. I will file this one away somewhere so I hope I don't forget it. Mike
Even though I work on Dodges, I don't own one.
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jaxed
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Post by jaxed »

This would be something for the wiki, if I ever get around to starting it.
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