Flat as a flitter

Scott's a lil rough.... but I woulda liked to watch that tire go down on the screen of my TPMS....

mike brez wrote:

newman fulltimer wrote:
Willing to bet a bad valve, stem

I woke up to one of those two days ago while on the road. While I was waiting for my wife to get ready for our morning excursion, I went outside and was sipping my coffee doing a walk around the rv when I noticed my rear outside tire looked low. I whipped out my tire gauge and it was fine. Checked the inside and read zero. I used my coach air and pumped it up and could hear a small leak at the stem. I noticed a Michelin tire sign a mile or so away when we pulled in. Drove over to the shop,a hour later and $47.00 all was good.
Funny the short time I was there at the Michelin store I saw two sets of 22.5 Hankooks being installed.

Man that is a big impact you carry around on your coach, looks like a one inch drive. I had not seen one of those since I retired from the railroad.:B

gbopp wrote:
Thanks for sharing.
This is why I think carrying a spare is a good idea. JMO

Yes, and where are you going to carry a 22.5 size tire that weigh's a lot.

Tinstar wrote:
A TPMS could have helped but I doubt it. I'm reasonably sure it was fully inflated when I pulled up to the light. I had to slowly roll forward as I approached the light and it was as smooth as silk. When I pulled away at the green, the tire had not made one rotation before I knew for sure it was flat. I would bet there was something in the roadway at the light and I got it, loosing air while I waited for the green.

There won't be any warranty reimbursement I'm sure. Driving on it for 150 yards to get out of one of the busiest intersections in Denton didn't do it any good. I'll see when I replace it if the tire guy can determine what it was.

Tinstar,
Yeah, a TPMS most likely would have notified you that you had a problem. But, I'm wondering something here. You state you were rolling just fine, silk as could be, right up to the point you stopped at the light. But, the INSTANT you started to take off from the light, you KNEW you had a flat tire, correct?

Now, unless you had your music up to TEEN-AGER-LEVEL and your wife was disco-dancing on the dash, don't you think that you should have heard the 100 psi. instantaneous blow out, while sitting at the stop light, based on the fact that you said the ride was flawless up to that particular spot??? I'm certainly not chastising you here. Not at all.

Did you have any pulling of the front end, especially during braking, or any other even remote ill handling effects prior to the stop? If not, then the air escape had to be pretty near blowout speed AND NOISE VOLUME, in my opinion, at that stop light. This is all just surmising things here.

And, since we're on the subject of changing your own spare on a diesel pusher. About 99.99% of the lug nuts on those Diesels are on with usually around 450 ft. lbs. of torque, correct? May I ask, your procedure for breaking them loose and all that? This is really interesting to me. I carry a "Torque Multiplier" on board that allows me to break all 10, 450 ft. lb. lug nuts, with one arm, while sitting.

But, that really doesn't do me any good since I don't carry the spare. I would only use it if, we had a blow-out and, was anticipating Road Service sometime soon. That way I'd just speed up the tire changing process.
Scott

A TPMS could have helped but I doubt it. I'm reasonably sure it was fully inflated when I pulled up to the light. I had to slowly roll forward as I approached the light and it was as smooth as silk. When I pulled away at the green, the tire had not made one rotation before I knew for sure it was flat. I would bet there was something in the roadway at the light and I got it, loosing air while I waited for the green.

There won't be any warranty reimbursement I'm sure. Driving on it for 150 yards to get out of one of the busiest intersections in Denton didn't do it any good. I'll see when I replace it if the tire guy can determine what it was.

BB_TX wrote:
Certainly pays to have a spare. Had a flat on one of our small business vans last week. Driver called me and I went to change it. Found a chain saw tool inbedded in the tire and it went flat fast. Fortunately it was on a city street and not on the highway.

.

A spare is good to have but changing a 22.5 is no fun compared to a 16 or 19.5

Effy wrote:
Would a TPMS have helped notify you of an issue before it went flat?

We have one and all tires were fine when we parked. It was not plugged in at the time while sitting in the campground but would defiantly have picked up on it when we went to leave the next day.

Certainly pays to have a spare. Had a flat on one of our small business vans last week. Driver called me and I went to change it. Found a chain saw tool inbedded in the tire and it went flat fast. Fortunately it was on a city street and not on the highway.

Would a TPMS have helped notify you of an issue before it went flat?

newman fulltimer wrote:
Willing to bet a bad valve, stem

I woke up to one of those two days ago while on the road. While I was waiting for my wife to get ready for our morning excursion, I went outside and was sipping my coffee doing a walk around the rv when I noticed my rear outside tire looked low. I whipped out my tire gauge and it was fine. Checked the inside and read zero. I used my coach air and pumped it up and could hear a small leak at the stem. I noticed a Michelin tire sign a mile or so away when we pulled in. Drove over to the shop,a hour later and $47.00 all was good.
Funny the short time I was there at the Michelin store I saw two sets of 22.5 Hankooks being installed.