My new tire story
Just got new tires for the trailer on Saturday. I have only put 9000 plus miles on them but they are over four years old and showing signs of wear and slight sidewall cracking. I felt it was time. They were the original China bombs that came on the trailer. Hi-Run was the name on them. I chose the Goodyear Marathons as the replacement. (Flame on!)
I bought them from Sam's and when I ordered them I inquired about tire codes and requested nothing older than four months. They told me they would pass along the request to the warehouse but could not guarantee anything. Fair enough.
The tires came in and they told me the date codes were in early July 2013. Darn. Eight months old. I need the tires because of an upcoming trip so I took them. On a side note I have a friend who recently ordered some Marathons from Tire Rack, just a different size. The date codes were exactly the same.
The tire center opens at 7:00a.m. and I wanted to be there at the opening bell to avoid any possible wait time. This meant hitching up in the early morning dark for the first time. No problems, just a bit cold.
We arrived at 6:56 a.m. Nice! No one there yet so we would be first. I told my DW that I wanted to be present for the whole process.... just to be sure. I verified the tire codes and they were what they had told me.
After previously talking with some service guys from my dealer I knew where I wanted them to position the jack underneath the trailer. He rolled out the floor jack and I pointed to the area ahead of the front axle and said, "Here, please." He did so and started to raise the jack quickly. I bent over a bit to see where the jack would touch the frame and immediately held up my hand and said "Stop!"
The underbelly of the trailer is exposed so my tanks are visible and the end of the black tank is very close to the frame on that side (and hangs a bit lower too) as well as a section of wiring harness. If he would have continued to raise the jack without me stopping him he would have crushed a small portion of the black tank and it would likely have been ruined beyond repair! Whew! Catastrophe averted! I had him move the jack back until it missed the tank and got nothing but frame. I reached in and moved the stray wiring harness so it wouldn't be crushed too. I also positioned the jack for the remaining tires.... just to be sure.
As the tech was removing one of the old tires he slightly clipped the plastic skirting around the wheel well that is screwed on to the trailer. I heard it, so I know he heard it, and quickly looked down but did not inspect it closely. I should have because when we got back to our storage lot I was looking at the new tires more closely and noticed a 6" crack in the skirting at one of the screws that I know was not there before. Gosh darn it! Really? My actual words may or may not have been slightly different. It's not the end of the world or anything but I just hate it when stuff like that happens. It's bad enough when it's MY fault!
We're ready to hit the road with some new rubber!
I bought them from Sam's and when I ordered them I inquired about tire codes and requested nothing older than four months. They told me they would pass along the request to the warehouse but could not guarantee anything. Fair enough.
The tires came in and they told me the date codes were in early July 2013. Darn. Eight months old. I need the tires because of an upcoming trip so I took them. On a side note I have a friend who recently ordered some Marathons from Tire Rack, just a different size. The date codes were exactly the same.
The tire center opens at 7:00a.m. and I wanted to be there at the opening bell to avoid any possible wait time. This meant hitching up in the early morning dark for the first time. No problems, just a bit cold.
We arrived at 6:56 a.m. Nice! No one there yet so we would be first. I told my DW that I wanted to be present for the whole process.... just to be sure. I verified the tire codes and they were what they had told me.
After previously talking with some service guys from my dealer I knew where I wanted them to position the jack underneath the trailer. He rolled out the floor jack and I pointed to the area ahead of the front axle and said, "Here, please." He did so and started to raise the jack quickly. I bent over a bit to see where the jack would touch the frame and immediately held up my hand and said "Stop!"
The underbelly of the trailer is exposed so my tanks are visible and the end of the black tank is very close to the frame on that side (and hangs a bit lower too) as well as a section of wiring harness. If he would have continued to raise the jack without me stopping him he would have crushed a small portion of the black tank and it would likely have been ruined beyond repair! Whew! Catastrophe averted! I had him move the jack back until it missed the tank and got nothing but frame. I reached in and moved the stray wiring harness so it wouldn't be crushed too. I also positioned the jack for the remaining tires.... just to be sure.
As the tech was removing one of the old tires he slightly clipped the plastic skirting around the wheel well that is screwed on to the trailer. I heard it, so I know he heard it, and quickly looked down but did not inspect it closely. I should have because when we got back to our storage lot I was looking at the new tires more closely and noticed a 6" crack in the skirting at one of the screws that I know was not there before. Gosh darn it! Really? My actual words may or may not have been slightly different. It's not the end of the world or anything but I just hate it when stuff like that happens. It's bad enough when it's MY fault!
We're ready to hit the road with some new rubber!
