6 blown tires and bent axel- help!

After 7 years of RV ownership and reading innumerable tire threads on this forum and now this thread, the following questions keep coming up in my mind:

Tire Pressure: OP said he didn't check, it was only a 150 mile weekend trip. How many other weekend trips have resulted in blown tires?

Speed: OP says 65-70 mph. OK, but I wonder if continuous steady speed for a long duration with a higher ambient temp. has an adverse effect on ST tires as far as heat buildup goes?

Trailer Loading: Many of these tire posts claim they are under their weights on the axles, but are they really?

Just askin'. I owned a fifth wheel with the often maligned Goodyear 614 RST tires. No blowouts, no tread separation. My current TT has "Grand Ride Power Towing" (who the hell makes them?) tires. Again, no problems of any kind, no weird tire wear. I check inflation pressure before we hit the road and on travel days if a multi-day trip, typically drive no more than 1.5 to 2.0 hours at a time and stop for a break (wonder if that is helpful for the tires too?) and keep my speed under 65 mph.

I get these China made tire may not be the sharpest 'knives' in the drawer, but the across the board indictment of them does not seem to hold water......

op says wrote:
1. Could the axles have been poorly aligned at the start? (manufacturing defect?)

Thats always a possibility but odd tire wear patterns will show up quickly if the axle is bent.

2. Our dealer now tells me that the right side is noticeably lower than the left and that the axle(s?) is/are bent. He suggested that when the tire blew the trailer dropped and caused the bend. Does this sound possible?

The dealer simply doesn't know what he is talking about if he claims a blown tire can cause a bent axle. The trailer doesn't suddenly drop as the flat tire is still carrying a load. Thats how internet myth starts.
One side lower indicates one side springs are weak/one side carrying more load/etc.

3. I bought some parts at a dealer not in our area (fixing a broken water connection that was a result of the blown tire). The repair tech told be that some dealers can test for alignment of the axles. Anyone her of this service/equipment?

Yes some RV dealers are set up to check and align bent trailer axles. Most are not.

4. The cost to replace both axles and get things back in order is going to be about $2000. What would you do- Repair, trade or raise a holy stink?

Find a big rig repair shop that repairs OTR semi trailers. They can check your trailers axles and bend them back into proper alignment. The last trailer I had realigned was 8 years ago on a triaxle GN trailer with 7k axles. Cost was 175 per axle which included new pins and bushings.

The tire police are almost as bad as the weight police.:B

Like others, I dont think tires are the only problem, I doubt you can blow all 4 tires for occasionally going 5 mph over. Perhaps if the trailer was always over weighted, tires always under deflated, and you constantly drive 70 - 75 mph on the interstate,it would happen. I give you credit that you were a little more responsible then that.

I suspect you previously had a problem with the axles that were bent and didnt know it. I cant see that having a blow out caused both axles to bend, that seems like high odds.

I would take it for an alignment review before you spend the 2K. Good luck

65 sometimes 70? Your tires are only speed rated to 65. Your creating your own problems.

Tom/Barb wrote:
If this isn't proof that anyone buying a new trailer should automatically upgrade the tires I don't know what is.

Hehehe ... you are a funny guy.

He did not even say what brand the tires are but you assumed it is the fault of the tires. For all you know they could be the bulletproof never-fail iron clad M..x.. tires .... :h

I bet this is a bigger problem than the tires.

Turbo Diesel Dude wrote:
First thing I did with our TT after getting home was take it down and have a of Maxxis M8008 radials load range E to replace the junk ST's load range C's on my 8K TT.

My thoughts are that before buying the trailer you make upgrading the tires and possibly the wheels as part of the deal. Before you sign is the best position you will ever be in. JMO

For the alignment to blow a tire you would have to have some abnormal wear. In other words you would have to wear through the tread an the belts which should be noticeable before the tire let go.

I would look at weighing each side of the trailer individually to see if one side is overweight.

The second thing is you probably either need some car/light truck tires, or to slow down. ST trailer tires are rated for a max speed of 65 mph. If you're driving 65-70 mph you're overspeeding the tires.

We discovered on our '07 ROO that one of the axels appeared to be out of alignment. We were having other work done at the dealer and they contacted the axel manufacturer directly. The only way we noticed was that the inside (outside?) of just one tire was wearing noticeably more than the others. The manufacturer said that the dealer would have to remove them, ship them to the manufacturing facility for evaluation at our cost. IF they determined that it was truly out of alignment, they would replace it....otherwise, we would have to pay the return shipping + the shipping we'd already paid to get it to them. DH decided that he'd just keep a very close eye on that one and would come out ahead to just replace it every year if he had to rather than deal with the manufacturer. BTW, the dealer was the one the manufacturer referred us to as one of their service centers. Makes you wonder. The dealer was none too happy with the response from the manufacturer.

Suggestion per many, including DH - always, always check pressure and torque just before leaving on a trip. If we are traveling over several days, he'll check it daily. Tire pressure alone can make or break a trip. Glad no major damage or injuries.

FWIW, tire questions can take on a life of their own. Some believe if you don't have Maxxis, you're trying to kill your family. Some believe there is only ______ brand that's worth putting on your trailer. Some swear that "China Bombs" are going to kill us all. 2 years ago I asked a question re tires since we were getting ready for our yearly trek to FL and it got downright nasty from a couple of members when I mentioned "budget"....."well then just buy the cheapest thing you can find and if you kill your family.....". Our HTT came with a Greenball Transmaster tire, which is now available at Sam's. We had the original set which was 100% trouble free, replaced those with the same at the 4 year mark and again with no problems, replaced with the same (which happened to work into our budget) and they performed perfectly. We bought our TT a couple months later and the family with our ROO has had zero problems. I have no clue what's on the TT, but firmly believe DHs rule of checking pressure and torque is best with whatever tire you choose.

My suggestions would be: Forget about the "he said, they said, this happened, that happened" game. For $500 of tires it's a losing proposition. Go to a frame shop and have the axles checked. If they are bent, it's the best place to get them fixed. Don't travel at speed past the tire's rating. Upgrade to a higher load range. Check air pressure daily, you don't know if you picked up a nail or screw and caused a deflation unless you check the pressure.

The rv dealer is saying that the axles bent when the trailer dropped. They now say both axles need to be replaced. They contacted Lippert. Lippert said it's out of warranty, so too bad. If the trailer arrived at the dealer with a blown tire, would it not be conceivable that the damage occurred prior to the purchase?