While on vacation last week in Nova Scotia, Canada, we blew a driver side rear tire on our Chevy 3500 SRW. We where driving down the highway when the 19.5 tire blew. The tire had about 20 thousand miles on it. There was a loud bang, the truck jerked to the right into the oncoming traffic, I guickly got the truck back in my lane and pulled off the highway.I was hoping by going to the 19.5's to carry my truck camper that this would never happen but it did.I am now wondering how many other truck camper folks out there have blown tires also?Paul

Sorry to hear of your problem, we also have 19.5's and like yourselfwould never expect a blowout, do you think your tire had previous damage or may have been under inflated for the load it was carrying??

I haven't in 7 years. Since you only have a Bigfoot 2500 based on your profile, you aren't even approaching a truly heavy camper. What tire pressure were you running and what brand tires? Is that a long bed?

woodhog wrote:Sorry to hear of your problem, we also have 19.5's and like yourselfwould never expect a blowout, do you think your tire had previous damage or may have been under inflated for the load it was carrying??Good questions, no previous damage prior to taking this trip. Was at 90 psi. Something happen? I guess what bothers me is I didn't expect it. Drove to Newfoundland and Alaska in the past with no problems. The funny thing is after spending $500.00 to replace the tire I drove back to Ontario as if nothing happen. Felt safe again is what I am trying to tell you with the new 19.5 tire. That's why I asked the question about how often this happens to other folks, just to see if this was a one time event or something I need to think about.PAUL

Not long ago we had a Nitto Dune Grappler, not one of our 19.5" tires, blow out on the right rear. It was inflated to 80 psi. Our tire guy, Dan at Rickson, after inspecting it, said it was a road hazard. A large chunk of something we ran over.I had just seen a piece done by Michlien, I think. It was stated that if a tire blows, don't hit the brakes immediately, accelerate a bit, to reduce the oscilation, then slow down. It worked fine. The tire destroyed a brake line, no other damage.Back when our rig was new, I aired down the 19.5" tires to drive on the beach a Assateague Island. One of the tires came off of the wheel. I was able to remount it on the beach with a hand pump and aired it up at the air station at the beach entrance. Evidently the wheel damaged the steel chords before we discovered the problem. It also blew out with no damage to the truck. It was determined that the 19.5" tires were not suitable for airing down due to not having a bead to hold them on the wheel when the pressure drops too low.We now have 70,000+ miles on our 19.5" tires with no other problems. We will soon replace them due to age, not milage. They still have plenty of tread. We have a heavy SWR rig.

No experience with 19.5 tires however there are a multitude of questions that can arise from this incident. Tire pressure,Road conditions, Weather, Manufacturers defect, And so many more considerations to be taken into account that this thread could go exponential... Just happy that no serious accident was caused by this and you are all well and safe.

Truck camper question, rear tire blew? | Good Sam Community

17 Replies

garryk6
Explorer
Sep 18, 2013
I have many thousand miles on my 19.5's, all here in Alaska on some of the roughest/toughest roads around. I run the recommended 110psi in the rear, and 100 psi in the front. Under-inflation can cause issues with tires, but it is usually due to overheating the sidewalls. 19.5's have VERY Thick sidewalls, so I don't think your tire pressure had anything to do with it, but when hauling heavy, I tend to try to stick with MFGR's recommended tires pressures. I haven't had a blow-out in several hundred thousand miles following that rule. Actually the last blow-out I had was in 1985, and was because I was running true baloney skins, trying to save up for new tires, and hit a piece of road debris. The tread separated on a 31x10.50x15 diagonally across the tread from sidewall to sidewall leaving a 18" opening through the tire! Since then I keep an eye on the tread, and always check the air before long trips, and at least twice a year, or when loading up a heavy load.

Garry in AK
capt_benny
Explorer
Sep 18, 2013
We bought our first TC last month. On our first trip to a family wedding in Alberta we had a blowout on the road to Sundre. Ended up that I ran over some highway FOD cuz there were two holes about an inch apart right in the middle of the tread.
I learned a lot while changing that tire. Lesson one was you have to put the Happijacks down to take the load off the rear axle and to get access to the spare tire on the Chevy 2500HD.
Lesson two was I have to find a better spot to mount that spare tire.
Lesson three was the best thing I packed for my first TC trip was the three ton bottle jack.
After the wedding we toured around southern Alberta and into Montana and North Dakota. Man are ever hooked on truck camping. Heading out again this weekend.
Ramp_Digger
Explorer
Sep 15, 2013
I have a f-550 drw truck I use daily in my business.It has almost 300k miles on it.I have always ran hankook tires 225\70\ 19.5 load range G and have worn out several sets of these tires with never a blowout or other type of failure due to tire construction.I haul very heavy loads daily gvw at 12000 to 15000 with ocassional loads up to 21000 gvw. In my oponion 19.5 failure is probally much less likley than smaller tires even in load range E.Just my 2 cents worth.
Ramp
Bigfootchevy
Explorer
Sep 15, 2013
Reddog1 wrote:
I tend to think it was a road hazard. Personally, this is the first time I have read about a 19.5 blow out on the TC Thread.

Wayne

I am very glad to hear that Wayne. I was hoping to hear that it was not a common occurance. You could be 100% correct it was a road hazard. Nothing to do with Nova Scotia, it could have happen anywhere. I just hope that is my last blow out. I drove over a thousand miles after the blow out without a problem and believe it or not the Wife didn't seem bothered by the incident at all after a couple of glasses of wine.

Paul
Bigfootchevy
Explorer
Sep 15, 2013
WyoTraveler wrote:
You didn't mention if you had the tires installed or they were original factory install. I had some tires installed on my F250 and the installer installed automobile valve stems not the high pressure valve stems. I had a rear tire blow out towing my 5ver. Once I got to a tire dealer he checked all of the tires and had to change out all the valve stems. Not saying that is your problem but well worth checking.

The tires where installed and balanced at Ricksons and shipped to me. So I don't think that's the problem. After I got the truck stopped, the first thing I noticed is the entire tread of the tire had separated from the side walls (all in one piece). I thought that was very odd.

Paul
U_F_O_
Explorer
Sep 14, 2013
As long as tires are pneumatic flats and blew outs will happen . shot happens Paul your running top quality tires, most likely hit one of those Nova Scotia craters in the road.
whizbang
Explorer II
Sep 14, 2013
We ran 19.5's on a F350 for three years without any problems.

I am inclined to think it was a road hazard.

Also, I think I ran my pressures about 85 front and 95 in the rear.
trail-explorer
Explorer
Sep 14, 2013
WyoTraveler wrote:
You didn't mention if you had the tires installed or they were original factory install.

GM doesn't install 19.5 wheels or tires at the factory, so they are an aftermarket add-on.

Bigfootchevy wrote:
While on vacation last week in Nova Scotia, Canada, we blew a driver side rear tire on our Chevy 3500 SRW.
Reddog1
Explorer II
Sep 14, 2013
I tend to think it was a road hazard. Personally, this is the first time I have read about a 19.5 blow out on the TC Thread.

Wayne
WyoTraveler
Explorer
Sep 14, 2013
You didn't mention if you had the tires installed or they were original factory install. I had some tires installed on my F250 and the installer installed automobile valve stems not the high pressure valve stems. I had a rear tire blow out towing my 5ver. Once I got to a tire dealer he checked all of the tires and had to change out all the valve stems. Not saying that is your problem but well worth checking.