Blowing tires on 5th wheel

[Quint_Da_Man]

First I apologize if this subject has been cover in the past. I did a search and went back a bit and didn't see anything fairly recent

I'm starting to get very frustrated and its beginning to ruin my travel experiences. I own a Cedar Creek Silverback 5th wheel and have blown 4 or 5 tires on the thing with very little mileage. I went seasonal 3 years ago but before that I was weekend transient with a couple of week vacation trips thrown in. Here's the issue I'm having. Before I went seasonal most trips were under 2 hours on weekends. The weeks trips would be up to 300 miles one way. I did those types of trips about 7 times in a 4 year period. Of those 7 I blew tires 4 times. Very discouraging and started making me avoid longer trips completely. Then I went seasonal with the idea we would pull out once a year for vacation. Well that was last week. Didn't go to far, about 200 miles round trip and what happen? I blew a tire!!! Can anybody tell me the the heck is going on? Why am I blowing tire so frequently? I'm at the point where I don't want to take the rig anywhere now. Tire pressure and lugs are check before every trip. Wheels are greased yearly. I read somewhere a few years ago in a Good Sam's article that on the less expensive models the axles may not be aligned properly so tires are not running true and sort of dragging. Is there any truth to that. Do I need to get axles laser aligned? Very frustrated here and need to have a resolution to this problem before I go out on a long trips again. Is this a common problem on 5th wheels? Any help would be appreciated.

[Me_Again]

JIMNLIN wrote:

Maybe he needs to switch from 80's to 85's? Chris

I see Carlisle has two 85 series tires in a ST235/85-16 E @ 3640 lbs capacity and a F load range 3960 lbs capacity.
Guess Carlisle is trying to capitalize on the fact 85 series LTs come OEM on lots of trailers out here including RV trailers

Or LRG LT's from GY, Sailing, Geolander and others. You caught me before the eagle. Chris

[JIMNLIN]

Maybe he needs to switch from 80's to 85's? Chris

I see Carlisle has two 85 series tires in a ST235/85-16 E @ 3640 lbs capacity and a F load range 3960 lbs capacity.
Guess Carlisle is trying to capitalize on the fact 85 series LTs come OEM on lots of trailers out here including RV trailers

[Me_Again]

NinerBikes wrote:
Thought this thread was about a Silverback blowing tires. A good buddy of mine has a 31 foot RK, and he's lost a ton of tires on this unit. Seems like every other year... Went and had the whole set of axles beefed up and realigned for big money, and it still blows out tires. Last week, he didn't even make it 200 miles on I-15, and his tire gauges saved his bacon. Long time to get someone out to get to a safe spot to change the tire out. This blown out tires on his trailer seems to be an all too common theme on the Silverbacks. Perhaps they are just too heavy for the tires, or overloaded?

Maybe he needs to switch from 80's to 85's? Chris

[NinerBikes]

Thought this thread was about a Silverback blowing tires. A good buddy of mine has a 31 foot RK, and he's lost a ton of tires on this unit. Seems like every other year... Went and had the whole set of axles beefed up and realigned for big money, and it still blows out tires. Last week, he didn't even make it 200 miles on I-15, and his tire gauges saved his bacon. Long time to get someone out to get to a safe spot to change the tire out. This blown out tires on his trailer seems to be an all too common theme on the Silverbacks. Perhaps they are just too heavy for the tires, or overloaded?

[ReneeG]

ol Bombero-JC wrote:

joe b. wrote:

Most people having tire problems are , over loaded, tires under inflated, tires are too old or they are driving too fast.

Hmmmm...The "company line" (of BS)!!..:R

Where have I/we heard that before?

Maybe from GY? (Google: "Goodyear Kept Tire Problems Quiet")

Quote:
(GY rep): "In every case, customers were at fault.
Tires were run with too little air, too heavy a load, too fast, too hot or too seldom; they were punctured and poorly repaired or they were driven over sharp objects."
End quote.

BTW - the 'company line' didn't hold water.
(the GY *rep* was full of hot air..:B..)

On edit: The LA Times article, "Goodyear Linked to Problem Tires" (reprinted by the Herald Tribune and also avail via Google) is an interesting read for those that say: "complain to the NHTSA in writing"....yeah, right!
Check the number of complaints (*LOTS*) -vs- "to date" action taken.

~

OP: Besides checking your suspension, *quality* LT tires (no STs) would be the next step.
Avoid brands you are not familiar with as well as the major ST brand referenced in the articles..;)

If you believe there are smart azz replies on here..:h.. do your own "due diligence" - which would include info like the articles as well as other RV forums, etc. Info is avail at your fingertips!
Then (maybe) recalculate your opinion..;)


~

I've read the cause of tire failure from a lot of tire experts online and they're not related or working for GY. So who's right? You?

[Me_Again]

So it is cheaper to give new tires to quite a few people verses building a reliable tire at the price point that ST tires sell at. Plus they make up a lot on the sale of G614's. Chris

[ol_Bombero-JC]

bfast54 wrote:
On any tire issues always contact the manufacturer
I had a commercial tire Dealer tell me that my tires were wrong for my trailer because I was running two sizes bigger than was standard on it,and I probably wasn't put enough air in them until an employee told him I know he stops by before he goes on a trip ....and we check his tires :S

I told the dealer to call Goodyear and he said ....."they won't take care of them "and son of a gun they gave me 4 brand new tires....if you ask all they can do is say no but sometimes they'll say yes.....

It's a Goodyear "CYA"..:S

GY *will* replace failed tires - and *usually* repair damage done to the owner's trailer.

Of course, no compensation for your "down time".

Check the articles and you will (should?) understand why GY does that.

~

[bfast54]

On any tire issues always contact the manufacturer
I had a commercial tire Dealer tell me that my tires were wrong for my trailer because I was running two sizes bigger than was standard on it,and I probably wasn't put enough air in them until an employee told him I know he stops by before he goes on a trip ....and we check his tires :S

I told the dealer to call Goodyear and he said ....."they won't take care of them "and son of a gun they gave me 4 brand new tires....if you ask all they can do is say no but sometimes they'll say yes.....

[ol_Bombero-JC]

joe b. wrote:

Most people having tire problems are , over loaded, tires under inflated, tires are too old or they are driving too fast.

Hmmmm...The "company line" (of BS)!!..:R

Where have I/we heard that before?

Maybe from GY? (Google: "Goodyear Kept Tire Problems Quiet")

Quote:
(GY rep): "In every case, customers were at fault.
Tires were run with too little air, too heavy a load, too fast, too hot or too seldom; they were punctured and poorly repaired or they were driven over sharp objects."
End quote.

BTW - the 'company line' didn't hold water.
(the GY *rep* was full of hot air..:B..)

On edit: The LA Times article, "Goodyear Linked to Problem Tires" (reprinted by the Herald Tribune and also avail via Google) is an interesting read for those that say: "complain to the NHTSA in writing"....yeah, right!
Check the number of complaints (*LOTS*) -vs- "to date" action taken.

~

OP: Besides checking your suspension, *quality* LT tires (no STs) would be the next step.
Avoid brands you are not familiar with as well as the major ST brand referenced in the articles..;)

If you believe there are smart azz replies on here..:h.. do your own "due diligence" - which would include info like the articles as well as other RV forums, etc. Info is avail at your fingertips!
Then (maybe) recalculate your opinion..;)


~

[NC_Hauler]

jackpam wrote:
Look up high into your wheel well and see if there is anything broken and hanging from your slide out stabilizers. This happened to me a few years ago with my 2002 Montana. It had a piece of stabilizer hanging and if a hit a bump hard enough it would drive the tire up into the broken piece and blow the tire. If this is the case take your unit to the closest lippet store and have them upgrade your stabilizers.

As I also stated on this thread or another one, I lost the tread off of a GY 615 and GY ended up replacing all 4 tires free of charge, BUT, when we looked at the tire that lost it's tread, (never lost one psi), we noticed we only had about an 1" of clearance between top of tire (where it would have been, and the wheel well), found out 5er had a sagging spring pack. Replaced it and height from wheel well to top of tire was a little over 3"...might be another thing some may want to check...seems sagging spring packs can come back to haunt you..it's now another thing I add to my inspection list when going over my 5er.

[ReneeG]

jackpam wrote:
Look up high into your wheel well and see if there is anything broken and hanging from your slide out stabilizers. This happened to me a few years ago with my 2002 Montana. It had a piece of stabilizer hanging and if a hit a bump hard enough it would drive the tire up into the broken piece and blow the tire. If this is the case take your unit to the closest lippet store and have them upgrade your stabilizers.

Excellent feedback. Thanks!

[jackpam]

Look up high into your wheel well and see if there is anything broken and hanging from your slide out stabilizers. This happened to me a few years ago with my 2002 Montana. It had a piece of stabilizer hanging and if a hit a bump hard enough it would drive the tire up into the broken piece and blow the tire. If this is the case take your unit to the closest lippet store and have them upgrade your stabilizers.

[ReneeG]

arnko37 wrote:
You might get a rough idea on alignment by measuring the gap between the front and rear tire on each side of the rig.

Good to know! Thank you.

[arnko37]

You might get a rough idea on alignment by measuring the gap between the front and rear tire on each side of the rig.

[Charlie_D_]

Veebyes wrote:

Charlie D. wrote:
I went with the Firestone Transforce HT.I also went up a size on the tires.

Hmmmm...Went with Firestone this spring. Truck & trailer. About 10,000 on the trailer & 13,000 on the truck, not happy at all. They look like the BFG Commercials did after double that milage.

Should not have listened to the tire guy & 'saved' a few $. Back to BFG Commercials I am going.

Mileage and saving a few bucks is not an issue on a 5th wheel. I am looking at reliability. Belt failure on rear of truck while traveling so I had two buy 2 tires. Then the recall and both tires-the ones I bought while traveling-were recalled-no help by BFG on the two I purchased. Tread thrown on one on my camper and two more with broken belts. No help from BFG because they will not warrant their tires because of misapplication. Interesting that the thrown tread and two belt failures were the same issues that caused the large recall the year before except for different sizes.