How do you replace all the tires on a 5th wheel?

[Retired_nuke_ET]

I'm looking to replace all the tires on my 5th wheel. While looking at the numerous posts here on trailer tires, one thing I didn't see and began to wonder is, where do you go to or how do you get the tires replaced? If I take my truck or car to a tire merchant, they put it up on the lift and pull off the wheels. I don't see that happening with my trailer for 1) I don't think it will fit in their shop due to height and/or length issues and 2) even if it did fit, I don't think I would trust them to lift it without damaging the frame or axles.

Do I need to take it to an RV shop? There are a few tire merchants within easy driving distance I guess I could take them off in the driveway one at a time and run them up and back individually.

[avvidclif1]

NHIrish wrote:
I would suggest not pulling one tire onto ramps to take off the other same side tire. This overloads the one tire that now carries all of the weight of that side of the trailer, possibly causing damage. Tires are rated for only so much weight, and trailer tires are usually close to the max already...to virtually double the weight isn't a good idea.

Jack up one side, then the other. Don't use the axle tube for jacking.

The poster who commented about tire dealers jacking incorrectly is dead on. My experience has been that most tire dealers have no idea about jacking a trailer.

There is an overload on the one set of tires but not enough to worry about since it's a static load (not moving) and very temporary.

In my case the axle weight(both) is 7800 lbs (traveling weight not unloaded at home as this was). The tires are rated 3580 ea. for 7160(one axle). I would worry more about the 5200lb axle but as I said sitting still and not moving makes a big difference.

My axles are already flipped so jacking on the spring hanger is out and I'm not jacking on the ubolts.

This is my way of working with my trailer and weights and put out for food for thought only.

YMMV

[FOREVER_FREE]

I took our former 5vr to a tire dealer but wasn't thrilled to see that they jacked it up completely on one side in order to change both tires at the same time. At the same time they were changing the brakes which I supplied to them so it was up that way for quite a while. We just changed tires on our present one and even though we used the same shop we jacked up on tire at a time and took it to the shop to be replaced. The shop is 7 miles from our home so it wasn't a big inconvenience but the peace of mind was worth it. Brakes looked good so didn't bother with them. Either way you decide to do it you should be present during the jacking process to insure they do it correctly. When the guy started to jack up the former one he placed his jacks under the axle. I immediately stopped him and had the move them under the U-bolt and springs. Could have been a disaster if he had bent an axle. He had never worked on a trailer that large before so it was a learning experience for him and he thanked me for my info. Good luck to you and happy RV'ing.

[hotpepperkid]

I just drive over to my favorite tire shop and say put on 5 new tires. Call me when you done

[cherrykiss3]

I took mine to a local tire shop in TX.

Cherry

[laknox]

Retired_nuke_ET wrote:
I'm looking to replace all the tires on my 5th wheel. While looking at the numerous posts here on trailer tires, one thing I didn't see and began to wonder is, where do you go to or how do you get the tires replaced? If I take my truck or car to a tire merchant, they put it up on the lift and pull off the wheels. I don't see that happening with my trailer for 1) I don't think it will fit in their shop due to height and/or length issues and 2) even if it did fit, I don't think I would trust them to lift it without damaging the frame or axles.

Do I need to take it to an RV shop? There are a few tire merchants within easy driving distance I guess I could take them off in the driveway one at a time and run them up and back individually.

Discount Tire have done 2 sets for me. Came out with 2 HD floor jacks, put them under the spring perch of each axle, jacked that side up, swapped the tires, balanced the new ones, put 'em back on the FW, torqued the nuts and went to the other side and repeated the process. Pretty simple.

Lyle

[Super_Dave]

For the most part, Les Scwab has done me right for bearing re-pack and TV tire issues. However, my last visit I got the guy that must have been his first day. When he rotated my dually tires he mis-aligned the stems so I couldn't put air in my tires. On the boat trailer bearing repack, he put too long of cotter pins in that over heated my bearing buddies which ultimately blew a seal. I'll be more thorough in my review before driving away next time.

[hitchup]

Most of the tire locations we've seen don't have the space for long trailers. We figured we'd need to use a tire center that does 18-wheelers when we bought our 38'.

But since we ordered our unit with 6-point leveling, DH pushed a few buttons, took off the old wheels, drove to the lowest bidder and they put the new tires on the rims. Then he drove back to the RV Park and reinstalled one at a time. Pumped them up and we were set.

He just checked the pressure yesterday and they have maintained the same pressure for 10 mos. Perfect!

[Atom_Ant]

Just to complicate the issue, the Tire Dealer should be able to do a "lugcentric" balance if you have alloy wheels (the wheels are attached to the machine by lug nuts instead of the center cone). Typically the alloy wheels are not necessary centered on the hub, therefore "hubcentric" may be a false balance.

[MarkTwain]

I put the spare on and leave one on the jack. Take the two down and replace. Repeat for other pair, done. Yes I jack on the axle U-bolt to lift it one inch.

I also supply my own stems and insist on lug centric balance.

X2---- I always have metal stems put in the rims. They have less air loss and you don't have to worry about rubber rot occuring on the air stems.

[ReneeG]

djgarcia wrote:
1. Don't forget to have the bearings packed. I do it once a year.
2. In calif. you call and drive your trailer to a Les Schwab dealer. Done deal:) I suspect you could call any truck shop.

That's where we've had our TT done - Les Schwab. Not time yet for our fifth wheel to get new tires.

[JIMNLIN]

I went by a local "Tire Shop" the other day and saw a 5th wheel in the parking lot getting at least one new tire. It had a floor jack under the axle about 2' inside the spring mount. I made mental note not to buy trailer tires there

I'm just the opposite.
Having operated a five trailer business on the road for several years those are the shops I looked for just to change a single tire.

[NHIrish]

I would suggest not pulling one tire onto ramps to take off the other same side tire. This overloads the one tire that now carries all of the weight of that side of the trailer, possibly causing damage. Tires are rated for only so much weight, and trailer tires are usually close to the max already...to virtually double the weight isn't a good idea.

Jack up one side, then the other. Don't use the axle tube for jacking.

The poster who commented about tire dealers jacking incorrectly is dead on. My experience has been that most tire dealers have no idea about jacking a trailer.

[time2roll]

YC 1 wrote:
I'm still wondering how you change that 5th wheel?? And just why is it a 5th wheel. Inquiring minds need to know.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_wheel_coupling

[time2roll]

I put the spare on and leave one on the jack. Take the two down and replace. Repeat for other pair, done. Yes I jack on the axle U-bolt to lift it one inch.

I also supply my own stems and insist on lug centric balance.