6000lb camper, blown tire on the highway

[Boatycall]

First, I'm only guessing the weight. I can feel it's a little heavier than my former AF 1150. The DOT scale by my house has been closed since I got my new camper.

But anyway...
Coming back today from Labor day, all of a sudden I hear a very loud PSSST PSSST PSSST coming from the drivers rear. I couldn't pull over immediately, so slowed way down, hit the hazzards, and pulled over about 1/4 mile down the road. Pulled over without much fanfare. by this time, the tire's empty. Caught a big chunk of metal of some sort in the outside dual. If left a much bigger hole than your standard nail.

Took some weight off the axle by dropping the jacks. I carry a 20ton bottle jack, that made quick work of jacking the axle up. And of course had to deal with getting the spare out from under the truck while the camper is on. I hate those stupid tire hoists.

Got it off and put the spare on, put the bad one back on the spare tire hoist and was off. I hate those stupid tire hoists.

Not sure if this would have ended different if I hadn't had the window open to hear the air leak.

I'm not trying to start yet another SRW vs. DRW fight, but that extra tire carried the load very well until I could safely pull over.

Other than that, my weekend was great.

[CAJW]

Glad everything worked out OK. When we purchased our 2013 Chevy dually, it did not come equipped with an OEM TPMS, like the SRW version does. Many sales guys didn't even know this so if you're in the market for a Chevy DRW, don't believe them when they say it does! We use this system TST 507 and are very happy with the user adjustable parameters (you can set custom alarm parameters for different tires i.e. truck vs. trailer pressures)and the monitor works great. I got the 507 flow through sensors so removing the sensor is not necessary to add air to the tire. Nice to be able to keep tabs on all tires (including the spare) instead of having to crawl around on hands and knees to make sure they're all up to snuff.

[trail-explorer]

BigToe wrote:
Huh? Did you purchase some special road hazard plan?

How is it Discount's Tire's fault, or BFG's fault?

That's incredible that they paid for it. I don't get why though.

They have an "extra" road hazard "certificate" you can buy, which means they will replace the tire if it's not fixable in a flat tire situation.

[trail-explorer]

Boatycall wrote:
...Discount Tire in Puyallup on Meridian made no beef about swapping it out for a brand new $240 BFG All-Terrain. No guff what so ever.

Been there, done that!

That store has taken care of me as well for tires that were unrepairable.

I'm glad I bought the extra road hazard certificate!

[bfast54]

Pretty simple....................Discount tire sells a Road Hazard certificate................if something like this .happens....they MAKE IT RIGHT.......period................

[BigToe]

Huh? Did you purchase some special road hazard plan?

How is it Discount's Tire's fault, or BFG's fault?

That's incredible that they paid for it. I don't get why though.

[Boatycall]

Took the truck in today. Discount Tire in Puyallup on Meridian made no beef about swapping it out for a brand new $240 BFG All-Terrain. No guff what so ever. They came in and said "you caught a tire weight, we can't patch it. Give us 10 more minutes and we'll have a new tire on, no charge."

Why the shameless plug for Discount tire? We always hear complaints on this forum.... This dealer did this, this part did that, I got screwed here there and the other way, etc etc. I thought I'd give credit for a place that deserves to have good news spread about it.

[BigToe]

The tire shops I've been in only stock one, maybe two types of tire valves. They like the snap in (rubber) type because they are cheaper to buy and quicker to install, so money is saved all around.

I purchase valve stems from a distributor who sells to tire shops. The distributor only keeps seven (7) in stock. Think about that. The typical tire shop has valve stems by the box and basket full, and the distributor has valve stems by the truck and trailer full... but of the particular all metal clamp in valve stem for the .453 rim hole of a stock steel Accuride wheel, the distributor only carries 7 stems. So I order them. When they restock, I order them again.

There are two types of rubber stems. The regular car ones (I forgot their trade number, but I think it is TR416), and then there is the one ton pickup truck OEM style TR600HP... which is rated for 80 psi. The problem has already been articulated by a poster above. While the valve stem is brass, the base is still a "snap-in" rubber style. It allows too much flexibility and whipping when a TPMS (or a dually valve extender) is mounted on the end of it.

But the all metal clamp in style stems have their problems too. There is still a rubber elastomer (square cut O ring) that is used to seal the base of the stem to the wheel. That rubber gasket can degrade, just like any other rubber can.

As yet another poster illustrated above, the nut on the all metal clamp in stem can loosen over time, causing air leaks which could potentially ruin a 19.5 tire in one trip, due to the steel belted sidewalls flexing too much, suffering rapid fatigue failure from over cycling like bending a coke can back and forth repeatedly. It suddenly severs, leading to zipper failure around the sidewall of the tire. So much for the more "durable" 19.5 tire expense.

Catch 22 though... if you tighten the metal nut on the clamp-in stem too much, you'll split crack that rubber gasket inside. It won't leak right away, though... not until the crack that started along the outer diameter of the rubber ring (from being squeezed down too tightly) propagates toward the inside diameter, leading to a full split that provides an escape path. Getting the correct torque on the clamp in valve stem is important.

Which is one reason why the OEM's came up with that TR600HP, which can be snapped in by a robot with more reliability and less process time than a metal stem can be fitted, aligned, nutted, and torqued by a more complex robot.

Still, I'd pay money to get all the TR600HPs on my truck switched out to the all metal clamp in style. One must first take care to learn about the specs of their wheels, to make sure the metal stem has the right hole diameter and rim land diameter for the stem, gasket, and nut.

[Raften]

Just did 1000 mile trip with a inside dual that had a extension I knew would leak if I tried to check psi so I had to depend on a big tire thumper and a IR thermometer. Either the dogs or a human had to pee most of the time so plenty of stops where I could check things. Plus a front tire has had a short sheet metal screw in it for at least the previous 2000 with no leak so I just left it alone. When I got home Wheel Masters had sent me new O Rings for all my extensions so should get another eight years with out problems.

[wintersun]

Have to wonder as it was the outside dual if with SRW the debris would have been missed. I see lots of debris in the center of the lane that a motorcycle would have to dodge or even a low to the ground sports car, but my truck can stradle it.

Odds are that the front tires are going to hit the debris in most situations and so DRW is not going to help in this situation either.

[Nautique200]

I was just on the Ram website. It seems as though they just released some new information on the 2014 display center between the tach and speedo has been upgraded for 2014 and will now show this information. Looks pretty nice.

http://www.ramtrucks.com/en/ram_3500/interior/

scroll down the page a little for the new display

[Butch50]

My Ford has TPMS and I still run an after market tire pressure monitor system. I use the Doran TPMS. I had it when I had my 5th wheel also and I was traveling down the road and it went off and it was only down 10#. There were 80# and it was at 70#. My nut on the valve stem had loosened, so tightened it down and aired the tire up and all was fine.

I wouldn't run a TPM on a valve stem unless they are metal ones. Doran recommends this also.

[ab257]

Had a dually inside go flat and didn't notice it immediately. Went with the TireMinder system and like it a lot. Notified me last year when my right front caliper stuck and started overheating the tire. Better than the Ford OEM system since you can rotate your tires front to back without messing up the system.

[jimh406]

BigToe wrote:
I've had more 19.5 tires blow than any other type of tire.

More details would be helpful since I haven't read of even one blowout yet on this forum. Was it on a truck? What brand(s)?

[deltabravo]

Nautique200 wrote:
... However, a dually is not going to come with a TPMS. At least not from Ram

I think the same is true for GM. I can't say that is the case for sure on the 2011 and newer though. My 2009 doesn't have it. I am running an aftermarket system, which will alert you to a rapid loss of pressure.