DRW vs SRW safety, tire blowout

[AH_AK]

Every time the DRW vs SRW debate starts up, dually owners always point to the safety of having 4 rear wheels in case of a blowout while driving. What I am wondering is has anyone actually experienced (or have first hand knowledge of) a SRW blowout that ended in a catastrophic outcome (e.g. crash)?
Obviously, the DRW is going to have better lateral stability
in cornering/cross winds compared to the SRW, but I am only considering the blowout safety aspect. While the redundant tire safety argument is logical, I am wondering how likely such blowout situations are.
To be clear, I am talking about SRW that are not exceeding the maximum tire load, are correctly inflated, and being driven within the tire speed limit. I am running 19.5’s with Firestone AT3’s so I am in this category. I realize most SRW truck camper owners are over their max tire load and yet, there is little to no documentation of blowout failures despite the obvious overloading. It makes me think the DRW blowout safety argument is essentially moot, even though it is totally logical.

[Rscconrad]

I had a rear outer dually blow when fully loaded, probably overloaded. Messed up the wheel well braces exhaust pipe. No control issues beside my wife’s screams at the sound.

[mkirsch]

The time I had a flat on the right inner dual, with the camper on and the trailer in tow, the ONLY thing I noticed was a lack of power. I have no idea how long I drove with it flat. Found it at a gas stop when I gave each tire a thump and that one jiggled like Jello.

Granted, even with the trailer I wasn't loaded heavy by DRW standards.

I would be concerned in a heavily-loaded, true "blowout" that the other tire would be damaged, and fail shortly after the first blowout.

[daily_double]

I have a drw, Went to check the tires after getting home from a trip and found the drivers side inner tire in shreds!

[Oregun]

Had a tire incident on our SRW F-350 truck/camper many years ago. Was not a blowout but a slow leak.
Took truck/camper to Les Schwab just prior to leaving on 100 mile camping trip. After they finished working
on the right rear tire they replaced the hub cap but unbeknownst to me they didn't feed the valve stem through
the hole they bent it over under the hub cap. This caused it to slowly leak during the trip.
I left directly from the tire store and when I had gotten about 75 miles into the trip I noticed the rear of the truck
was weaving on the curves. I pulled over and saw the problem and had the spare tire installed.
The tire was ruined and Les Schwab replaced it free of charge.
This was before TPMS. I have since upgraded to 19.5 tires/wheels and installed an after-market TPMS on the
tires.

[specta]

JRscooby wrote:


Well, there have been times when a tire spinning did not fell real stable. And a skid? That can make you grab a double handful of seat, with both hands on the steering wheel

This is true. 🙂

[bighatnohorse]

BB_TX wrote:

bighatnohorse wrote:
A friend had a SRW and didn't know it's total weight.
He carried a large Big Foot camper. And had three two or three blow outs all on the right rear tire.
He finally upgraded to a DRW and never had a blow out after that.

And no loss of control?

No, no loss of control. But changing out the tire had to be done in an extremely dangerous location.

[JRscooby]

specta wrote:


I said more stable.

Well, there have been times when a tire spinning did not fell real stable. And a skid? That can make you grab a double handful of seat, with both hands on the steering wheel

[AH_AK]

I wonder how overloaded he was. Did these blowouts cause a loss of control or accident?
I imagine tire condition, pressure, speed, and ambient temps would all factor in as well…but yeah 2 or 3 blowouts and I would get a dually too.

bighatnohorse wrote:
A friend had a SRW and didn't know it's total weight.
He carried a large Big Foot camper. And had three two or three blow outs all on the right rear tire.
He finally upgraded to a DRW and never had a blow out after that.

[BB_TX]

bighatnohorse wrote:
A friend had a SRW and didn't know it's total weight.
He carried a large Big Foot camper. And had three two or three blow outs all on the right rear tire.
He finally upgraded to a DRW and never had a blow out after that.

And no loss of control?

[JIMNLIN]

nteresting, but I think the loss of control dangers are different for blowouts on the hauling vehicle in trailer vs truck camper.

Very much so.
Sudden lose of air pressure on a LDT srw or drw rear axle is a non event carrying a heavy TC.
However pulling a 12k-15k lb GN trailer with a sudden lose of air pressure on the front axle is a big fight to keep it out of the ditch or in the other lane as thy heavy trailer pushes on the trucks rear one direction then another direction.

BTDT with my srw/drw and the same trailers with my service trucks and my truck campers. This was back in the day when we ran on bias ply tires .
Its rare today even on haulers website forums using modern radial LT tires on the LDT tow trucks. Much much better tires today from a safety perspective and long term service.

[bighatnohorse]

A friend had a SRW and didn't know it's total weight.
He carried a large Big Foot camper. And had three two or three blow outs all on the right rear tire.
He finally upgraded to a DRW and never had a blow out after that.

[specta]

When I bought my current truck I was anticipating on getting a TC for it, I just didn't know that I would end up with such a big and heavy camper.

We used to haul out snowcat with this 2007 regular cab 3500 4-wd with the 8.1L gas engine.

If I could find one just like this one I would buy it. Guarantee it would do a much better hauling my camper in every way.

Especially if a rear tire blew out.

[specta]

JRscooby wrote:

specta wrote:
Such a pointless debate.

Dually are more stable than a SRW pickup.

You either want one or you don't.

OTOH, MT dually is more likely to skid on wet pavement than single. Dually is more likely to get stuck on wet grass than single. Single is better on snow/ice when MT

I said more stable.

[AH_AK]

My intention was not to reignite the SRW vs DRW debate as most of it comes down to preference. I was simply trying to get first- (and second-)hand accounts of SRW blowouts to help quantify (1) the overall likelihood of the occurrence of a rear wheel blowout and (2) the consequences of such an event in SRW vs DRW. Based on the comments so far, it would appear that the probability is quite low and the consequences may not be at catastrophic as one might think.

Anecdotally, I see an obscene number of overloaded SRW’s, hauling huge campers doing 75+ on Alaska’s terrible highways. I have never seen or heard about a catastrophic accident caused by a blowout. On the other hand, there are quite a few trailer blowout accidents that I have driven past or read about. Not sure who would have statistics (maybe insurance companies), but I would think first responders might have a better sense of how often blowout related accidents occur for TC’s.

All suspension components being equal, there is no doubt that DRW is more stable than SRW. For SRW with suspension mods, the gap narrows (IMO). For me, my SRW with suspension mods is great in cornering and fine in cross winds and on uneven roads. A DRW might be better, but the stability of my current rig is perfectly acceptable to me…and I am a weenie about these things.

specta wrote:
Such a pointless debate.

Dually are more stable than a SRW pickup.

You either want one or you don't.

[jaycocreek]

specta wrote:
Such a pointless debate.

Dually are more stable than a SRW pickup.

You either want one or you don't.

Pretty much...I've had a ton of truck campers through the years,all on SRW and a couple on half tons...They all worked fine driving accordingly..My currant TC is on a dually and the reason I went that way,is where I hunt and play in the mountains,the road in is sloped pretty good too one side or the other..No big deal except you have to go really slow over rocks and dips which slams it to the sides..

I have no issues at all with my DRW as a daily driver loaded or not..to reach his own..