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good_dogs's avatar
good_dogs
Explorer
May 04, 2020

Tire Blowout damage to underbelly

So the cheap tire shredded before I replaced the whole set. Cut out the fabric undercloth, some bottom flooring and insulation. All under the slideout floor. Did not penetrate to the interior floor but realized the problem after driving in heavy rain flooded the back end of the TT. I can fix the wood and insulation. But can't find the fabric or underbelly material. Forest River is shut down. CW was no help. Anyone dealt with this repair?

Thanks
  • RV repair shops & big box stores like Lowes carry it, called Coroplast. Buy what you need for the repair and use the aluminum tape from any hardware. Sticks to any thing and is water proof was what I was advised by a mobile repair.
  • I went to the heating /AC company that made duct work and had them cut and bend a piece of metal to fit the entire slide out bottom perfectly to fit under the rubber seal edge. Used sealer to the bottom of the slide out that was torn up by the tire losing a tread. Then installed the metal and screwed it up to the existing wood. Made sure the sealer I used covered all the screws and it was water tight, sealed up and never to have another tire do damage like that. Total costs was under $30 for everything and maybe 1 hour of my time.
  • time2roll wrote:
    I covered mine with aluminum diamond plate. You are lucky you did not need to repair any wires or pipes.

    This is basically what I did too. I didn't use the checker plate but, used galvanized sheet metal. Either way if you do both sides full length in the wheel wells you will not have this worry again. Took me about 4 hours to measure, cut for a tight fit, repair insulation and screw in the galvanized sheeting. If you do a search on here I did a post with pictures of how I fixed mine a couple years ago.
  • OK. So once I cleaned up the detritus and cut away the shredded mat'l it's not so bad. About a 6" wide strip of plywood and insulation gone. The covering fabric is nothing special. Leftover 2" high density insulation and Tvek wrap from building the house will do the trick.
    Lesson learned. Next time I'll crawl under and do a thorough inspection and not just a quick peek. And no, you can't count on the dealer service shop to do anything on an annual check.
    The tires that came with the TT were, of course, cheap China imports. Had two failures but have to give the mfgr credit. I got prompt warranty service on both tires. When I told them I did not want a replacement tire as I planned to replace all 4 tires they sent a check to cover all 4. The $80 apiece was about 2/3 the cost of Goodyears. But I'm confident we've got good rubber on the road.
  • The original material was probably something like this:

    https://www.mobilehomerepair.com/mobile-home-belly-repair-tape-flex-mend/

    I couldn't add a hot link because of all ongoing issues.
  • I covered mine with aluminum diamond plate. You are lucky you did not need to repair any wires or pipes.
  • What jdc1 suggested or you can buy coroplast at the Home Depot too if you want to use that material
  • jdc1's avatar
    jdc1
    Explorer II
    Use heavy duty weed cloth for the fabric. Home Depot carries it. It's water proof.
  • Not sure what the fabric does, but the underbelly material can be whatever you want it to be, IMO.
    If looking for some impact resistance and resistance to cracking in cold weather, I'd consider a thin sheet of UHMW. Otherwise if just water resistance is needed, frp bathroom paneling and some caulk should suffice.