Timbob11
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Re: Travel Trailer Tire Failure, 29ft Cougar
Thanks to all who commented, Yes looking back I should have replaced the 4th and spare at the same time. But as mentioned. The previous owner had replaced that one all ready. (But not with GY, But another Chinesse tire, "Goodride ST") And no, The Goodyear Endurance did not fail. The remaining original China tire did. I was fortunate to notice the issue ahead of time and change them before I had a "China Bomb". All tires are new GoodYear"s including spare and hopefully no issues for the foreseeable future. Happy Camping everyone. We just had a bobble in our plans this week as our next camp ground closed due to forest fires. :( Tim394Views0likes0CommentsTravel Trailer Tire Failure, 29ft Cougar
I know the tire issue has likely been hashed over many times. Just wanted to share my experience to support the people who recommend changing tires every 6 yrs or so. To hopefully save fellow RV friends from costly damage and being stranded. I have a 29ft 2012 Cougar travel trailer (6500lbs dry). Last summer I noticed a bulging or broken belt in one of the tires. I could see it in the mirror when driving and feel a pulsation when braking, that's how bad it was. I checked the rest of the tires and found 3 of the 4 had belt issues. Note:I jack each tire yearly for brake and bearing maintenace, no tire issues noted before. The one good tire was replaced by previous owner after puncture damage. I assumed it was ok and bought 3 new tires. Installed Goodyear Endurance made in USA. Original tires were Trail Rider ST that are made in china. Now on first trip this summer the 4th tire, also had a major belt failure. Installed spare for trip home and it also showed signs of tread separation when we got home. Therefore, 2 more Goodyear Endurance tires installed. I am very mechanically inclinded and grew up in a truck driver family and i am 20 yr plus expereinced maintenace technician in Nuclear power plant. I always checked tire pressure before every trip, There is no alignment issue with trailer alxes, failed tires actually had 80% or better tread remaining. Tires were always protected from sun. And i never mashed tires into curbs etc.. Only abuse is from the normal road pot holes etc.. And i don`t drive at excessive speeds. Anyway, in Summary: All tires had the belts fail with in a year of each other. with over 80% tread left and no signs of cracking or deterioration. I dont have the manufacture date as tires have been trashed. But trailer was built in 2011 and i had looked previously but did not put exact date to memory. So i know tires were 8-10yrs old. I have 2 conclusions why tires went bad, #1 is age with a non main stream manufacturer from China. And #2, loading. Original tires were load range D (approx 2100lbs at 65psi), New tires from Goodyear in my size are only offered in Load Range E (approx 2500lbs at 80psi) I recommend to anyone with trailer tires that have reached that 6-7yr mark, it hurts, but change your tires for new. Cost me $1000 Canadian for 5 tires, 225/75R15. At a minmun, But a jack under the axle, give the tire a spin and make sure the tread face run flat and true. If the tire comes apart on the road, the tire and rim are one thing, but the wheel well and side shirting damage to trailer is also costly. Also in my trailer the slide mechanism and wiring loom etc. are all there as well. The resulting damage could be very costly. Cheers, Tim1.8KViews0likes13CommentsRe: Hot Wheel Issue Solved
No, run out has not been checked. When spinning the tire during set up it did slightly grab and release. More of a scrub than a grab. But all of them did this and I noted if the shoes where gigged around a bit it would not scrub and run smooth. Nothing indicated an obvious out of round issue. I am considering buying an entire hub and brake kit and just changing out the whole thing. It is an AL-KO 4400lb axle, But from my understanding it is actually a 3500lb hub and axle with a heavier spring. Maintenance is difficult for me, live in a subdivision and trailer in storage. Have to work on it out front of house on street. Not ideal. I may end up just taking it to a local trailer place and have them go at it. Jensen Trailers in Oshawa, Ontario. They have been good to me so far with parts and info.647Views0likes0CommentsRe: Hot Wheel Issue Solved
Hot wheel issue Not Solved!!!! To my frustration on last trip found wheel hot again. At a Loss. Pulled over mid trip and found brake drum 300F plus. Other 3 where 130 to 150F range. Disconnected wire to brake in question. Back and forth a few times to release brake. Traveled another 10km and even hotter than before. 330F plus! Crawled under and backed off brake adjuster at least 2 full turns. No time or interest to trouble shoot on side of highway. Cold after that! The hot wheel brakes were adjusted the same as the other 3. I have a couple ideas: 1)That tire is different than other 3. Previous owner had flat and installed a higher weight rated tire. Don't have exact details but I believe it can carry about 800lbs more and can handle 80psi instead of 60psi. I should put spare on and try again. Maybe odd ball tire is having some kind of vibration effect? But I am having a hard time with this reasoning. 2) The brake or hub is defective. Weak spring or shoes and/or drum deform when heated. Either way, that was the last camp of the year and I have no intension of playing with it anymore. I would like to have all 4 brakes working, but honestly I did not see much of a difference with only 3. Maybe next season I will tackle again or have somebody else do it as I have had enough messing with it. So obviously the greasing of the backing plate did not fix as noted before. Tim646Views0likes0CommentsHot Wheel Issue Solved
I recently up graded from a Coleman Santa Fe to a used 2012 Keystone Cougar 29BHS. I am a technical guy and during our first trip made regular checks of the wheels for heat. I noted 2 were warm. one cold and one almost too hot to touch. The heat levels varied but one was always hot and one always cold. I went through a bunch of issues to solve and wanted to post here for others to hopefully help. Trailer was used and 4yrs old I knew bearings had never been repacked. I got hung up on this fact and was focused on bearings as reason for hot Hub wheel. I knew brakes heat up wheel as expected. therefore I first followed instructions in axle manual. AlKo 3500lb axles. and set up brakes. Electric trailer brakes have to be adjusted manually. they do not self adjust when backing up like car drum brakes. This solved the cold wheel issue. I now had 3 warmish wheels and one very hot. I removed hub from hot wheel and found bearing nut very tight and outer bearing race grooved a bit. Immediately thought right on problem found. Replaced Bearings Races seal and repacked in hot hub. set up all 4 brakes again to make sure equal. Then to my disappointment very hot gain. But noted not always hot some time warm sometime very hot. Luckily my neighbor who is an auto mechanic agreed to help me out. He was not experienced with electric trailer brakes but is a great problem solver. Discovered brake was not fully releasing. Jacked wheel and spun while applying brakes. when released found brake dragging. If spun back and forth brake would release. Disassembled and found no obvious issues. He simply cleaned up points where brakes shoes contact against back plate and applied small amount of grease. Success. Now the previous hot wheel is the coldest of the 4 with the same brake set up. I will now be checking the other 3 and cleaning and greasing backing plate touch points. I have read many forums with hot wheel issues but never came across anything with brake shoe releasing issue. I spent a few weeks figuring this out during different camping trips. Concerned I would was going to be stranded somewhere with a bad wheeling bearing. When brakes disconnected wheels were cold. All the heat appears to be from the brakes. Dont be like me and get hung up on the bearings. check out the proper set up and releasing of the brake shoes first.4.2KViews0likes19Comments
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