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87MH · 03-21-2007, 08:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flitzwhopper

one more thing....

Many of the folks on this thread and forum write about safety inspections. My technicians all carry an infra red temperature sensor both at work and personally.....

A shot of a "Quick Draw" Laser Temp Mount in my 345 MoHo...

**jcanavera** · 03-21-2007, 09:36 AM

One thing we've not talked about and that's the life of the spare. My spare is mounted on a steel wheel and is carried behind the A frame under the trailer. It's never been on the ground, never been exposed to sunlight. Any thoughts on it's reliability after 5 years? This will be my 4th season traveling on my current tires which were manufactured in 2003. My plan was to replace them, spring 2008.

Jack

2airishuman · 03-21-2007, 10:14 AM

what to do with the spare is a unique issue.

a tire that has never been load bearing on the road or parked...

seems this is case by case, weighing time, exposure, inspection and...

how much it will carry when needed....

since i replaced all 6 rolling tires at less than 2 years...

i'm still carrying the original spare and will up to 5 years,

or with the next half dozen replacements.

IF the spare is needed much beforehand, that could change.

in your case with a 30/slide and high load on each tire, i'd be conservative.

clearly an unused tire, properly inflated and protected somewhat from environmental issues,

lasts longer than one on an axle, in the sun, parked and under inflated....

still it seems older tires age quickly once they are in service.

so my approach would be to drop the spare out, inspect it and inflate it...

any signs of decay would suggest replacement, when the others go...

folks who tow only to the nearby state park at slower speeds without traffic in lighter units, might extend the interval.

the new marathons are advertised as having more resistance to uv/ozone and do look more robust...

cheers
2air'

ROBERTSUNRUS · 03-21-2007, 06:42 PM

Hi, my opinion on spare tires, and what I do, is to use it only to replace the flat or damaged tire long enough to get the bad one fixed; And I don't mean months or thousands of miles later. I mean ASAP. I sort-of treat old spare tires like I would the throw-away spares that most cars come with now.

Smokin Camel · 03-21-2007, 07:02 PM

A couple of years ago when I aquired my AS the tires looked fine. As they were on there close to ten years. I thought it would be best to replace them. I did not even know the 5 year rule then.

I took the wheels to a dealer to have new tires mounted and balanced. Needless to say I go the "we usually don't balance trailer tires" from the guy at the desk. I did offer to pay for balancing but he said if I realy wanted them balance they would do it...the guy doing the work said it always a good idea.

Anyway....getting back to my original story; when the fellow put the first tire up to break the bead, the tire split right through the side wall and about two thirds the way to the tread. Another one cracked at the bead and into the sidewall maybe an inch or so. The other two popped off like normal tires. To this day I am thankfull that followed my common sense and instincts and did not try to move that trailer before putting new rubber on.

My trailer is kept indoors unless it is in use, which is not often enough and will be seldom this year. I anticipate replacment of tires in 4 years. After seeing a side wall rip like a piece of cardboard all I could think about was a double blow out (probably on the same side!) and/or worse! I recently aquired a spare, I will have to check the age on it, but most likely it will need to be replaced...my thanks to all in this thread for reminding me about it by sending something in....Thanks to all!

Swanny · 03-21-2007, 07:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 87MH

One of the other overlooked items about tires (besides keeping the proper inflation) is the stem....

My opinion is that anything run over 50 lbs requires a screw type stem and not the rubber insert type....

I recently purchased new tires and replaced the AS rims with some aluminum trailer rims. When doing this the guys at Discount Tires urged me to use the steel/aluminum stems since these tires run at a higher pressure. I believe the magic number is anything above 50PSI should have a metal stem versus a rubber stem.

2,000 miles and counting (within the past 12 months). While we're on this subject...don't forget to have your wheel bearing repacked every year.

skyvalley · 03-21-2007, 10:53 PM

On my 1984 3/4 ton Surb I had a blowout in 1995! It was my spare tire mounted inside the unit!!!

The tire guy said he had heard of that a number of times...Nuf said.
John

**jcanavera** · 03-22-2007, 09:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ROBERTSUNRUS

Hi, my opinion on spare tires, and what I do, is to use it only to replace the flat or damaged tire long enough to get the bad one fixed; And I don't mean months or thousands of miles later. I mean ASAP. I sort-of treat old spare tires like I would the throw-away spares that most cars come with now.

And that's how I would treat the spare also. The other thing is that the Airstream supplied spare tire is not mounted on the pretty aluminum wheel so my vanity would of course, limit the amount of time the ugly steel wheel would be on the ground.

Jack