Trouble with Tires

[dkottum]

On tandem axle Airstreams, you can avoid retrieving and installing the spare tire on a busy or narrow highway to save time out there by removing the flat tire and proceeding to a safer spot to replace it. Actually you can travel a considerable distance on the remaining three wheels safely, it's in the Airstream Owners Manual.

[featherbedder]

Sears makes exc. torque wrench, snap on tools and couple of large tool co. make exc. ones. Buying stay away from cheapies as not accurate, also pur. click type rather than bar type. they come in various sizes and pounds or inch pounds, for AS use need foot lbs. type, use 1/2 drive sockets standard or 3/8, 3/4 sockets w/adapter. Bill

[SpletKay06]

Dont blindly trust a torque wrench cheap or expensive. They all need to be checked often and recalibrated every couple years.

[Al and Missy]

Originally Posted by dkottum

On tandem axle Airstreams, you can avoid retrieving and installing the spare tire on a busy or narrow highway to save time out there by removing the flat tire and proceeding to a safer spot to replace it. Actually you can travel a considerable distance on the remaining three wheels safely, it's in the Airstream Owners Manual.

If doing this, one should be conscious of tire and wheel ratings. In my case (Classic 30 Slideout with 9100# GVWR, tongue weight 950#) the axles are carrying 8150#. Three LT225/75-16E Michelins are specified for 8040#, only a slight overload. But assuming equal loading, the lone tire on one side rated at 2680# and the wheel rated at 3580# are now carrying 4075# and are significantly if not seriously over-stressed. At some point the tire will be so damaged as to require replacement. I'm not professing to know where that point is, it's just a consideration to keep in mind for heavier trailers.

Of course, sometimes traveling on three wheels may be unavoidable to safety considerations, but one should understand what the margins are in their individual trailer and tire situation and take appropriate action.

Al

[TheWoodsman]

Originally Posted by Piggy Bank

We have not yet purchased a torque wrench. So pardon my unfamiliarity. But can you please tell me what a breaker bar is.

Lol -- no problem at all, Piggy (may I call you Piggy?) -- if I had a nickel for everything I didn't know about Airstreaming I'd be a really, really wealthy guy.

As soon as I'm able I'll post a picture of the breaker bar and the torque wrench. The breaker bar is just that -- a solid steel bar that accepts a socket that "breaks" (unfastens) the lug nut from the wheel. You can put an extension bar on it to get more leverage, and Rich Luhr (Host of Alumapalooza and author of The Nearly Complete Guide to Airstream Maintenance) recommends stepping on it if the nut is too tight to remove with your arm strength.

The torque wrench -- via a couple of different techniques -- measures the amount of force between the nut and the wheel; an extremely important thing to know. If the nuts are put on too tight you can shear the wheel bolts off, and if they're too loose you can lose a wheel. For my aluminum wheels Airstream recommends 110 lbs of torque.

The reason you never want to use a torque wrench to loosen the nuts is because you're using the wrench in the opposite direction of the way it measures force, and in doing so you'll probably ruin the calibration, rendering it useless.

Does that help?

[TheWoodsman]

[Bob662]

Walmart sells a breaker bar "kit" that includes an extendable bar plus two sockets that have four different sizes for about any lug nut you'll likely encounter. It's handy for several reasons: the handle slides in so it's easy to store in a tool bag, the bar is at an angle to it so an extension isn't required, and it's relatively inexpensive.

Look in the automotive section.

[xrvr]

Goodyears are not good tires, but a couple times over 65 can weaken them. Sorry for your troubles, good job by the troopers.

[Tireman9]

Sorry to hear about your tire problems. What I can make out from the picture it appears you had a Tread or Belt separation not a Run Low Flex "blowout" failure.

While I strongly recommend all RVs run with TPMS they will not warn of an impending Tread/Belt separation but will warn of the Run Low failure.

Often the separation is in a tire for many hundreds of miles before the tire coes apart. With proper inspection procedure it is many times possible to "see" the indication of an impending separation before it happens.

If you Google "How do I inspect my RV tires" you will find some links with information. At least one has a link showing a YouTube on the process.

There is also a post on an RV tire blog on a "Blowout Real Life Experience on RV tire" that occurred on an Airstream

You might also read the thread on this forum on "Why Tires Fail"