2015 Flying Cloud 25FB

[moosetags]

Originally Posted by Mike S.

I am interested in putting these wheels and tires on my new 27fb. I am sure it has been discussed before, but I am going to be lazy and ask again. How much does this setup raise the trailer? I have to fit the trailer in a 10ft high door and only have a couple of inches to spare with the 15 inch wheels. Thanks in advance, Mike

The 16" wheels and tires raise the trailer about 3/4". 1/2" in the radius of the wheel, and another approximate 1/4" in the tire height. If you have a couple of inches to spare, you should be OK. Also, you can always lower the trailer a couple of inches by temporarily deflating the tires to get under the door header.

Brian

[dbj216]

78 and raining. I'm so jealous! We have a cold snap forecast for tomorrow. How about single digits and windy? You remember your Hallock days? At least I don't have to run the air conditioner.

Maybe your belly pan is oil caning a bit due to the famous Airstream "flex" design. The center of the trailer may flex down when supported at the corners by the jack stands. Maybe laying under the trailer and having someone walk over the spot would reveal the source of the noise.

David

[Mike S.]

I thought of letting the air out each time and putting it back in each time. I am not that good at planning my trips home, I usually get home late and am ready to go to sleep. If only a 3/4 inch rise, should be good to go. Thanks for the reply, Mike

[moosetags]

New Lucy is our third Airstream, and the first two didn't do this "oil canning". I have looked underneath while SuEllyn walked inside. I could hear it, but I didn't see anything.

Yes, I do remember winter in Hallock. That is why I decided not to retire there. I really appreciate year round Airstreaming.

Brian

[dkottum]

Brian, the "oil canning" sound is probably in warm weather when the belly pan metal is expanded. Andrew Thomson of Can-Am Airstream posted a cure. You might contact them, but I seem to recall taking a window screen installation tool and creasing a large X across the bottom of each panel, I believe to take up some of the slack and also stiffen the panel. I haven't done it yet because the occasional sound is really not a problem.

[gandttimes]

Warm weather, cold weather, full tank and low tank. It doesn't matter. Sometimes it does in each of these instances and sometimes not. If course it couldn't be duplicated when I took our 2014 in for warranty. I've decided it isn't constant enough to be concerned.
They know about it and when they find a permanent cure, if I care, I will do something about it.


George

[moosetags]

It doesn't bother me that much either. I think that I'll just keep it on the list and let Jackson Center handle it in the Spring.

Brian

[gandttimes]

Warm weather, cold weather, full tank and low tank. It doesn't matter. Sometimes it does in each of these instances and sometimes not. If course it couldn't be duplicated when I took our 2014 in for warranty. I've decided it isn't constant enough to be concerned.
They know about it and when they find a permanent cure, if I care, I will do something about it.


George

[moosetags]

The one thing I have noticed on Lucy is that she only makes the "oil canning" noise when the stabilizers are down.

Brian

[switz]

According to the tire specifications, the 15" Goodyear ST225/75R15D tire is 28.3" in diameter while the Michelin LT225/75R16/E LTX M/S2 is 29.2" in diameter.

Thus the trailer height is increased 0.45" per specifications (under a half inch) if the Michelin tires are installed..

[gandttimes]

Originally Posted by moosetags

The one thing I have noticed on Lucy is that she only makes the "oil canning" noise when the stabilizers are down.

Brian

That is something that I didn't make note of at my last warranty check. It is worth mentioning. Maybe when they are going over everything after this 4 month trip, they can have another look.


George

[gypsydad]

Originally Posted by gandttimes

That is something that I didn't make note of at my last warranty check. It is worth mentioning. Maybe when they are going over everything after this 4 month trip, they can have another look.


George

It is a known issue with the newer AS's. There have been a few posts on "do it yourself" fix's and also "some" dealers acknowledge and will fix under warranty. We have not taken ours in for this as our original dealer is in Northern California and we are in San Diego....one fix I read on this post is to take a "screen" roller tool, (screw driver with a roller on the end) and make an "X" on the belly pan to give a crease in the metal. We have not tried this yet, but you can look up older posts to see these suggestions.

[mefly2]

Originally Posted by Mike S.

I thought of letting the air out each time and putting it back in each time. I am not that good at planning my trips home, I usually get home late and am ready to go to sleep. If only a 3/4 inch rise, should be good to go. Thanks for the reply, Mike

9'7'' is the listed exterior height for our Eddie Bauer package according to the factory spec sheet.

Originally Posted by Moosetags

: The 16" wheels and tires raise the trailer about 3/4".1/2" in the radius of the wheel, and another approximate 1/4" in the tire height.

moosetags
... any increase in height is only from 1/2 the difference in actual inflated tire diameter (0.45" increase); the increased wheel diameter does not add into the increased height caused by the larger tire diameter.

[moosetags]

We brought Lucy home today after 35 days on the road. We left Jacksonville this morning, and made our way west on I-10. We were just west of Madison passing a TT toy hauler from California. It was about a thirty footer behind an F-250. They were running at about 60 MPH in the right lane. We were passing in the left lane at about 65 MPH. When our tow vehicle was about even with their hitch area, the was a loud boom which scared the crap out of me. My reaction was to floor the Suburban for fear that the toy hauler had blown a tire and might swerve into our lane. As I accelerated, I was looking in my right rear view mirror and saw various pieces of debris (tires and trailer fragments) blowing out of the left side of the toy hauler. Some of these pieces were quite large. SuEllyn said that she saw the left rear tire blow on the toy hauler.

The toy hauler slowed and pulled to the shoulder. We had already traveled far enough down the Interstate that there was no point in stopping. We could see that the toy hauler had safely stopped on the side of the road.

We were concerned that some of the debris had hit the back of Lucy. We stopped at the next exit and made an assessment. We were very fortunate. Lucy had not sustained any damage whatsoever.

Today was our lucky day. The rest of the trip to Santa Rosa Beach was uneventful. We got Lucy tucked into her spot in the alley behind our house in time to make it to Sunset down on the beach.

Brian

[dbj216]

Yes indeed, very fortunate you were ahead of the shrapnel and not behind it. I probably would have slowed and not accelerated as my normal reaction to an explosion. Good call on your part. I hope the toy hauler did not sustain too much damage. Avoidance of catastrophic tire failures has been explored extensively in these Forums. It would be interesting to do a tire failure analysis on the toy hauler. Dry rot, under inflated, over loaded, puncture, etc.

Let's all keep properly maintained tires on our Airstreams. Your new 16" heavy duty tires on New Lucy is about the best a guy can do.

David

[moosetags]

Originally Posted by dbj216

Yes indeed, very fortunate you were ahead of the shrapnel and not behind it. I probably would have slowed and not accelerated as my normal reaction to an explosion. Good call on your part. I hope the toy hauler did not sustain too much damage. Avoidance of catastrophic tire failures has been explored extensively in these Forums. It would be interesting to do a tire failure analysis on the toy hauler. Dry rot, under inflated, over loaded, puncture, etc.

Let's all keep properly maintained tires on our Airstreams. Your new 16" heavy duty tires on New Lucy is about the best a guy can do.

David

I sure hope so, David. After my early tire failure experiences with Old Lucy, I am very gun shy in the tire department.

Why I decided to gun Olivia, as opposed to hitting the brakes, I have no idea. I sure am glad that I made that choice because had I hit the brakes, I am sure that New Lucy would have sustained significant damage. I saw some fairly large pieces of debris being blown off the toy hauler.

Brian

[Tintini]

Originally Posted by dbj216

Thankya moosetags. I had not thought of raising the hitch head first. I had been keeping my bars as loose as they would go and then "forcing" the stinger into the hitch. I have tried adjusting the hitch head angle with the bars. Raising the hitch head would help the thing swallow the stinger. I'll try it next time I'm in this situation. I still struggle at times getting hitched up on uneven surfaces.

Yep, Lucy will like supple gaskets to keep her dry in a driving rain.

David

After reading about it in the Forum, we purchased a digital angle gauge. Zero it out, place it on the stinger, measure the angle, zero it out again, place it on the hitch on the TT, match the angle of the stinger by moving the jacks on the PP and -- like magic -- no problem hitching up on uneven surfaces. Stinger slides right in to the hitch. Cost is around $30 and well worth it.

Jeff

[moosetags]

Originally Posted by Tintini

After reading about it in the Forum, we purchased a digital angle gauge. Zero it out, place it on the stinger, measure the angle, zero it out again, place it on the hitch on the TT, match the angle of the stinger by moving the jacks on the PP and -- like magic -- no problem hitching up on uneven surfaces. Stinger slides right in to the hitch. Cost is around $30 and well worth it.

Jeff

Thanks for the great tip. I've been lining the Hensley up by eye. I just ordered a digital angle gauge on Amazon.

Brian

[Gene]

Speeding up is a good plan when you hear a big bang. If you have had a tire blow, speeding up a bit will help keep the trailer going straight and once that occurs, you can slow down gradually. The problem is to teach yourself to increase speed carefully and not do the thing your gut tells you to do and stand on the brakes.

Glad to hear you didn't sustain any damage and the guy with the toy hauler stopped safely.

Gene

[moosetags]

That was our lucky day, Gene.

Brian