Truck Tire Blowout History

Rambler

Member
I know that everyone has an opinion about which is better for towing (single or Dual) rear wheel on Truck. I'm not wanting to restart a major discussion about which is better or safer. My question is: has anyone experienced or known of someone having a rear tire blowout while towing their 5er. I've never been concerned about my single axle, but I'm always thinking about this while towing. Anxious to hear any stories.
 

cookie

Administrator
Staff member
Well, I have never actually had a blow out, but.........thanks to my TPMS I avoided that dreaded blowout. I had a valve stem fail on the right rear tire of the truck. It started leaking and the monitor warned me. Had I not have gotten the warning I am sure it would have resulted in a blow out.
So the moral of my story is use a TPMS.

Peace
Dave
 

caissiel

Senior Member
I have experienced 2 occasion of tire failures in the rear of my TV while towing the 5th wheel trailer. It happened with my 98 GM 2500 and it was much better then I ever expected.

The first occasion was at 60MPH and I noticed there was a rear vibration and I was sure my rearend gearing had failed. I slowed down and went into a parking lot and to my surprise the tire was on the rim and had a big hole on the tread section. I never heard any blowout sound but it surely opened right up. The thing that helped the control is the heavy construction of the Load Range E tires. In Addition I was driving the stock size tires on the truck.

The other occasion is that after doing a rotation of tires and not retorking after starting on the trip, in addition that the tire had an a little unbalance the tire and rim completely fell of the truck and broke all the studs. When I heard the pop I looked back and saw all the sparks flying on the passenger side. I was on Hwy 78 in PA. I had just finished passing thru a 4 miles long construction site that was rough and had returned to 65MPH speed that I usualy drive on the interstates. I happend just in front of Caballa's

I was able to slow down and pull over as far right as I could and get out of the truck on the passenger side because the shoulder was no more then 6 ft wide. with a burm next that keeped the tire close, I picked it up next to the trailer. The tire and rim never did any damage to the truck because being a single, stock size it stayed on the floating hub till it cleared the fender. The pop I heard is when it poped of the Hub and the drum hit the pavement.

I am not sure that Disc brakes in the back wound have survived as the drum did, but I was glade I had a drum to hold the load at the time. Loosing all the studs on a dual would have been quit a different story with 2 wheels off set as duals are.

So on my Ford with the 265 tires and disc brakes would possibly be a different story.

I would never have less the load range E tires and 80PSI in my rear tires pulling a heavy pin load. The sidewall is much better and the chance of a blowout is so little that I think my time has happened. My friend with his duals had a flat tire everyting he landed in the campground untill he got ride of his GY tires. Rocks would get stuck between the tires and only blow when he loaded the trailer. He was doing a lot of off road traveling at the time. Michelin seam to have helped, but I told him he was more observent.

I would never get a Dual just because I am afraid of having a flat on the rear. The advantage of singles is the added assurance on the front of the truck and more control when failure happens. Failure will not happen more on singles then duals. When one of the duals is flat, the remaining tire as no capability to support the load, its then that its dangerous, the remaning tire is not capable of holding the load. In Addition a lot of duals still have load range D tires with 60PSI in them. I doubt Ford has D's as mine has 75PSI on the front tires.
 

jmgratz

Original Owners Club Member
In Addition a lot of duals still have load range D tires with 60PSI in them. I doubt Ford has D's as mine has 75PSI on the front tires.

My Ford dually has B.F. Goodrich load range E on it. They are factory original tires.
 

Paul_in_MN

Active Member
I didn't have a blowout while pulling the 5er, but I did have the right rear blow out at highway speed while pulling one of my heavy equipment trailers, and I had a pretty good load in the truck box as well. I had checked the tire pressures less than 100 miles earlier, and all was OK. It was a load range E 235-85-16 tire. The failure event was not as scary as many people imagine. There was a loud "pop", a lot of vibration, but no serious loss of control. I do believe when such an event occurs that it is best to slow down easy while heading toward the road shoulder. Heavy braking may lead to loss of control, but I haven't tried that. If slowing down easy and in a fairly straight line means damage to the rim or wheel, well so be it. In my case the rim was not messed up, but on that particular day I was not carrying a spare tire as I was too concerned about carrying way too much weight. So I had to call my son to bring out a spare wheel and tire. He was about 1.5 hours away. I have had only 2 massive tire failures in my 50 years of driving, that it is statistically almost never.

Paul_in_MN
 

lwmcguir

Well-known member
I know that everyone has an opinion about which is better for towing (single or Dual) rear wheel on Truck. I'm not wanting to restart a major discussion about which is better or safer. My question is: has anyone experienced or known of someone having a rear tire blowout while towing their 5er. I've never been concerned about my single axle, but I'm always thinking about this while towing. Anxious to hear any stories.

There is no question that Dual wheels are better and preferred if that is the primary use for the Truck. However I have blown out tires on both single and dual wheel TV's. Never really had any issues during the failures and the rig handles well on the single wheel. On the dually, didn't even know I had lost a tire until the next stop. That is the primary difference. We usually tow the Augusta with a SRW now and don't expect any issues.
 

Two Hands

Well-known member
In the last two or three months I recall watching a very informative video produced by a tire manufacturer, I think, which described how an rv driver should react to a tire blowout. I thought I learned about the video on this forum, but I did a Google search and could not find the post. That video is definitely worth watching. Hopefully someone knows what I'm talking about and can find the post.
 

2010augusta

Well-known member
When one of the duals is flat, the remaining tire as no capability to support the load, its then that its dangerous, the remaning tire is not capable of holding the load. In Addition a lot of duals still have load range D tires with 60PSI in them. I doubt Ford has D's as mine has 75PSI on the front tires.

My Ford dually has F's all the way around and I am very confident that 3 tires on the rear axle can still handle the load with ease, and it does not take a engineer to explain the when one tire fails, it is a lot better to still have 3 working tires instead of 1 working tire. with 3 tires you can still safely drive to a safe area or the next town and not be pulled over on a 6 foot shoulder with an 8 foot wide trailer.
 

2010augusta

Well-known member
here is the tire video:

and the thread with the original link.
//heartlandowners.org/showthread.php/15530-Must-Watch-Tire-Video
 

lwmcguir

Well-known member
We have driven many miles in the past hauling 20 or so cows that weigh around 1800 pounds each. We have on occasion had to travel with one of the duals flat. We have the same load range G all around. Not a problem coming in on 3 wheels and it saved stopping along the hi way and changing a tire with a loaded moving trailer on behind. Duals are the way to go for heavy loads, there is no doubt about it. You can get by with singles on the lighter loads but if you are pushing or going over the rated capacities, get a dually.
 

porthole

Retired
I hope Michelin some day looks into the 5th wheel and travel trailer scenario.
I have watched the video a few times in the past and figured maybe I will remember to try and hit the go pedal first.

Works with motor homes - works with NASCAR, may work for us trailer folks - although I do think I would be reluctant to try it on the 800 pound Electric Glide :confused:
 
Top