New Axle, final word

bigmaho

Active Member
Well all is said and done. To recap, on my MPG 181 the insides of the tires were going bald. It's a new 2012 unit with 5000 miles on it. I called Heartland and they said it was the axle and I should bring it to a dealer for warranty replacement. So I brought the rig to Camping World in Kingston NY. They contacted Heartland and was told it wasn't the axle and that the tires were probably misinflated. I called Heartland myself and sent them some pictures and they told me it wasn't the axle, so I picked up the unit and brought it home and started asking around here. I wanted to replace the tires but didn't want to do it until I figured out what caused them to fail. It was suggested here to contact Lippert directly.

Should have done that in the first place. I emailed Lippert, they got right back to me and asked for a picture and some info. Within 5 minutes they responded and said it was the axle and they are authorizing replacement.

So back to Camping World. They replaced the axle and I had them put on new tires rated Load Range D. They also had to put in new bearings. In the end cost me $225 for the tires, $125 to install them, and $150 for new bearings. So in the end, $513 and 2 85 mile round trips. Glad the rig is safe again. With the heavier duty tires and a slightly lighter load (less water!) I should be good for many more seasons of camping.
 

westxsrt10

Perfict Senior Member
Stay tuned here on the site for advise, Camping World ? yikes....sorry you had to pay $500 for nothing.
 

kb0zke

Well-known member
Glad you finally got things taken care of. I'd probably question Camping World about the $125 to install the tires. Isn't that normally included in the price of the tires? Anyway, didn't they have to take the tires off of the old axle when they installed the new one? There was no extra work involved.

Camping World has a rather spotty reputation on the various forums I frequent. Some stores are outstanding, and others leave you standing out in the cold.
 

GOTTOYS

Well-known member
Glad you finally got things taken care of. I'd probably question Camping World about the $125 to install the tires. Isn't that normally included in the price of the tires? Anyway, didn't they have to take the tires off of the old axle when they installed the new one? There was no extra work involved.

Camping World has a rather spotty reputation on the various forums I frequent. Some stores are outstanding, and others leave you standing out in the cold.
I agree. I've heard more bad than good...Don
 

bigmaho

Active Member
Well.... Heartland wanted to send me to a dealer almost 400 miles away and all the closer Heartland dealerships wouldn't touch it because they didn't sell me the camper, so I considered myself lucky when Camping World said they would do the job. Lippert authorized 1.5 hours for the replacement and I'm sure CW spent that much time on the phone with Lippert and Heartland to deal with this. And yes, every other tire I ever bought the price of mounting on the rim, balancing and installing was included in the tire price, but I couldn't begrudge CW the hour of labor they charged for all they did. My beef is with Heartland for not demanding more of their dealerships, for originally denying the warranty claim (and forcing me to make 2 trips to CW), for passing the claim off on Lippert and for not covering the tires and bearings that were destroyed by the bad axle. If I had gone to the dealer I purchased from I'm sure he would have gone to bat for me and had it all dealt with, including the tires and bearings, in one trip. Unfortunately I bought it from a dealer in Rapid City South Dakota and I'm in southern NY state. btw, the dealer emailed me a few times to find out what was going on and to ask if he could do anything. I have nothing but good things to say about the dealer, Green Star in Rapid City.
 

Manzan

Well-known member
I had two bad axles which dealer and Lippert replaced and five badly worn tires. Worst tire had 3800 miles on it, three 5000 miles and one 1200 miles. Lippert gave me $65 per tire to buy replacements which I bought from Costco. No charges for bearings or installation but I did put the new tires on myself. I question the charges from CW.
 
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