Greetings All,
On 3 Jul 2010 we were on the way to southern Illinois from Houston. Just prior to the Angelina river between Lufkin and Nacogdoches on hiway 59 I heard a pop, looked in my left mirror and saw pieces of the left front tire and trailer scattered all over the hiway and cars dodging the trash. There was not much shoulder, I got pulled over but could not leave the truck due to traffic. When able I cleared my pieces on the hiway and inspected the damage.
I was able to limp another three hundred feet an take a fishing hole exit down toward the Angelina river bridge. Being Saturday afternoon on a holiday weekend I was unable to find someone open for roadside help through my roadside insurance. After three hours of waiting I was able to find someone to help me get going again. Cleared some of the trailer damage and changed the tire and was able to proceed safely on our journey. All truck and trailer tires were properly inflated and none were overloaded.
Day 2, 4 Jul 2010 after spending the night in Acadia, LA we headed down the road. Somewhere around crossing the Mississippi river into Greenville, MS the right rear tire disintegrated but we did not know it. By the time we realized it that tire was completely gone and the wheel was pretty much destroyed. We were able to park our rig in a 24 hour chicken and beer gas station out of the way. This was Sunday afternoon on a holiday weekend. There was nowhere to get tires for the trailer. I was sitting on three wheels and had a disintegrated tire on a good wheel in the bed of my truck. I was able to find a good old boy who sold used tires to come out and mount a used tire on my good rim to keep the trailer stable. The right front tire was also loosing air due to shrapnel thrown from the right rear missing tire.
Not to worry, just spend the night at the gas/beer/chicken filling station and buy some tires on Monday morning July 5th. Didn't happen. No one had the tires I needed. It seemed like were on the way to WallyWorld via Ground Hog Day. Another night in the parking lot, our trip water of twenty five gallons was starting to run low, but our two Honda 2000 watt generators were lifesavers for air conditioning. On Tuesday the 6th of July we were able to find two tires, both Chinese firebombs, and was able to continue our trip. Not long after getting back on the road I realized the trailer brakes were inop. It seems that the steel belts that had wrapped around the right rear axle had shorted out the electric brake wires and also had gotten inside the brake drum and ripped the magnet from the brake assembly. I wasn't about to stop, so I limped the 400 miles to our destination.
On Wed 7 July I spend 12 hours having the brakes repaired, tires replaced and finally was able to relax (five days into a two day trip). The icing on the cake was my front landing gear gave up the ghost and stopped functioning so using borrowed jacks and jack stands we were able to continue our adventure.
It's now well into September and things are back to normal. The fifth wheel is repaired for a total of $10,000 worth of damage to both sides. I spent $2,000 out of pocket for brake repair, six new tires and a TPMS. My tires now are F19 Hankook 14 ply, 105 psi. I had 4000 miles on the original Mission firebombs before they disintegrated. I have no more Mission tires. Two disintegrated, one killed by shrapnel, the forth was starting to disintegrate, and the spare was tossed into the trash. Now I have five Hankook F19 tires, two Chinese firebombs purchased in Greenville, MS and when the repairs were done the replacement wheel sent from Heartland included a new Towmax Chinese firebomb.
Word to the wise, don't use Chinese firebombs full time on your RV. Spare is probably OK. Get them off as quickly as possible. I wish I had. It was quite an adventure and now somewhat amusing but wasn't then. No one was hurt luckily and the truck/trailer survived. Good story for around the campfire.
I have since purchased a good compressor, tire guages, additional TPMS sensors, and jack stands. I usually travel with about 25 gallons of water and at least one Honda generator and two in the hot months. They were great and are quite miserly on fuel.
I need to purchase some trailer wheels for a couple more spares since I have three new tires in the shed. My RV has aluminum wheels with a steel spare. Can any one tell me what size wheel / bolt pattern I need and where I might be able to find them. Also I need them to be 110 psi rated. I want at least two spares for long trips seeing how easy a disintegrating tire can take out it's mate.
Thanks and happy RVing!
Steve S. aka Joe Isuzu
On 3 Jul 2010 we were on the way to southern Illinois from Houston. Just prior to the Angelina river between Lufkin and Nacogdoches on hiway 59 I heard a pop, looked in my left mirror and saw pieces of the left front tire and trailer scattered all over the hiway and cars dodging the trash. There was not much shoulder, I got pulled over but could not leave the truck due to traffic. When able I cleared my pieces on the hiway and inspected the damage.
I was able to limp another three hundred feet an take a fishing hole exit down toward the Angelina river bridge. Being Saturday afternoon on a holiday weekend I was unable to find someone open for roadside help through my roadside insurance. After three hours of waiting I was able to find someone to help me get going again. Cleared some of the trailer damage and changed the tire and was able to proceed safely on our journey. All truck and trailer tires were properly inflated and none were overloaded.
Day 2, 4 Jul 2010 after spending the night in Acadia, LA we headed down the road. Somewhere around crossing the Mississippi river into Greenville, MS the right rear tire disintegrated but we did not know it. By the time we realized it that tire was completely gone and the wheel was pretty much destroyed. We were able to park our rig in a 24 hour chicken and beer gas station out of the way. This was Sunday afternoon on a holiday weekend. There was nowhere to get tires for the trailer. I was sitting on three wheels and had a disintegrated tire on a good wheel in the bed of my truck. I was able to find a good old boy who sold used tires to come out and mount a used tire on my good rim to keep the trailer stable. The right front tire was also loosing air due to shrapnel thrown from the right rear missing tire.
Not to worry, just spend the night at the gas/beer/chicken filling station and buy some tires on Monday morning July 5th. Didn't happen. No one had the tires I needed. It seemed like were on the way to WallyWorld via Ground Hog Day. Another night in the parking lot, our trip water of twenty five gallons was starting to run low, but our two Honda 2000 watt generators were lifesavers for air conditioning. On Tuesday the 6th of July we were able to find two tires, both Chinese firebombs, and was able to continue our trip. Not long after getting back on the road I realized the trailer brakes were inop. It seems that the steel belts that had wrapped around the right rear axle had shorted out the electric brake wires and also had gotten inside the brake drum and ripped the magnet from the brake assembly. I wasn't about to stop, so I limped the 400 miles to our destination.
On Wed 7 July I spend 12 hours having the brakes repaired, tires replaced and finally was able to relax (five days into a two day trip). The icing on the cake was my front landing gear gave up the ghost and stopped functioning so using borrowed jacks and jack stands we were able to continue our adventure.
It's now well into September and things are back to normal. The fifth wheel is repaired for a total of $10,000 worth of damage to both sides. I spent $2,000 out of pocket for brake repair, six new tires and a TPMS. My tires now are F19 Hankook 14 ply, 105 psi. I had 4000 miles on the original Mission firebombs before they disintegrated. I have no more Mission tires. Two disintegrated, one killed by shrapnel, the forth was starting to disintegrate, and the spare was tossed into the trash. Now I have five Hankook F19 tires, two Chinese firebombs purchased in Greenville, MS and when the repairs were done the replacement wheel sent from Heartland included a new Towmax Chinese firebomb.
Word to the wise, don't use Chinese firebombs full time on your RV. Spare is probably OK. Get them off as quickly as possible. I wish I had. It was quite an adventure and now somewhat amusing but wasn't then. No one was hurt luckily and the truck/trailer survived. Good story for around the campfire.
I have since purchased a good compressor, tire guages, additional TPMS sensors, and jack stands. I usually travel with about 25 gallons of water and at least one Honda generator and two in the hot months. They were great and are quite miserly on fuel.
I need to purchase some trailer wheels for a couple more spares since I have three new tires in the shed. My RV has aluminum wheels with a steel spare. Can any one tell me what size wheel / bolt pattern I need and where I might be able to find them. Also I need them to be 110 psi rated. I want at least two spares for long trips seeing how easy a disintegrating tire can take out it's mate.
Thanks and happy RVing!
Steve S. aka Joe Isuzu
