Tire Blowout

[RayFrancis]

Had a tire Blowout on July 22/07 on my Landmark trailer. I replaced all tire with Goodyear 614 tires hope they stand up better. Blowout did about $1500.00 to $2000.00 damage to the trailer. I had about 12000 miles on the Trailamerica tires.I use pressure pro system on my trailer. Don't know why Heartland would even use Trailamerican Tire on Trailers with all the people having trouble with them.
Just picked up my new Dodge 3500 6.7 6 speed Auto,will be leaving tomorrow for Banff Alta. Then will be starting harvest for a month . Hope Heartland can ship the parts to fix my trailer in the next month.

 

[Forrest Fetherolf]

RayFrancis,

I had a Trail America explode @ 14k miles. The tire separated causing about the same $$ amount of damage as yours. JCA (Distributor for Trail America) will pay for damage repair within the 1 year warranty period, if the blowout was a result of tire failure. Call Shawn @ JCA (800 921-8473)

I made a deal with JCA, to pay for all material costs and replace the 5 TA's with 5 Goodyear's G614 RST in exchange for my labor to R&R the damage. Jim Fenner @ Heartland had the parts to me in 17 Days. The R&R took about 8 hours.

Forrest

 

[Uncle Rog]

Good for you Forrest, you made out better than most.....

 

[kmbusa]

New rims as well?

Mr. Wetherolf:

Did you have to replace your rims for the new G614RST's as well? The reason I ask is I'm very interested in a Big Country and the first thing I'd do is swap out the tires from all that I have been reading about them. Are the OEM rims capable of handling the 110psi of the 614's? And what about the valve stems? Is there a link you could send me for the correct combination of rim and stem to purchase? Thanks.

 

[sailorand]

if your Big Country has E rated tires on now the rims are most likely rated at 80 lbs. They are stamped on the inside of the rim. Just crawl under the rig and have a look. Goodyear does not make a E rated tire. Michilin does.

 

[Forrest Fetherolf]

kmbusa,

Since you are "interested" in a Big Country, negotiate with the dealer to change out the tires to Goodyear or Michelin at the time of purchase. If the rig has 6000 lb axles "E" rated tires are normal with 80 psi wheels, 7000 lb axles "G" rated tires are normal with 110 psi wheels. The weight of the rig will dictate the axle, tire, and wheel rating. Michelin tires only go to "E" rating @ 80 lbs, Goodyear go to "G" rating @ 110 lbs.

The secret is to have a good quality tire, not just a bigger one.

Forrest

 

[jmgratz]

I had a left front blowout on our 2007 Landmark with only 2500 towed miles in July while enroute to Elkhart from THE RALLY in Oregon. It caused $4800 in damage. After getting the damage repaired in Elkhart we headed home to Texas this month (Sept). While travelling in Mississippi we had another bowout on the left rear damaging most of the same area. We haven't received the estimate on that one yet. Both tires are 'G' rated and were inflated to 110 lbs. Both tire are made in China and are Winland brand tires. We are in the process of replacing all of the tire with Goodyear G614's. Hopefully that will solve the problem of defective tires. Incidently, the tire distributor in Houston said he does not carry the Winland tires anymore, but said they are made at the Goodyear plant in Beijing China.
P.S. Thank goodness for Good Sam road service and Foremost Insurance

 

[DougLynne]

We have an '07' 3055 with 'E' rated tires with max 90lbs on 6000 lb axles and wheels stamped for 110lbs. It seems a very rare breed indeed..../Doug

 

[Gary Steeves]

We had a 2006 Mt. Rushmore and had 2 rims crack, 2 blow-outs, $1,200 damage on 1 blowout. Dumped the TrailAmericas for Goodyear 614's. We then traded in the Mt. Rushmore for a Big Horn, kept the Goodyears and replaced all 4 wheels. Now we can go down the road beginning at 100 psi that builds to about 112psi, so we are not over-inflated, trailer runs smoothly, less weight with the Big Horn matches up better with our 2500HD diesel and mama has better peace-of-mind.

 

[Cooper]

Has anyone got a response from Shawn @ JAC on the Trail America tire problem.

 

[arisce]

Blow-out again?

Hi to all fellow veterans of the tire explosion. Yesterday coming back from Syracuse we had our second blow-out-back right hand side. Yep they were Trail Americas. I tried phoning Shawn at 1-800-921-8473 but being from Canada there is no connection. Does anyone have a number for Trail America or an address so I can contact them from Canada. Need help. Thanks.

 

[jbeletti]

Update - that number was not right.

Karen/Bill,

Not sure if it's the same JCA Corp, but try this number in Pleasant Hill, California: xxx-xxx-xxxx (number was wrong). Also, Jim Fenner at Heartland (574-262-8030) should have a number for them - I'd think.

Jim

 

[jbeletti]

Try this - maybe it will still be accurate. It's from a Whois query for the domain jcacorp.com

Administrative Contact:
Dave Lindenmuth
Dave Lindenmuth (jcautopart@worldnet.att.net)
+1.2539221234
1820 South 341st. place
Federal Way, WA 98003

PS: I also looked them up in the Internet Archives and they took their contact info off their website in 2005 but going back farther in 2005, I did find numbers and they are the same as above. Good luck.

 

[Forrest Fetherolf]

Hi to all fellow veterans of the tire explosion. Yesterday coming back from Syracuse we had our second blow-out-back right hand side. Yep they were Trail Americas. I tried phoning Shawn at 1-800-921-8473 but being from Canada there is no connection. Does anyone have a number for Trail America or an address so I can contact them from Canada. Need help. Thanks.

Try this number and address for JCA,

Jca Corporation, 917 Valley Ave Nw # E, Puyallup, WA 98371

(253) 770-7600
917 Valley Ave Nw # E, Puyallup, WA 98371

 

[Cooper]

Shawn @ JCA will not respond to my emails are my phone calls. I have sent him everything he ask for. I have talked to him but, I can not get an answer out of him. Has anyone else had this problem.

 

[geeksrus]

kmbusa,

Since you are "interested" in a Big Country, negotiate with the dealer to change out the tires to Goodyear or Michelin at the time of purchase. If the rig has 6000 lb axles "E" rated tires are normal with 80 psi wheels, 7000 lb axles "G" rated tires are normal with 110 psi wheels. The weight of the rig will dictate the axle, tire, and wheel rating. Michelin tires only go to "E" rating @ 80 lbs, Goodyear go to "G" rating @ 110 lbs.

The secret is to have a good quality tire, not just a bigger one.

Forrest

My Big Horn has 6000lb axles with 3750lb/110psi wheels!

EH!

 

[Country]

My Big Horn has 6000lb axles with 3750lb/110psi wheels!

EH!

That's awesome!
Way to go Heartland!

 

[Cooper]

Trail American Tires Claims on hold

Well Shawn finally called from JCA. Shawn told me that his hands where tied no more claim reimbursement at this time. He said that the only tire problem is with Heartland products and Trail American tires. In my case the tire is not rate for the weight of my Golden Gate and that it is a Heartland problem that they are working on. He said my rv GVW is 16,000 lbs. thats what is on my tag in the cabnet and the tires where not rated to carry that much weight? My trailer only weights 12,553 lbs. loaded around 12,700.
So I called Steve Finner a Heartland and told him what Shawn said. Steve said that Shawn was wrong and he would look into it.
This all happened 10-9-07

 

[Forrest Fetherolf]

Cooper,

Shawn is wrong...........JCA covered my damage on my 3600RL rate @ 16000 GVW. At Shawn's request I sent him a photo of the VIN sticker and purchase order, I also advised him that I had weighed the rig and sent him a copy of the CAT scales ticket, mine topped out @ 12,220 on the trailer axles.
I suspect that JCA is getting flooded with defective tire complaints and starting to get hard nosed about the pay outs.
The Trail America tires have a one year warranty from date of purchase, mine was 10 months @14000 miles. After the one year, they might try to put up a fight.

Forrest

 

[FennerJ]

Trail America Tires

We do not now and never have under-rated our tires on our coaches. The Landmarks with the Trail America tires on them are well within the specified weight that they should be. A common mistake that is made is that nobody takes into account is the hitch weight. That weight needs to be subtracted from the GVWR because the tow vehicle is absorbing that weight not the tires.

With that said I am going to give an example with numbers that pertain to the Landmark Golden Gate. The GVWR is 16,000 lbs. and the hitch weight is 2,290 lbs. What you actually have riding on your tires fully loaded is a max weight of 13,710 lbs. The Trail America tires are each rated for 3,750 lbs. with a combined rating of 15,000 lbs. As you can see the weight rating of the tires is well above what is needed for this unit and the weight that is riding on these tires.

All that I can say is that Trail America does not know what they are talking about, because, their facts are not accurate as I have just proven above. I made contact with our supplier Tredit Tire pertaining to the problems we are having with JCA and they have agreed to handle all warranty themselves only on the JCA (Trail America) tires. If any of you have a warranty problem with the Trail America brand tire call Tredit tire at 574-293-0581 and ask for Kelly in customer service and she is aware that she will be dealing with all Trail America problems as we are getting next to no help from JCA.