Transporters and Tire Life??

[Jagiven]

I was out on the road Monday for work. Saw a lot of new RVs headed both north and west.

I often wonder if peoples tire issues are caused by transporters too lazy to setup their hitches correctly for their load. I have seen this many of times.

I saw a SOB headed north, I feel sorry for its future owner. A good size trailer, but not huge, being pulled by a F350. The hitch was totally setup wrong, the nose of the TT was extremely low. The rear tires on the tandem looked like they were barely touching the ground! I would love to be able to track that trailer over the years and see if and when they have tire issues.

[oh355mbqs]

I live in Ohio, about 2-1/2 hours from the Elkhart Indiana area. I'm also on a major east/west highway so I see lots and lots of transporters. In fact, my window at work is looking right at that highway and about any time I look I can see a transporter going by. Having been on this forum for a few months and an SOB forum for several years I always got a chuckle out of the people who "would never tow their trailer in snow and salty roads because of the frame rusting", "trailer has to be level", "sway control is a must", "shouldn't tow in high winds" and so on. Well let me tell you, most of the transporters could care less about all of that. I see trailers going by all winter long and in all kinds of weather, have yet to see a travel trailer on a WDH, let alone with any sway control. They pull them nose high, nose low, it doesn't matter to them. Also, most buyers would be a little upset if they saw the trucks being used, most seem pretty rough and some are really bad. I have seen one a few times that is an old ambulance, like an E-350 chassis. The box was taken off, a piece of plywood cut to fit the back of the cab and a fifth wheel hitch added to the frame some how (not sure I want to know how) and no protection for the fifth wheel from the junk flying off the rear tires.

[ctbailey]

Originally Posted by oh355mbqs

...snip Also, most buyers would be a little upset if they saw the trucks being used, most seem pretty rough and some are really bad. I have seen one a few times that is an old ambulance, like an E-350 chassis. The box was taken off, a piece of plywood cut to fit the back of the cab and a fifth wheel hitch added to the frame some how (not sure I want to know how) and no protection for the fifth wheel from the junk flying off the rear tires.

As long as the unit being delivered has no damage, why would a future owner care what kind of tractor hauled the unit? What difference does it make?

Im not being confrontational, just curious.

[mike837go]

Originally Posted by ctbailey

As long as the unit being delivered has no damage, why would a future owner care what kind of tractor hauled the unit? What difference does it make?

Im not being confrontational, just curious.

It's not the type, condition or size of the tow....

It's how much care the driver took while moving YOUR trailer from the factory to the dealer.

Way out of level puts unnecessary load on the tires. No box on the rear allows all kinds of damage to the front of the trailer.

Who wants to buy a brand-new abused unit?

[crumgater]

I wondered this myself... our SOB 5er was delivered with a flat tire.... how long was it dragged with a flat?? we'll never know.

Once pressurized, the tire (BlowMax/ChinaBomb variety, of course) only held air for about 12 hours. The dealer had to replace a CRACKED WHEEL.

I wondered for a long time what our poor trailer had been through, and what damage we would find down the line due to a bad transport... but... 7 years later, we never had any other issues.

We did replace the BlowMax tires in year 3, just because.

[etex211]

I wonder if the pressure is ever checked in those tires from the time they are mounted at Jayco's or Lipppert's tire and wheel vendor until the unit is delivered to the dealer. How many months pass during this time?

[oh355mbqs]

Hi etex,

We didn't purchase our 335MBQS off of the lot, we ordered it and waited 5 months for it to arrive. I was surprised when I was under it the other night at the manufacture dates on different items. Our camper came off the line on 03/21/17, it arrived at the dealer on 03/30/17, we picked it up at the dealer on 04/05/17. The Lippert axles show a manufacture date of 03/15/17, just 6 days prior to the camper being completed. There were stickers on other items with the same kind of dates. Due to all of the campers being built right now, I don't think anything is setting around too long between manufacturing and shipment, once the camper hits the dealers lot I'm sure it's a different story.

[crumgater]

aren't you supposed to re-torque the wheel lugs every few hundred miles the first few thousand miles, too... any change the transporters are doing that?

I would hope so, since they might risk dropping a whole wheel off if they don't.

[mike837go]

Originally Posted by crumgater

aren't you supposed to re-torque the wheel lugs every few hundred miles the first few thousand miles, too... any change the transporters are doing that?

I would hope so, since they might risk dropping a whole wheel off if they don't.

I've read that one should re-torque the lug nuts after having the wheels off.

Since, however, nobody actually uses a torque wrench (just the biggest air impact wrench possible) the point is kinda moot.

Personally, I rotate my own tires at each oil change. Been doing it for 20+ years. Haven't had a wheel fall off yet. Came close when I missed a failing wheel bearing in January....

[ExxWhy]

I've seen smaller trailers on flatbeds with the tires totally flat (on purpose I assume). The rims sitting on the flat tires bouncing down the road can't be very good for the tires.

[schrederman]

I'm a careful guy when it comes to maintenance (former aircraft mechanic). Tire pressures always checked, and no maintenance items shirked, ever. So, when we blew a tire at about 2500 miles, just a couple of months after buying our brand-new White Hawk, I had these same thoughts about how it was transported from Indiana to Texas... probably at 80 mph most of the way... ... Tongue high or low places more load on either the front or rear tires. If they're already near their max limit... and with LRC tires, mine was... then they've run overloaded tires, probably at higher speed than they're designed for, for quite a few hours and over a thousand miles. As poorly made as some of them seem to be, it's no wonder they have such a bad reputation and such a seemingly high failure rate. There's probably no real data on that failure rate... but from what I read on RV forums, it sure seems that way. But, as Cherokee Bill told me when I was a kid... Ya pays yer moneys and ya takes yer chances. I'm rolling on new LRD tires now and I have a bit more confidence, but just a bit.

[RPreeb]

I can't say with absolute certainty, but I see lots of TT's on flatbeds westbound on I-76. Just today I saw two loads of Starcraft TT's, and I've seen JayCo's several times being hauled by semis. The most likely destination for anything like that going down I-76 is Denver and the various front range RV dealers, so I like to imagine that mine was delivered that way.