Frequent flat tires and wheel issues.

[Kennyrins]

I have had a Jayco popup Eagle summit for three seasons. In three moderately long trips I have experienced 3 blowouts, two tire valve stem failures, and my wheeling bearing cap fell off causing axle grease to spew. All told, I have had to call AAA 4 times in three years for help. I am always the last one in the group to arrive because of the delays. I have had the tires checked before each trip and they always pass. We really love the Eagle but we are annoyed by the constant travel delays caused by these wheel issues.

[Rustic Eagle]

Kennyrins,

First, welcome to the Jayco forums

Tire problems can be associated to a number of things, such as:

* Over/under inflated.
* Exceeding PUP GVWR.
* One side of PUP exceeding tire maximum weight.
* Axle alignment issue.
* Rim inner bead or valve stem hole compromised (burr, etc.).
* Bent rim.
* Low clearance between tire and top of wheel well.
* Exceeding 65mph.

Just some food for thought.

Bob

[Jagiven]

I swear I posted something here last night.

How old is your trailer and tires? Valve stems go bad regularly. A lot of popups have really narrow light weight tires. You could upgrade them to a heavier tire that is possibly wider (if the rig will let you).

I believe single axle trailers have more tire issues than tandems. Don’t quote me, but I think the tires take more of a beating as single axle trailers bounce more, and the tires see an impact load (pressure spike).

I like to carry a laser thermometer. When I stop I check the brake and hub temperatures. After a few trips you find what is the normal operating temperatures, which does change based on driving condition, IE city driving verses hwy driving.

[Tyreguy]

More than likely you're having tire age related failures. Valve stems get old just like tires and fail without prior indication of any problems.

Prior to the first tire failure, do you know how old the tires were or when they were replaced last?

Did you check the tire pressures yourself before the trip or did you rely upon a shop to do it for you? I'm concerned about this because as you stated 'they' said the tires 'passed'- did they look to see how old* the tires were? Or did they just look at the tread? Were the tires properly inflated? So many question are going through my mind...

The grease cap falling off seems odd, but not unheard of. A gentle tap with a mallet every once-in-a-while isn't a bad thing.

*- Tires have date codes stamped into the sidewall of every tire- basically a 'born on' date. Most (using that term loosely) tire companies only recommend using a tire up to 6 years from the date the tire was built. After that they basically say "you're on your own". A large percentage of trailer tires fail due to old age as opposed to wearout of the tread (like a car).

If you want to find out for yourself how old the tires are on your camper (or your car) find the DOT numbers on the sidewall- they're there- somewhere, on one side or the other. You'll see a garble of numbers and letters after DOT...something to the effect of DOT E66 72AA 1206. The last set of numbers represents the month (12-december) and the year (06- 2006) of production.

If any tire(s) are older than 2006, they need to go- regardless of how good they may appear to be. And just assume that the valve stems were installed new with the tires close to that date, so they're old also and need replaced.