Glad I re-torqued the lug nuts!

[wwsmith111]

Today I had a major tire chain put on a new set of Maxxis E rated tires on my new 2014 Eagle 338 rlts and got rid of the Towmax junk tires that came on it. I told the guys how to torque it according to the Jayco manual (torque 3 times using progressively higher torque) but I guess he forgot to do one of the tires. I drove it about 10 miles and re-torqued it. One wheel was about 65 ft-lbs instead of 115 ft-lbs! The other three were good. I wonder how long it would take for that one wheel/tire to work loose and come off?

[ddrueckh]

A good reminder to all to check... Thanks.

[Tunce the traveler]

I carry a torque wrench with me but my trips average 3-4K miles and right now I'm 2K miles out.

[jddave]

wwsmith111:
I had a lug nut torquing problem on my Jay Flight 24RKS on a trip this spring/summer. I set the lug nuts @ 115 ft-lbs at the beginning of the trip. The second night on the road all wheels were below spec. Of course I checked them after max of 500 miles and they continued to be below spec on all wheels. Talked with many Jayco owners, long time fellow campers and many truck drivers. they did not like the beveled non-removable part on all the lug nuts. About of 1/3 thru our 13,000 mile trip I changed the Equalizer hitch support on the passenger side of the trailer. It had loosened and moved forward 6 inches- I thought the dealer did this difference in length on purpose as they installed the WD hitch. Once I made the supports equal on both sides of the frame the lug nuts held their torque for the rest of the trip. By the way the beveled part on the end of the lug nuts were correct as the rims have an indentation to accept them to make the fit more secure. We had to replace 2 rear trailer tires in Montana but found out this is normal for the type of mountain switch back roads we were travelling on the trip.

[wwsmith111]

jddave, I installed my wd hitch hangers per the instructions with two bolts threw the frame. Not doing this may allow the hangers to slide around. When I took delivery the dealer had installed the hangers just using the set screw and one hanger was actually putting pressure on the battery box when I turned to the right and would slide the other way when I turned to the left. There is a lot of pressure on the hangers no doubt. The dealer did install the anti-sway post threw the frame with bolts but took a shortcut installing the hangers. Also, reading the Jayco manual it states something to the effect that one has to re-torque several times after travelling various distances. It seems that the lugs loosening somewhat is normal and it may take several times of re-torquing for them to "set" and stay torqued. The same thing happens on 18 wheelers.

[Parcany]

Let me say that everytime I get the wheel bearings repacked, when I get home I have to retorque the lug nuts. When I got new tires installed I watched them torque the lug nuts and the tire guy came over and showed me the torque setting. I was happy

[wwsmith111]

I watched the guy torque mine to, but I must have gotten distracted for a minute because he sure missed one wheel.

[cekkk]

JDDave, "We had to replace 2 rear trailer tires in Montana but found out this is normal for the type of mountain switch back roads we were travelling on the trip."

I just replaced the tires on our three and a half year old TT. They had about 12k miles on them and they looked just fine. I just thought it was a good time to replace them.

We live at 9000' and drive lots of miles over mountain passes and curvy roads, I can't understand why wearing out two tires on a trip would be "normal." I would keep an eye on the new ones and look for unusual wear.

[eldermike]

Lug nuts on trailer tires need to be checked often. Trailer tires run hot based upon running very close to max load range of the tire, and the temp cycles tend to relieve the stress under tension at the nuts. IOW, Heat/cooling cycles tend to lower the torque values over time.

I tighten my lugs on every trip. I don't use a torque wrench I use my weight and experience. I use a 4 way lug wrench with a one foot moment arm (2 foot bar with one foot on each side) and I lay my upper body weight on the wrench. If the nut moves it was loose. There is always a few that move.

[wwsmith111]

I just replaced my d rated junk Towmax tires that my new Eagle came with with Maxxis E rated tires. Now there is very little tire squat and they never got over 85 degrees on the way home when measured with an infrared laser thermometer and it was 73 degrees outside. Heat will destroy a tire. I used the 4 way lug wrench for years with great success. I recently bought a click type Pittsburgh torque wrench from Amazon for like $12. I think the MAIN POINT IS TO CHECK the lug nut torque often. Lose lug nuts will be obvious when you put a lug wrench on them but not to the naked eye necessarily.