Severe Tire Blowout

[freemanbobj]

You raise an interesting concern here... And to add to it, all the brochures and online specs for a 2014 Jayco x23b state the GWVR as 4995 lb , with CCC of 995 lb.

Yet I'm pretty sure that the sticker on the side of my trailer says 572lb CCC ( don't have it in my driveway, it's at the dealer's)

What's up with that?? Anybody else have two different numbers like this?

[Lolead]

One way to check camber is with a carpenters level, The trailer must be parked on a hard, level surface and this will not be anything exact. Simply place the level against the tire, although the wheel rim would be much better, as vertical as possible. Now you should be able to tell by the bubble if the wheel is out at the top, positive camber, or out at the bottom, negitive camber. I would check each wheel against the other, this should tell you if something is amiss in the axles.

[norty1]

Originally Posted by sobuck1

temp I understand just wondering about PSI

Sorry for the confusion on my part. My trailer tires run 100 psi cold and increase in pressure and temp accordingly. The psi goes up also according to speed and ambient temp. I have seen them as high as 117 psi in very hot , 100 degree ambient temps.

My TPMS is set to alarm at over 20 psi high. They have never gone over that.

The truck tires run 60 and 80 psi and also track those same parameters.

[bankr63]

Originally Posted by freemanbobj

Thank you for this very valuable feedback! A few comments, using my numbers above to relate to what you said on each point:

1. It sounds like your dealer found it impossible to find a replacement axle. I was hoping that Dexter would just ship another pair of axles for me....not necessarily going to be the case, or were your axles maybe just 'Rare'? I too am in Canada...does that make it harder to get them?

A little bit harder to get one in Canada perhaps. No my axle was not particularly rare: '08 Jayco 1007 pup. My Jayco dealer service department is about 45 minutes away on the other side of the city. My servicing dealer is not a Jayco dealer, but is a large dealer 10 minutes from home. The service advisor there came from my original Jayco dealer a few years ago and knows the line well. They were looking for an axle "in channel" from Dexter in Canada with no success, it was also late season. Eventually they could have gone to Dexter in states, but time and cost become an issue.

Also, I did start a claim with my insurance company as well. Am I better off going with my Jayco warranty or with the insurance claim, is another question that I thought of?

I would pursue both; Jayco is pretty good at goodwill. They may step up. But if you think that it was a road hazard, your insurance is the better way to go.

5. Regarding thinking about some preceding driving experience, at the beginning of our trip, we drove thru Montreal on HWY 40 and they were the WORST roads we have ever driven on....the pavement was just covered in patches and dips and what all ....it was an hour of pure hell. We put another 1,200 miles or so going out to PEI then back thru Maine where this all happened. From your post, it sounds like that would be enough miles to wear the tires down to the belts?

I think it depends on how badly out of alignment the axle is. Certainly was more than enough mileage for mine, but the alignment problem on our pup was very noticeable if you really looked at it.

7. That Montreal experience seems to describe exactly what you say here in point #7 feedback, with the miles you project being put on after the experience all compressed into the fact that we were at the beginning of a 2,000 mile trip.

A follow up request for feedback.... It is true that the wheel bearings are right about at the point where the Dexter manual says they need to be serviced...12,000 miles. You describe overheating and significant tire wobble as symptoms of that problem...on our trip back with new tires, I constantly checked the hubs with the back of my hand for heat buildup and never any.

Would this lack of heat in 700 miles, the fact that the hub/spindles showed no 'searing' or anything when the dealer was putting new tires on, and the fact that all four tires showed the exact same wear pattern to the exact same degree....does this rule out wheel bearings, or is it still a possible cause of what happened?

You want to repack your bearings long before you get them so dry that they overheat, so yes, follow Dexter's recommendation. We don't do high mileage, so I tend to do mine every other year, but most people recommend every year. I would think that loose bearings as described would be more likely to lead to pitting of the races. Scoring, heating and scorching would be more related to too dry or too tight. Loose or too tight bearings are generally caused by a poor technician; once adjusted, the pin or retainer in the castle (or castellated) nut should prevent them from changing adjustment.

The fact that everything is wearing evenly is what leads me think it is an axle issue. Bearings usually fail or are mal-adjusted individually, leading to a problem with one tire, not all. With a standard axle, a broken spring might be to blame for rapid tire wear, but Torflex doesn't have springs.


Thanks again for everone's time reading this and especially to the last poster!

Good luck with the your situation. Get this taken care of before you wear out the new set of tires.

[bankr63]

Originally Posted by freemanbobj

You raise an interesting concern here... And to add to it, all the brochures and online specs for a 2014 Jayco x23b state the GWVR as 4995 lb , with CCC of 995 lb.

Yet I'm pretty sure that the sticker on the side of my trailer says 572lb CCC ( don't have it in my driveway, it's at the dealer's)

What's up with that?? Anybody else have two different numbers like this?

The brochure number is based on a completely empty trailer and no options. The number on the trailer sticker is based on YOUR unit as it rolled out of the factory with all options added and full propane tanks, but no water.

These manufacturer numbers do change over time as well. I based my comments on 2011 model because that's the brochure I have. In that year the 23B was rated GVWR of 4950 and CCC of 780 lbs. I suspect the axles on your 23B are the same as on my 19H as the GVWR (in 2011) was identical for both.

[Dondeb]

Originally Posted by freemanbobj

Thank you for this very valuable feedback! A few comments, using my numbers above to relate to what you said on each point:

1. It sounds like your dealer found it impossible to find a replacement axle. I was hoping that Dexter would just ship another pair of axles for me....not necessarily going to be the case, or were your axles maybe just 'Rare'? I too am in Canada...does that make it harder to get them?

Also, I did start a claim with my insurance company as well. Am I better off going with my Jayco warranty or with the insurance claim, is another question that I thought of?

5. Regarding thinking about some preceding driving experience, at the beginning of our trip, we drove thru Montreal on HWY 40 and they were the WORST roads we have ever driven on....the pavement was just covered in patches and dips and what all ....it was an hour of pure hell. We put another 1,200 miles or so going out to PEI then back thru Maine where this all happened. From your post, it sounds like that would be enough miles to wear the tires down to the belts?

7. That Montreal experience seems to describe exactly what you say here in point #7 feedback, with the miles you project being put on after the experience all compressed into the fact that we were at the beginning of a 2,000 mile trip.

A follow up request for feedback.... It is true that the wheel bearings are right about at the point where the Dexter manual says they need to be serviced...12,000 miles. You describe overheating and significant tire wobble as symptoms of that problem...on our trip back with new tires, I constantly checked the hubs with the back of my hand for heat buildup and never any.

Would this lack of heat in 700 miles, the fact that the hub/spindles showed no 'searing' or anything when the dealer was putting new tires on, and the fact that all four tires showed the exact same wear pattern to the exact same degree....does this rule out wheel bearings, or is it still a possible cause of what happened?

Thanks again for everone's time reading this and especially to the last poster!

We had a 256RKS that we had a similar situation happen. Driving on I-40 to the Grand Canyon was rough with lots of construction and pot holes. Once we returned home, about 1000 miles later, we noticed one of the rear tires was worn down to the steel belt on the inside. We immediately replaced the tire and kept the old one for reference. Our dealer took one look at the trailer and asked if we knew how we had bent the axle. The only thing we could relate to was back to the rough road on I-40 even though it had not seemed that rough. He immediately asked who our insurance was through and started the insurance claim. The insurance adjuster approved the claim without any questions. The axle ended up costing $1250 of which we just had to pay our deductible of $100. Since the trailer only had about 3000 miles on it they simply transferred the brakes and wheels to the new axle. Never would have thought to file an insurance claim without the dealer's suggestion.

[freemanbobj]

Thanks to all for posts ... Okay so my dealer says axles are bent and is waiting to hear from Jayco. Here is my hopefully next-to-last question:

All four tires were worn down right to the steel belts on the inside but otherwise had lots of tread on them.

On four new tires we did drive home some 700 miles without ncident.

Question: is there any way to determine when this bent axle condition was introduced , if we have put 10,000 miles total on the trailer.... Shipped from factory? After 1000 miles? After 9,000 miles?

[bankr63]

You might guestimate based on your 700 miles if there is noticeable wear already on the new tires. If the inner tread looks to be about a quarter gone compared to the outer after 700 miles, then wear through might take about 3000 miles. But that would only be a wildly rough estimate.

[freemanbobj]

Hi there , if you’ve been following my x23b saga, you will know that we found all 4 tires worn on the inside down to the steel belts. As predicted, my dealer is telling me that I overloaded the trailer and bent the axles.

Which led me to ponder the life of my trailer on this earth since I first laid eyes on it, almost tearing up as I do, Kleenex at hand.

We had our trailer for 22 months. For 19 of those months , or 85% of the time, it sat in our driveway, unloaded.

For about 60 days, or 10% of the time it sat in a campground.

About 80% of that 60 days, we were inside our trailer. That's 400lb of weight.
During those camping days too you can assume that on average, each of the water tanks was half full, so 50 gallons total at 10lb == 500 lb. Add in the allowed 632lb of CCC, so while camping on a site, the trailer was theoretically loaded with at least 1532lb, on average.

So to capsulate its short life, 85% of the time the trailer sat almost empty, in our driveway and 10% of its life it had more than 1532lb of weight on its axles, while we were actually camping.

Finally the last 4% of its life was spent 'on the road', with more than 632lb theoretically loaded into it. I've tried several times to add up rugs,chair, food,lpgas,batteries,tools,power cables,blankets, mattress covers, sundries and just can't get well past the 632lb allowed , enough to cause both axles to sag downward during that 4% of the trailer's life.

No matter. Does it not seem more reasonable to assume that the axles bent or sagged downward when the trailer was its heaviest for the longest period of time, that is the 10% of its life when we were inside it camping?

So, is Jayco telling me that they are happy to sell me a Jayco X23b light weight trailer and take my 20$k, but that I should never expect to be able to sit in it or actually Use it for camping??

[bankr63]

The best answer to this is that you have the stab jacks down when you are in the trailer camping. They will be taking up much of the weight from living in the TT, not the axles.

[Subaru297]

You need to weigh the trailer on a CAT scale. No amount of guessing at weights will tell you what you need to know.

Weight adds up really fast!

And I really doubt your axles got bent sitting in a campground. As mentioned above you would have had your jacks down and even 1500lbs static load is probably less stress than 600lbs load bouncing around going down the highway and over bumps.

Hopefully your warranty covers you. Although it might not if the dealer thinks you overloaded the trailer.

Cheers

[TSTGUY]

You may need to see if your tires are inflated properly.
If you haven't weighed your trailer, you should be running your air pressure at the maximum cold pressure. Typically on a 15" trailer tire it is 65 lbs.

I teach tire safety seminars all over the country. If you have questions please do not hesitate to contact me. I will be happy to answer your questions.

You will get all sorts of comments on forums. Most of the time they are very accurate but sometimes...

Let me know if I can help