Mangled metal shields at rear tires.

[Bullitt6283]

I am in the midst of changing out all the tires on my Greyhawk, since they are 5 years old and showing some minor sidewall cracks. I am taking the tires off at home, two at a time, and transporting them a couple miles to the tire shop. The shop is one I trust to do a proper job, but access to their parking lot would be a severe challenge to my RV.

When taking off both the left side and right side rear duals, I noticed pieces of sheetmetal hanging down inboard of the duals. I presume they are suposed to be shields of some sort, but on both the left and right sides the sheetmetal is deformed by being hit repeatedly by the helper spring u-bolts above the axle at full compression.

I reformed the sheetmetal pieces by hand to hopefully avoid future contact. On the driver's side, the 'shield' was being rubbed on the outside by a helper spring u-bolt, and on the inside by the water line from the water tank feeding the water pump. It was obvious that the sheetmetal had been vibrating, since there was a 1" fatigue tear at the aft end.

It would not have been a good day if the sheetmetal pieces were deformed such that they hit the tires.


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