Community Forums

adamVA · 01-17-2013, 11:18 AM

Howdy all! Newbie on this forum. Previously rebuilt a popup and interacted heavily on popupportal.com for support and it turned out awesome so looking forward to conversation and ideas on this forum.

I recently bought my first TT, a 1987 Fleetwood Prowler 24P with some hidden issues. It's coming along nicely and will post thread on the rebuild soon but this one stumps me.

After consulting the youtubes, I did my first wheel bearing re-pack job and it went well far as I can tell. Short trip around the block after and it pulled fine. The tires look great and have no cracking and lots of tread. I even have the receipt for them showing bought, I think, around 6/2011. The problem is ONE tire has a major wear spot where it looks like it was locked up while being pulled and is ground down really flat! As I said, the bearing change went well, I cleaned cobwebs/cocoons/etc behind brake shoes, everything spun freely and nothing felt like it was binding inside or out.

Sssooooo 2 questions:
1. Is there something I should be looking at closer in the drum or elsewhere or consider it an old problem and just keep a close eye on it when towing?

2. Is it safely usable with the other 3 tires or too worn down? Should I just buy a new one and keep this for emergencies or better to completely discard it?

Attempted to attach pics to this post so hope they show up. Looking forward to the feedback and any suggestions on what might have caused this.

CampDaven · 01-17-2013, 11:32 AM

Along with ensuring there is not going to be a recurring cause, the pic shows it worn too far to be safe. It would fail state inspection where I live so would be replaced anyway.

esox07 · 01-20-2013, 11:58 AM

I agree. That tire is bad. I would buy a new one to replace it and keep that one for the spare. Even if the tire was safe to use which I don't feel it is, I would expect that it will result in a continuous vibration while in use which could not only cause problems in the hub, brakes and axel but could also put added wear on other parts of the trailer. If you don't have a spare already, just leave that one mounted and buy a whole new wheel to replace it.
Bruce

Skip426 · 01-20-2013, 12:14 PM

I agree with , Bruce , 100% tire is junk and would shake your trailer to bits. I would be reluctant to use it as a spare. Even a short trip to a tire store could cause that tire to fail. The wear not extending to the outer treads makes the damage very odd, looks like it was overinflated when the damage occoured ???

VanDiemen23 · 01-20-2013, 12:30 PM

even if you use it it won't last long. flat spotted tires tend to "dwell" a bit on the flat spot when braking, so they continue to wear the flat spot.

Franka548 · 01-20-2013, 02:43 PM

I agree, discard the tire, it is not even good as a spare. It looks like a brake was locked and the trailer was pulled down the road for a ways. Everyone is correct that the vibration will tear things up.
Frank

BCooke · 01-20-2013, 03:14 PM

I would not use it as a spare. Should you ever need a spare that would beat on the suspension and cause handling problems.

Edit: think early summer flat spots that is on one tire and will not soften up.

grizzlyalf · 01-20-2013, 07:41 PM

That tire has a broken belt, look at your other tires closely for any cracks in the tread area, if they are older than 6 years get rid of them

esox07 · 01-20-2013, 08:42 PM

guys, I realize that driving on the tire even as a spare is not optimal but we are talking "SPARE" here. First of all, I said that he should use it only if he doesn't already have one. Second, a spare is not intended to be used as a long term fix any more than the donuts they put in most cars these days. It should just be used to limp into the next place to have it fixed. I guess if you have extra money laying around, then go ahead, buy a new tire for the spare as well. But the tire must be at least useable as it was working when it came off the trailer to start with.

See, it just seems a lot of people on these RV forums have money to burn. It took all could get just to afford a simple 19 foot used BH trailer. We can't all afford 30 foot trailers with chrome rims, electric awnings,built in 5K generators, three slide outs and 42" flat screen with dedicated satellite service. Not to mention the $75,000 rig to pull it all. It seems like the advice is always the biggest and the best when someone asks for advice. For some of us, money is an issue.
Bruce

Arch Hoagland · 01-20-2013, 09:30 PM

I wouldn't use that tire even for a spare.

I had two trailer tires blow out at the same time (6 months old, long story) and they almost caught on fire before I got stopped.

You don't know you have a flat back there until it starts to sway real bad or it's smoking.

I don't think that tire has any life left in it and I sure wouldn't risk using it at all.

Davidej M · 01-20-2013, 09:56 PM

You do not want to chance the tire under any circumstance. If the tire looks even the least bit bad relace it. A tire is the last problem is the last thing you want.

TheJeep · 01-20-2013, 10:22 PM

The tire is a safety issue and should be replaced. I would not use it as a spare either. I have seen several trailer tires blow out on trailers in front of me and they do some nice (or not so nice) damage to the trailers.

FastEagle · 01-20-2013, 10:29 PM

Have you checked the shackle links for the axles? I’ve seen that type of damage before and it was caused by one axle locking up on a sharp backward turn because of a broken axle link. The tire still rotating ground the rubber right off the locked-up one.

FastEagle

BCooke · 01-21-2013, 03:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by esox07

guys, I realize that driving on the tire even as a spare is not optimal but we are talking "SPARE" here. First of all, I said that he should use it only if he doesn't already have one. Second, a spare is not intended to be used as a long term fix any more than the donuts they put in most cars these days. It should just be used to limp into the next place to have it fixed. I guess if you have extra money laying around, then go ahead, buy a new tire for the spare as well. But the tire must be at least useable as it was working when it came off the trailer to start with.

See, it just seems a lot of people on these RV forums have money to burn. It took all could get just to afford a simple 19 foot used BH trailer. We can't all afford 30 foot trailers with chrome rims, electric awnings,built in 5K generators, three slide outs and 42" flat screen with dedicated satellite service. Not to mention the $75,000 rig to pull it all. It seems like the advice is always the biggest and the best when someone asks for advice. For some of us, money is an issue.
Bruce

I would use a used tire over one that is out of round...
Instead of round you have a flat spot about 4-6" long..... flat....
The last flat (punctured) I had was not in a location where I had the luxury of driving on a questionable tire, being as I have only one spare. So we put off the next weekend trip and bought a tire when we got home, the money we saved on fuel payed for the tire, of course it was a sorry weekend.