Tire Pressure Heat Monitor System

[ParrishCampe]

I have a dual axle travel trailer and I'm looking to purchase tire pressure/heat monitor system.
What systems are you using? Do you like it?
I was thinking Tire Minder but not sure.
We just had bearings burn up on a 6 month old camper not even 15 miles from home. I would hope heat sensor would have warned be before seeing smoke trail coming from camper in my mirrors.
90% of our trips are one tank so we don't stop from home to campground. When we do go on long trips I use an infrared thermometer while filling up.
Thanks!

[mel s]

Originally Posted by ParrishCampe

I have a dual axle travel trailer and I'm looking to purchase tire pressure/heat monitor system.
What systems are you using? Do you like it?
I was thinking Tire Minder but not sure.
We just had bearings burn up on a 6 month old camper not even 15 miles from home. I would hope heat sensor would have warned be before seeing smoke trail coming from camper in my mirrors.
90% of our trips are one tank so we don't stop from home to campground. When we do go on long trips I use an infrared thermometer while filling up.
Thanks!

ParrishCampe
I doubt that there's a tire pressure/heat monitor that will warn you of a failing wheel bearing....however your infrared thermometer MIGHT... (if you use it at the right time)

[keymastr]

I always stop after 20 minutes of towing and feel the hubs. If they are too hot to touch there is a problem. The side exposed to the sun will be hotter but you should still be able to touch them for a few seconds.

[hayward3411]

Ok, I guess I will chime in here, earlier this year when coming out of the mountains in Virginia a friend who was following me pulling his TT asked me to pull over because the temperature on one of his tires was increasing. If you monitor the individual temps and are familiar with your system you can pick up a failing bearing. If you are experiencing increasing tire temperatures and can't explain why, pull over and check things out. It saved him a blowout and potential damage to his TT.

PS: I believe the temp increase was under 10 degrees on the failed bearing tire.

[scbwr]

I've had a EEZ RV Products TPMS system for about a year and it has worked well. But, as already stated, a TPMS probably wouldn't be that good for detecting a bearing failure. Having bearings fail on a 6 month old trailer leads me to think that the bearings weren't properly greased at the factory. I've read other threads where owners of newer trailers have found bearings not properly greased, so I think owners of new trailers should have the bearings checked before hitting the road.

IMHO, it's best to stop every 2 hours or so while traveling and check your rig. I make it a point to do a walk around check as soon as we pull over, then proceed to restroom, restauarant or whatever. Of course, we're up in our sixties and retired, so we have a more relaxed approach to traveling. But, when towing, I think it is much safer to pull over and check the rig rather than travel for many hours without stopping.

[lynnmor]

Heat from a bad bearing would need to heat the hub/drum then the wheel and then the valve stem before an alarm is triggered. That process would take a lot of time and may be too late to save a spindle.

The alarm systems are a good thing but they only report failure after the fact. Use the system but only after you replace the junk bearings with quality Timken parts and quality grease, and adjust properly.