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CO-Bikeman · 07-02-2021, 09:00 PM

On June 10, 2021 my wife and I were 7 miles south of Alamosa, Colorado on Highway 285 nearing our destination for a week long camping trip. We were towing our tandem axle 5th wheel, the trip to this point had been uneventful.

Suddenly a small car came zooming next to us, with a child yelling out an open window to pull over and pointing at our trailer. I pulled over with trepidation and a man, apparently the father, jumped out and came to my window to tell me that we had lost a wheel!

I got out, walked to the right side of the trailer, and sure enough, one wheel was missing entirely, with the trailer heavily riding on the remaining tire. A quick inspection showed the wheel studs sheared off cleanly, so nothing to attach the spare to.

The father indicated he had an idea of where the wheel might be, so we both turned around and drove back almost two miles. We searched the side of the road, through tall weeds and bushes, for almost 1/2 mile. I was ready to give up when our savior shouted out "Here it is!" Sure enough, it had rolled off the shoulder, over some railroad tracks, across more weeds, over a fence, and into a farmer's irrigation ditch.

We rolled the tire up to the road and walked back to our vehicles. I thanked him profusely, asked his name (which I cannot remember), and asked him if he knew a tire shop. He said a guy from La Jara (where he was from) had just bought a shop in Alamosa called Reed Tire and I couldn't go wrong with them.

Against his wishes, I pressed a twenty into his hand (all I had! Wish it had been a hundred.) and we loaded the errant tire into my truck and took off. Given the load we drove very slowly and had time to call ahead. The person at Reed Tire listened and immediately put his head mechanic Carlos on the line.

Carlos said come on by, if the parts are available he could deal with it immediately. We arrived about 10 minutes later and Carlos and another mechanic were right on it. They had the hub off in minutes, pounded out the broken studs, and took off for the parts store.

I went back to our truck and my wife and I tried to reconcile ourselves with the possibility of spending the night or more in the tire store parking lot vs. our cool campsite.

Twenty minutes later I look in my rear view mirror to see Carlos racing into his shop. I got out and walked back to see him furiously pounding new wheel studs in. It took another twenty minutes and all was back together, our trailer on the ground and ready to roll. It was approximately 1:20 from the time we were pulled over.

I really wasn't sure what to expect for a bill, but when presented with the total it was more than reasonable. We settled up and were on our way.

Firstly, I have to say I feel so lucky. This could have played out so differently. I had no clue the wheel was gone and the remaining tire would not have lasted long. Second, I have to say this gave me such hope for humanity. Good people in small town Colorado came together to rescue some out-of-state tourists and save our trip.

Many thanks to Carlos and the crew at Reed Tire. Go to them, give them business. They are good, honest people. And many thanks to the fine young man from La Jara. I only wish I had his name and could contact him.

**TonyDi** · 07-02-2021, 09:04 PM

Wow, what a great story. You really lucked out.

Arch Hoagland · 07-02-2021, 09:39 PM

I was behind a pickup truck who lost a wheel and tire.

My passenger side tires went directly over it, rocking the coach severally. It pounded my front leveling jack up inside the bottom of the coach underneath my wife's seat. Pretty scary.

My toad went over it and the wheel tore out the plastic air dam under the engine.

About $3,000 in damage but my insurance covered it all.

**Lt Dan** · 07-02-2021, 09:45 PM

I'm glad that worked out for you. Everything seemed to be in place for the best outcome. That does beg the question, would a TPMS sound an alarm if it suddenly lost contact with a wheel that didn't lose pressure? There's nothing in the TST manual about that, only fast loss of pressure or high temperature. It looks like it wouldn't show up until that sensor missed its next report.

Toby Dog · 07-03-2021, 04:18 AM

I like stories like this. They always prove that there are many more good people than bad.

IC2 · 07-03-2021, 05:06 AM

Nice people are still out there and you found a couple.

OK, now, that other tire on that side needs to be looked at as a minimum and possibly replaced since it was probably overloaded by a lot. Next, I hope you have a torque wrench and give all of the lug nuts a check. All wheels need a recheck and aluminum a couple times (90-120 lb ft for 1/2 lugs)

CO-Bikeman · 07-03-2021, 05:40 AM

[/QUOTE]
OK, now, that other tire on that side needs to be looked at as a minimum and possibly replaced since it was probably overloaded by a lot. Next, I hope you have a torque wrench and give all of the lug nuts a check. All wheels need a recheck and aluminum a couple times (90-120 lb ft for 1/2 lugs)[/QUOTE]

I have decided to replace all of the wheel studs. The speculation is that the wheels were run at some point at too low a torque, allowing the wheel's motion to overstress them (I bought the trailer used). The wheels and the overloaded tire have been carefully inspected too. And I do have a torque wrench for sure!

Podivin · 07-03-2021, 05:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lt Dan

I'm glad that worked out for you. Everything seemed to be in place for the best outcome. That does beg the question, would a TPMS sound an alarm if it suddenly lost contact with a wheel that didn't lose pressure? There's nothing in the TST manual about that, only fast loss of pressure or high temperature. It looks like it wouldn't show up until that sensor missed its next report.

My TPMS (TST 507) does sound an alarm if it loses contact with a sender. I have one that drops out every now and then the alarm sounds when that happens.

n2zon · 07-03-2021, 05:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lt Dan

I'm glad that worked out for you. Everything seemed to be in place for the best outcome. That does beg the question, would a TPMS sound an alarm if it suddenly lost contact with a wheel that didn't lose pressure? There's nothing in the TST manual about that, only fast loss of pressure or high temperature. It looks like it wouldn't show up until that sensor missed its next report.

On our TireMinder, the "lost signal" alarm is not instant. On average, half the reporting period will elapse before the alarm sounds, and at worst, the entire interval. I have not found what the interval is in the manual, and have not tested it to find out, but now that you mention it...

hohenwald48 · 07-03-2021, 08:30 AM

The other tire on the failed side was extremely overloaded at highway speed for at least 2 miles. It continued to be overloaded at lower speed for however many miles it took to get to the shop.

If it was mine, there'd be brand new tires on that side and likely the other side too. But that's just me.

Jkwilson1989 · 07-03-2021, 11:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Podivin

My TPMS (TST 507) does sound an alarm if it loses contact with a sender. I have one that drops out every now and then the alarm sounds when that happens.

Unless they have changed something, it can take an hour or more. I can unhitch and drive miles away from my trailer and still get steady readings on the display for all 4 trailer tires.

Shutterbug57 · 07-03-2021, 07:34 PM

OP, glad it worked out and nobody was hurt. Years ago, my wife and I were behind a semi on a divided highway. The semi lost a dual set together and they began bouncing. As luck would have it, they hit in front of us and bounced over our Blazer. They then rolled down a fairly large hill and into a WalMart. They hit the wall in the auto shop area and went right through. The lift in what was, fortunately, an unoccupied bay stopped it but was damaged significantly.

arcaguy · 07-03-2021, 07:48 PM

I wouldn't necessarily think that the wheels were under torqued, over torquing will stress wheel studs too. My point being that you need to get the torque right. I once had a guy at a tire shop tighten the lug nuts on my pick up so tight I have to have a 5 ft cheater pipe and have a friend hit the socket with a hammer to get them loose. Yes it does happen.

mistercee · 07-03-2021, 08:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lt Dan

I'm glad that worked out for you. Everything seemed to be in place for the best outcome. That does beg the question, would a TPMS sound an alarm if it suddenly lost contact with a wheel that didn't lose pressure? There's nothing in the TST manual about that, only fast loss of pressure or high temperature. It looks like it wouldn't show up until that sensor missed its next report.

I can answer that one.....No!

We had the exact same experience last year....including the happy ending.

There was no notification from our Tireminder TPMS that we had lost communication. It continued to show the last reading. When we located the tire in the weeds...the next day (we had simply put on a spare - to the 4 remaining studs - and limped our way to our campsite about 30 miles up the road), the Tireminder happily re-established connection and began reporting pressure and temp.

As a side note, I believe my issue was caused by (severely) under torqueing. I had done my first bearing repack and I believe I neglected to torque down that particular wheel after putting it back on. I'm thinking 4 of the lug nuts worked loose, putting all the pressure on the two that remained. Those two lugs finally gave way and sheared, causing the roll away wheel.

Needless to say, I now have a checklist to follow when repacking bearings!