Community Forums

MWeiner · 04-11-2020, 03:32 PM

How many of you have or would like to have "dual wheels" on your Class B?

And, would you say this is an important safety feature in terms of a potential tire failure or handling.

Personally, getting a rig with dual wheels was a prerequisite for me, I wouldn't even consider buying a rig without the dual wheels.

Everyone has an opinion about this and I realize that there's certainly an extra expense for the 6 vs. 4 wheels, but, it was important to me for the extra rubber on the road with turning and the robust weight carrying capacity.

Just my two cents.

Luv2go · 04-11-2020, 07:35 PM

Our experience with our Roadtrek 210 is mixed. We live in the Northeast where tolls are higher in several places for dual rear wheels vs single rear wheels, so having the singles saves us tolls. On the other hand, we just finished replacing the driver's side axle and bearing as it had worn out after 100K miles constantly at GAWR. The Super 60 semi-floating rear axle in our van was really not designed for it's rating and Chevy replaced it in later years with a full floating axle.

Regarding tire failure, the scariest issue we have had is a tread separation on the left rear on I40 in TN last winter, caused no driveability issues other than the noise. The tire didn't blow and we were able to creep for what seemed like 10 miles on the shoulder to an exit.

We had a tire go low on the Canyon Star but the TPMS warned us and we promptly fixed it (turned out to be the braided valve stem extender). We are quite anal about keeping our tires inflated properly and I credit that to not having experienced a blowout to date on any of our vehicles.

Having said that, we are going to convert a panel van in the next couple of years to replace the Roadtrek and are leaning towards single rear wheels, planning to keep the weight down by using light materials and good design to be significantly under GAWR.