Taking a week off and running our trailer over to the Myrtle Beach. Just picked it up at repo auction and went over the entire trailer including airing up the tires, all of which look like new (trailer was purchased in July of 08, so they are not even two years old). Headed up the interstate and thought the added vibration was simply due to a stretch of rough pavement, when passing car signaled us to pull over. Tire blown out on passenger side. Just a mess of wire and shredded rubber.

Undoubtedly the Lord was looking after us as we were almost to an off ramp with little traffic and a shady spot at the bottom to change the tire. The spare was new and I also had aired it up before leaving, and we were able to continue at much reduced speed, until we got to a Walmart and could pick-up a new spare.

This will be our beach camper for the year, so each time we come back over, I am going to put on a new tire, until I have them all changed out. Hate to do it, but a blow-out can really do a lot of expensive damage. This time all it did was make a small tear in the belly wrap, which I can easily repair.

Weather is warm, beer is cold, and all is right with the world!

Steve

 

Glad it worked out for you as well as it did. The TT we just bought has 2 two chinese car tires on it and two OLD Goodyear trailer tires, gonna be looking at replacing them here very shortly... Enjoy Myrtle Beach!!

 

Interensting RV_Tech, I picked up an 03 Keyston Cougar 5er Saturday, it was clean and looked great. I actually feel like I stole it...$2500, auction. Like you this is going to be our hunting, fishing, beach, rough country camper, short distances. On our way back, stopped for fuel and I was airing tires and such and noticed a golf ball size knot on the passenger side rear wheel. SuperMax tires, 225x70x 15 load range D's. Luckily I did not have the blow out, I changed to the spare which was a Carlisle and drove the last 80 miles at 50 mph. I am headed out Monday to order new tires. I do not have room to move to 16 inch wheels, so I guess I am going to get Maxxis as over on RV.net, they have a good reputation and they also have them in a Load Range E...
Anyway, we went thru the 5er, today, needs new battery, kitchen faucet. All water lines hold pressure with no leaks, converter/inverter is a Parrallax 6345, that is getting an upgrade. I guess we will see what happens....

 

Slowing down is about the only thing I can think of that makes sense in these situations. I did the same thing.

I assume you are thinking of upgading the converter with a 7345R. I usually go to a 7355 to pick up a bit more power, although the need for more converter power could be debated. For a clean fiver, the price is great. Much less than at repo auctions where prices currently are running quite high.

I have worked on a ton of Cougars. No particular problem areas I can think of. Should make a good rig.

Enjoy!

Steve

 

Yep, when its 90 degrees or higher, I try to slow down, sometimes it very hard....the 6.4 liter, pulled this 30 fter and really could not tell it was there.

I think I am going to move to PDI on the conver. I like the Charge Wizard Technology, I have had great luck in the past and the 2 year warranty, is a big plus. It has a 45 amp and moving to a 60. I already have 2-U2200 Interstate Golf Cart batteries, put those in series and I should have some sustainability boodocking.

I am a little leary of the Fridge, it is a Dometic 2652. There was a big recall a bunch of those and from my understanding the "fix" was piece of metal as a sheild? I really don't want to fork out a grand or more for a fridge. I plugged the fridge in last night and now it is freezing, on gas and on 120v. It seems I cannot regulate it.

 

Steve, Glad everything worked out for you. I run Carlile trailer tires on our 32' TT. They came on it when it was new & I have never had a problem with them in 5 years. If I was to start towing it a lot again I would buy 5 new Carlile's in 10 ply. I presently have 8 ply.
Blowing trailer tires can cause a bunch of serious damage. I have seen floors destroyed on slide-outs.

Craig

 

I used to carry Progressive Dynamics converters, but had so much trouble with failures I stopped. Warranties can be great from the consumer side, but when I am the one covering them, I go way beyond the manufacturer's coverage in that I pay for the cost of everything and it was a real pain.

The fridge recall does not cost you anything and includes two thermo shut offs in case of fire, as well as the metal jacket. Dometic pays for everything. There have been some major fires and lawsuits so I would have it done. I have done hundreds. It normally takes me no more than 20 minutes, although once in a while I have to slide the fridge forward to get the metal jacket around the burner tube.

Go here to see if you fridge is on the recall list: Official Dometic Recall - DometicUSA

If you fridge is freezing everything, first make sure the thermistor in the lower compartment is mounted up against the fins as it can't read temperature if it is just hanging there, which happens a lot. If that doesn't do it, the odds are your thermistor is shot. It changes resistance with temperature change and tells the board in the back what is going on. You used to have to pull the fridge to change it, but now Dometic makes a kit that includes just new ends. It comes with instructions and it simple to install. Just a new end inside the cabinet and at the board.

Here's a link that tells you how to check the thermistor: Thermistor

Holler if you get stuck. This is all very simple to do.

Steve

 

You're right the damage can be extensive. I have had to make new body panels and on one rig the blow-out trashed all the propane lines and the floor. I had to run new propane lines to every appliance. Lucky on that one there was not an explosion when the propane came out in a cloud of vapor. A lot of folks don't realize on most rigs water lines and sometime propane lines run right over the tires. I have also had to replace a lot of water lines due to blow-outs.

Steve

 

These stories were my exact concern when I was in the process of buying my 5er. I am watching mine closely and will change them out for some goodyears by next summer.

I am hoping that I will get some use out of them. I have a 3500 mile trip planned for this summer.

 

Scott..... If you can keep that speed reasonable, I don't think you'll have any problems....just check those tire pressures every few days while on the road and do a walk around at every fuel stop.

The hardest thing to do with the Ford diesel is going less than the speed limit!!!! I used the speed control almost the whole way on my nationwide tour a few years back and I never had a tire problem.

I think I maxed out my bad luck with tires a year before that trip when my tire dealer (no longer) installed 4 Chinese tires and I blew 3 of them in less than a year. Of course even when I delivered the carcasses back to him he "couldn't find that sale in his computer" ! That's why Mr Tire doesn't sell me tires anymore!

 

RVTECH (no hijacking of thread intended)

I have a norcold n611 in an 07 Winnebago View. I had the boards replaced on the fridge in Nov. If I connect to shore power, the board at the rear of the fridge clicks and will lock out the fridge it will do this whether on elec., gas, or automatic. It works fine on batteries. I believe the converter is the problem. It is a Parallax 7345.

Your help and opinion would be appreciated.
thanks
ck

 

Bud,

I agree, don't think I will win any speed races anyway


Scott

 

A bit off target, but here goes. First here is how you check your hypothesis. Go to you breaker panel and throw the breaker that powers the converter off. The breaker feeding the converter will be the one you see that normally has a wire nut on it so the breaker powers the converter and at least one other circuit. You have to turn off the converter.

Now, if it is the converter, you should be plugged into shore power, but your board will be operating on your battery. No possibility the converter is interfering with operation, If you now have full function, your problem is almost assuredly your converter. A technician, by the way, would do this test by using independent AC and DC sources, which is why I have a generator and battery for testing on my truck.

As an aside, the refrigerator boards are absolutely the most sensitive of all boards in RVs to bad power and when the refrigerator starts acting weird, one of the first things to check it converter output, especially if you start seeing things like a "check" light when running on electric, since that signal should only occur on gas.

Good luck,

Steve

 

I'm going to respectfully disagree. I watch pressures obsessively and simply don't speed as I feel it wastes fuel and is harder on my equipment. My tires were all inflated to max cold pressure and all looked good. The ones still on the camper look great. In addition, the pressures were all good when I checked them, so there was no indication they had been run while under-inflated.

These Chinese suckers simply do not give any kind of a warning before they unravel and I have been doing "walk-arounds" at fuel stops for years. When manufacturers cut corners, things can fail with no prior indication.

My two cents worth,

Steve

 

RV_TECH

Thanks
ck