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pjriss

pjriss

Active member
Joined
Feb 22, 2007
Posts
43
Location
Northern California
We took out our new (to us) motorhome for our maiden voyage last weekend and we had a great time. We went from Sacramento to Westport for a total of about 460 miles. We left Friday 3/16 and got back home yesterday.

About 100 miles into the trip on Hwy 20 on the way to Clearlake we learned all about tire dry rot. Yep, sidewall blowout. Completely shredded left front on a downhill right sweeping curve. Yikes! Spent the night at Walmart in Clearlake and had 5 new tires by the time we left town on Saturday.

Westport was awesome. Typical weather, mist, fog, sun and the beach was all ours.

I?ll definitely be upgrading my DC system. The puny single OEM house battery needed recharging every morning and I?m thinking a Banks exhaust on the ?ol 460 would make me a very happy boy after traversing Hwy?s 1 & 20 to the coast.

All in all a very good time was had by all. We could get used to this RV?ing lifestyle thing!

Paul & Brenda
 
Sorry about the problems on the maiden voyage, but happy you enjoyed the trip. Now you're hooked.  It get better each time out with minor bumps along the way.  However, the good far surpass the bumps.  Good luck and welcome to the forum.
 
Sorry to hear about the tire problem, but that is par for the course when they get several years old or have been just sitting still a lot. Like people, tires need exercise to stay healthy.

Anyway, we are glad the problem did not "turn you off" on RVing and we look forward to hearing more of your adventures.
 
Ditto about the tire problem. Just out of curiosity, do you happen to know the date code on the old tires? We always advocate replacement at 6 years, 7 max.
I?m thinking a Banks exhaust on the ?ol 460 would make me a very happy boy after traversing Hwy?s 1 & 20 to the coast.
Click to expand...
Before spending thousands of dollars on a Banks system, you may want to crawl under the coach and see if there are any bends or necking down in the exhaust system. My '96 460 had some severe restrictions where it crossed over the driveshaft, and a $400 (maybe somewhat more now) Walker (Tenneco) replacement system gave me a significant power gain. Self installed, it took about half a day; removing the old resonator, muffler, and tailpipe taking the majority of the time. In retrospect, I should have left the resonator on because of the additional sound level without it. The system came complete with muffler, all necessary pipes, hangers, clamps, and a nice chromed exhaust tip - and everything fit! Now it's 3" from front to back and makes a whale of a difference in power. Definitely worth looking into.
 
Me too. - -  Curious, that is.  8)

Why 5 new tires? Means you kept 2 of the old tires. (Assuming you had a spare.)  ??? Which two? Why?  :-\

Like I said, just curious.

Ray D  ;D
 
Hey thanks for the tip Karl I'll definately be checking my exhaust for restrictions.

As for why 5 tires,
My spare and an inner rear turned out to be good as new and different brands than the five Michelins I replaced.
 
pjriss said:
As for why 5 tires,
My spare and an inner rear turned out to be good as new and different brands than the five Michelins I replaced.
Click to expand...

What is the date code on the tires you did not replace?  How the tire looks doen't mean a thing if the tires are 7 years old.  Tires are date coded by the manufacturer at the time they are made.  Tires begin to age immediatley after they are manufactured.  Tires over 7 years old per the date code are not safe to use. The date code can be found on only one side of the tire after the letters DOT. 


 
Ron said:
What is the date code on the tires you did not replace?  How the tire looks doen't mean a thing if the tires are 7 years old.  Tires are date coded by the manufacturer at the time they are made.  Tires begin to age immediatley after they are manufactured.  Tires over 7 years old per the date code are not safe to use. The date code can be found on only one side of the tire after the letters DOT. 
Click to expand...

Whale oil beef hooked! Turns out that one "good as new" tire is most likely the OEM spare from 1996, three digit date code ending in 6. The other one's from '02 so it's ok for now as a spare. So off I go to Walmart to get the final piece of the matching set.

So I'll have to settle for the silver lining being the fact that the tire blew right in front of a view area with a nice level shaded parking area.

Thanks again for all the tips guys!
 
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