I have a 2003 four winds Infinity 34r class A on a ford chassis. It has been the single best purchase I have ever made for my family. We have seen and done things that others only dream of and the best part is we do it together, often with the kids bringing a friend who also get to experience the fun and adventure of RVing.
This past sunday we set out on just such a trip, with the boat in tow and 2 of the kids plus a friend of my 15 year old daughter. My oldest daughter stayed home to drive out with friends and meet us at lake Havasu AZ Monday morning.
Now I have been religious about maintenance and tire care for the 6 years and 80,000 miles we have owned this motorhome and I knew the tires were nearing their expiration. I had purchased new front tires september of 2008 but was trying to get a few more miles out of the drives. Stupid in hind site but I thought I could get by with it cause I have taken good care of the tires they are inside most of the time and parked on plastic tire sheilds with most of the weight on the jacks. Times are tough my business has been deathly sow this year and I am trying to save anywhere I can to get by till things pick up.
In may I had a blow out of the right rear inner. No damage we were going slow and I was able to get it stopped quick. put the spare on and continued our short trip to the desert for the weekend. This was a red flag and I started pricing and looking around for the best deal on tires. even at the best price I could find I was looking at $1500 that I just did not have or at least that was my rationalization. I mounted up the best tire from the front I had kept when I replaced them for a spare and we went on a couple short trips to a local lake and a desert race or 2. No problems but I knew I was pushing it.
Then my oldest daughter asked if we would take the boat to Havasu cause there was not room on the one boat that was going for everybody that wanted to go. I never turn down a boating trip so We decided (OK I decided My wife said to just buy the tires) we could get one more trip out of them after all I had taken good care of them and other people get away with much worse and money is tight and.............You know how it goes
So there we are happily driving east on the 10 in Indio Ca looking forward to getting to the lake early and getting a few hours in before dark and BAM THUMP,THUMP, THUMP, I got to the shoulder fast with no incident and got out to have a look. The left side outer had blown and the loose wire belts had knocked a hole in the utility compartment, taken out the black water valve and removed any wiring they could reach, and ripped everything but the power cord from inside the compartment, dump hose, tank chemicals, a new fresh water hose all my connection fittings and adapters. I could see all this stuff but I was not going into the freeway to get it and most of it had been run over by now anyway.
OK lesson learned I have to get new tires and fix the black water before we go WHY do I never learn. I put on the spare and start driving for home or wherever I can find 245x70x19.5" tires which are hard to find on a sunday afternoon. No road service has them AAA can't find anyone with any with the load rating I need. I finally find a set in San Bernardino at Camping World. OK so that is where we are going and I can fix the valve there too. Service is closed but I can find someone to mount and balance. Then BAM THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, We did not get 20 miles. This time it was the right side outer and it did more damage including fiberglass, hole in the fresh water tank more wires and blew out the inner wall in the bathroom. I figure the sudden expansion of air got inside the wall and removed the inner wall panel for me.
So here we are off the 10 freeway in Cabazon with another flat tire no spare and still 50 miles to the only RV tires I have been able to locate. We called a tow company for pricing and that was an option but a high dollar one that I wanted to avoid. We all spent about 40 minutes on the phone trying to find a tire or the best option. It came down to IF I could get the tires to me I could get a road service to mount them but not balance them. I called my daughter and told her to get in my truck and head for Camping world, but first grab my tire Irons, CO2 bottle and Nitrogen bottle from the shop and transfer money to buy tires into her account. In the mean time I used the lug wrench and a small 5/8" wrench to remove the blown tires from the wheels. I had lots of time may as well do something, I also was able to clean up the mess of the utility compartment and asses that damage. Turns out it was very fixable with some parts, glue and a saw. I called Mike @ Camping world and gave him my list, he called back and told me he had it all and would have it with the tires when Nicole got there.
Nicole came through like a champ and when she arrived I was able to get a tire mounted on a wheel inflated and on the motorhome to get us off the freeway. By then everything was closed and the tire service wanted a lot of money to do what I was fully capable of doing so I busted down the other tires and mounted them up right there in the Dinasour parking lot (some of you will know where we were). I fixed the black water valves and the wiring enough to finish the trip and we were on our way.
The rest of the drive was uneventfull. The boat broke but we were able to fix that too. I had the tires inspected and balanced at my favorite tire shop yesterday and everything was fine and the balanced up nicley. today the Insurance adjuster is comming at noon to do her thing. I will let you know how that goes.
I will never let an RV tire get 6 years old again. I have seen the light and do believe.
Wayne
This past sunday we set out on just such a trip, with the boat in tow and 2 of the kids plus a friend of my 15 year old daughter. My oldest daughter stayed home to drive out with friends and meet us at lake Havasu AZ Monday morning.
Now I have been religious about maintenance and tire care for the 6 years and 80,000 miles we have owned this motorhome and I knew the tires were nearing their expiration. I had purchased new front tires september of 2008 but was trying to get a few more miles out of the drives. Stupid in hind site but I thought I could get by with it cause I have taken good care of the tires they are inside most of the time and parked on plastic tire sheilds with most of the weight on the jacks. Times are tough my business has been deathly sow this year and I am trying to save anywhere I can to get by till things pick up.
In may I had a blow out of the right rear inner. No damage we were going slow and I was able to get it stopped quick. put the spare on and continued our short trip to the desert for the weekend. This was a red flag and I started pricing and looking around for the best deal on tires. even at the best price I could find I was looking at $1500 that I just did not have or at least that was my rationalization. I mounted up the best tire from the front I had kept when I replaced them for a spare and we went on a couple short trips to a local lake and a desert race or 2. No problems but I knew I was pushing it.
Then my oldest daughter asked if we would take the boat to Havasu cause there was not room on the one boat that was going for everybody that wanted to go. I never turn down a boating trip so We decided (OK I decided My wife said to just buy the tires) we could get one more trip out of them after all I had taken good care of them and other people get away with much worse and money is tight and.............You know how it goes
So there we are happily driving east on the 10 in Indio Ca looking forward to getting to the lake early and getting a few hours in before dark and BAM THUMP,THUMP, THUMP, I got to the shoulder fast with no incident and got out to have a look. The left side outer had blown and the loose wire belts had knocked a hole in the utility compartment, taken out the black water valve and removed any wiring they could reach, and ripped everything but the power cord from inside the compartment, dump hose, tank chemicals, a new fresh water hose all my connection fittings and adapters. I could see all this stuff but I was not going into the freeway to get it and most of it had been run over by now anyway.
OK lesson learned I have to get new tires and fix the black water before we go WHY do I never learn. I put on the spare and start driving for home or wherever I can find 245x70x19.5" tires which are hard to find on a sunday afternoon. No road service has them AAA can't find anyone with any with the load rating I need. I finally find a set in San Bernardino at Camping World. OK so that is where we are going and I can fix the valve there too. Service is closed but I can find someone to mount and balance. Then BAM THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, We did not get 20 miles. This time it was the right side outer and it did more damage including fiberglass, hole in the fresh water tank more wires and blew out the inner wall in the bathroom. I figure the sudden expansion of air got inside the wall and removed the inner wall panel for me.
So here we are off the 10 freeway in Cabazon with another flat tire no spare and still 50 miles to the only RV tires I have been able to locate. We called a tow company for pricing and that was an option but a high dollar one that I wanted to avoid. We all spent about 40 minutes on the phone trying to find a tire or the best option. It came down to IF I could get the tires to me I could get a road service to mount them but not balance them. I called my daughter and told her to get in my truck and head for Camping world, but first grab my tire Irons, CO2 bottle and Nitrogen bottle from the shop and transfer money to buy tires into her account. In the mean time I used the lug wrench and a small 5/8" wrench to remove the blown tires from the wheels. I had lots of time may as well do something, I also was able to clean up the mess of the utility compartment and asses that damage. Turns out it was very fixable with some parts, glue and a saw. I called Mike @ Camping world and gave him my list, he called back and told me he had it all and would have it with the tires when Nicole got there.
Nicole came through like a champ and when she arrived I was able to get a tire mounted on a wheel inflated and on the motorhome to get us off the freeway. By then everything was closed and the tire service wanted a lot of money to do what I was fully capable of doing so I busted down the other tires and mounted them up right there in the Dinasour parking lot (some of you will know where we were). I fixed the black water valves and the wiring enough to finish the trip and we were on our way.
The rest of the drive was uneventfull. The boat broke but we were able to fix that too. I had the tires inspected and balanced at my favorite tire shop yesterday and everything was fine and the balanced up nicley. today the Insurance adjuster is comming at noon to do her thing. I will let you know how that goes.
I will never let an RV tire get 6 years old again. I have seen the light and do believe.
Wayne
