new tires, rv place did not hang spare tire

[potteralice]

i noticed that the driver side tire on my casita was losing air for the last month or so. since i plan a trip and it was time anyway, i just got two new tires installed. i watched the young man take the spare off the back and noticed that the tire had been very firmly attatched to the rear of my casita. by the time he put it back i did not remember the exact way it was hung but i noticed it was loose and had him re-center the plywood circle. drove the thirty or so miles home just fine.

the next day the tire on the same side as the original flat was flat again. the NEW tire!!!!! i filled it from my compressor and watched it for the next two days or so. it seems to hold air but it is so rainy i have not been out with the tire gauge to check whether it is holding the same amount i put in.

while filling the tire. i brushed against the spare and it rolled!! it is still attatched to the rear of the trailer but it rolls freely on the top of the bumper. have not been out to remove the cover to see what happened (RAIN). would not know without some kind of picture of how it ought to look.

could one of you terriffic camera owners please provide a photo of the way it should be so i know what is wrong? i HATE taking eggroll to the RV places, every time i do, they mess something up. now, the plug won't stay in the hitch and even though they did replace the wiring something or other under my truck, now the cord falls out and i STILL have no rear lights because of that. how can i firmly attatch the plug so it won't fall out?? duct tape??

i wish i could find someone who KNOWS casitas to check everything before i start my long anticipated wandering across the south for the winter. i hope to get to rice, texas so the factory can look at it. i dont relish the drive to get there with this uncertainty in mind.

i am really not a grouch, just tired of inefficiency and the attitude i get at the rv dealers. thank you for any advice anyone can give me about this stuff>

[Brian B-P]

... now, the plug won't stay in the hitch and even though they did replace the wiring something or other under my truck, now the cord falls out and i STILL have no rear lights because of that. how can i firmly attach the plug so it won't fall out?? duct tape?? ...

If the plug will not stay in the receptacle, it is probably not getting inserted far enough, and/or the cord is getting pulled in corners.

The hinged cover on the 7-pin RV sockets usually have a tab which catches a corresponding bit on the plug, locking them together; 4-pin connectors are quite light and the pin friction holds them together if they are fully mated.

If a cord or socket is changed or repositioned the cord might not have enough [b]slack to accommodate turns, so when you turn one direction the cord is pulled out (very bad for the electrical connections). This happened to me on the first turn as I left with a rental tent trailer - fortunately, the owner was watching me leave and flagged me down to let me know so we could reposition the cord.

I'm no help on Casita specifics - I've never even seen one in person!

[potteralice]

thank you brian p,

i guess i hadn't noticed that when somebody vandalized the electrical cover plate near the door, the hinged cover of the round 7-pin socket was also torn off. this happened in a supermarket parking lot in florida. i suppose that the tiny, 6 inch bungee cord that had been attatched the the cord is all that held it in place during my drive home. that tiny bungee has since rotted and there is no other method of holding the plug in the socket. i hadn't noticed the hinged cover was missing, hope i can get another one.

found the tire flat again when i went out yesterday. pumped it up again. just looked out the window and see that less than 24 hours later it is again flat. i looked at the mounting of the tire yesterday and found a disc of plywood about 6 inches in diameter keeping the tire from falling off. the center of the tire rim is not held down tightly and the tire is rolling from side to side. i really don't want to drive back the 30 miles to the dealer who put the tire on wrong but i guess that is the only thing i can do.

surprised nobody with a casita and a camera has responded.

[Brian B-P]

If the new tire is going flat, maybe there was nothing wrong with the tire in the first place. An incompetent or careless technician could replace the tire on a wheel and neither check nor replace the valve; valves can leak because the internal part (core) is loose or because the (usually rubber) stem is no longer sealing properly in the hole in the wheel.

The valve core is removed to release the air to dismount a tire, but the original core might have just been reinstalled. Valve cores are easily tightened with a very cheap tool available from any auto supply store, and even built into the end of some valve caps. I'd tighten the valve and pump the tire back up for another check before taking the trailer to a shop. Air leaking past the core or around the body of the valve will cause liquid to bubble up - soapy water is good for this kind of test.

If I had to go to a shop for the leaking tire, I would take in just the wheel and tire, but the practicality of that depends on how comfortable one is with jacking up the trailer and removing the wheel.

I still can't help with the Casita-specific mounting thing ... good luck!

[Bill F.]

i noticed that the driver side tire on my casita was losing air for the last month or so. since i plan a trip and it was time anyway, i just got two new tires installed. i watched the young man take the spare off the back and noticed that the tire had been very firmly attatched to the rear of my casita. by the time he put it back i did not remember the exact way it was hung but i noticed it was loose and had him re-center the plywood circle. drove the thirty or so miles home just fine.

the next day the tire on the same side as the original flat was flat again. the NEW tire!!!!! i filled it from my compressor and watched it for the next two days or so. it seems to hold air but it is so rainy i have not been out with the tire gauge to check whether it is holding the same amount i put in.

while filling the tire. i brushed against the spare and it rolled!! it is still attatched to the rear of the trailer but it rolls freely on the top of the bumper. have not been out to remove the cover to see what happened (RAIN). would not know without some kind of picture of how it ought to look.

could one of you terriffic camera owners please provide a photo of the way it should be so i know what is wrong? i HATE taking eggroll to the RV places, every time i do, they mess something up. now, the plug won't stay in the hitch and even though they did replace the wiring something or other under my truck, now the cord falls out and i STILL have no rear lights because of that. how can i firmly attatch the plug so it won't fall out?? duct tape??

i wish i could find someone who KNOWS casitas to check everything before i start my long anticipated wandering across the south for the winter. i hope to get to rice, texas so the factory can look at it. i dont relish the drive to get there with this uncertainty in mind.

i am really not a grouch, just tired of inefficiency and the attitude i get at the rv dealers. thank you for any advice anyone can give me about this stuff>

Brian has mentioned using soapy water for checking the valve for a leak. A bit of dishwashing soap in a used dishwashing squeeze bottle filled with water works well. On a tire that goes flat in 24 hrs this test will likely show bubbles quickly. If the valve doesn't leak it could also be either a leak through the rim(rusted through) or the tire may not be sealed all around the rim, or you could have been unfortunate enough to pick up a nail on the way home. You can test the valve, the street side of the tire, and the tread surface of the tire(nails) by jacking the tire off the ground so you can rotate it slowly(no danger of dropping because the wheel is still attached) while pouring water on the surfaces. It's pretty difficult to see the inside of the rim without removing the wheel from the trailer. Some people don't clean the rim or use sealant on the rim when installing new tires, and as Brian said some don't install new valves either. Even if all of these things are done the rim has not been tested unless the complete tire/rim combo have been submerged in water or checked by the soapy water method mentioned above. Armed with all this info i bet the next tire guy you deal with will have to be more thorough). P.S. a piece of chalk or crayon is a way of marking a leak(nail) if and when you find bubbles.
Bill

[Pete Dumbleton]

I dunno about how Casita mounts the spare, but on the Scamp a metal bracket is installed inside with two threaded posts protruding outside -- The posts aren't exactly the same width as the wheel lug holes, but close enuf to push on -- The threads and nuts are NOT the same as the lugs and nuts on the hub -- I suspect that the service guy just put a single post thru your tire.

I highly advise that you learn how to mount/dismount the spare so that you can assist in a roadside repair -- You should also learn where and how to jack up the trailer because there are undoubtedly right and wrong ways (Start with owner's manual and then call Casita if needed) -- You can get an inexpensive hydraulic jack at WalMart (in the $10 range) -- Even if you don't know how to use it, you can help a roadside helper.

On the road, I carry a jack, a tire repair kit (plus water and soap from the trailer) and a 12VDC compressor so I can do tire repairs to truck and trailer out in the boondocks (and I've also helped others).

[potteralice]

thanks, guys,

i guess i just didn't realize how complicated it is to have a casita.

i will check out all of your suggestions. thank you all. (being from the north, i can't quite say thank y'all as sweetly as my neighbors can.)

i think i remember seeing two pieces of plywood, one inside and one outside the tire mount. there is only one now, maybe the young man just picked up one and left the other sitting on the bench where he was working. or, maybe my memory is having many more senior moments than i want to admit.

still hoping for a photo.

[Donna D.]

I don't think a Casita is complicated, but I own a Scamp and I know it's not complicated.

Don't know what a picture is going to show...on my Scamp the plywood is on the inside of the trailer, under the insulation and rat fur. A picture would just show a picture of the wall. On the outside all you'd see is two bolts sticking through the fiberglass. I believe Casita uses the same or at least very similar methods. There is no plywood on the outside of the trailer. The tire is placed on the bolts and nuts are threaded on the bolts and the tire is snugged up to the trailer. Easy peasy.

As far as the tire, check the edge..all the way around of the rim, if it's bent anywhere the tire won't hold air. This problem almost sounds like there's something wrong with the bead of the tire. If they're new tires or recently mounted tires and are immediately losing air, it's either the valve (as others have mentioned) or the bead.

[potteralice]

thanks, donna

it only has one big bolt to hold the tire on the back. if there had been two, i would have been able to see the problem immediately.

if i knew how, i would transfer this entire story to the casita club forum.

[Jeanne and Steve]

Like Pete and Donna's Scamps, our '84 Casita uses a 2 bolt system for attaching the spare. Postings on the Casita Travel Trailer forum show that some of the newer trailers only have 1 bolt though, as yours does. Can you just tighten the nut to get your tire to sit snugly? Here's a link to a thread from the Casita TT forum that talks about mounting spare tires, and it includes a photo of a 1 bolt attachment system.

Jeanne

[Denis C]

Like Donna said have the tire bead checked at a tire shop, it most likely has not seated properly.
Trailer tires have stiff side walls and getting them to seat is a little more difficult than other tires.
I had 2 new Carlyle tires fitted to my trailer this summer and the fitters at the Canadian Tire store where i bought them had a difficult time getting the tires to take air, the tire bead would not seat on the rims.
They had to put a ratchet strap around the center of the tire and tighten that up to force the tire beads to spread out to the rim edges, took a lot of work and strange language from the tire fitter to get it done right

[potteralice]

thanks all,

have been busy firing pots for the christmas sale our group has on the sat after thanksgiving. (lost many of them to a bad glaze problem but sold the rest. so, now maybe i can do something other than work in the studio.

i seem to remember the tire attached on the bolt with 2 circles of plywood, the smaller one bolted somewhere along the length of the bolt,closest to the body and i think the one that i left with. then, farther out on the bolt was a larger one, so big that it covered the bolt holes. that was the one that held the wheel tight. the actual nut went on over a t shaped metal fitting through the center of the larger plywood disc. the small disc that i have is about the size of the center of the rim on the side of the wheel closest to the body. it would have held the wheel on the center of the long bolt because it fit so closely to the diameter of the inner hub. (???????)

well, that is as clear as mud., i don't have the technical language to explain what i mean. wish i could draw it, i am strictly visual and can't tell left from right most of the time. i will call casita now that i can use the phone in the daytime. if i remember to call.

[John & Sandy M]

well, that is as clear as mud., i don't have the technical language to explain what i mean. wish i could draw it, i am strictly visual and can't tell left from right most of the time. i will call casita now that i can use the phone in the daytime. if i remember to call.

I guess they don't call your egg "Casita" for nothing... "Casita" is Spanish for "Little House" and almost all of the little eggs are about as complex as your home and will require maintenance and an understanding of basic operation (the lady we bought our Scamp from discovered this and decided to buy a van and sell the Scamp). Become familiar with the workings of the little egg and carry along some basic tools as needed for "on the road repair/maintenance. It's not a nice feeling to have a flat tire on a lonely road and have to leave the trailer to get asst.

Your tire problem sounds a lot like a damaged rim since it happened to both the original tire and the replacement. Any tire dealer should be able to determine the problem and correct (but you may have to buy a new rim). As I recall, there is an execellent owners manual on the Casita club site. You might want to download it.

The electrical connection will probably have to be corrected by replacing the connection on the tug (the connector is'nt too expensive and the wiring connections will duplicate the one you have) Enjoy your egg but it's not quite the "back up, hitch up and go" in the advertisment but a little maintenance and understanding of the little trailer will make it close! Enjoy your little trailer.

[John Perry]

thanks all,

i seem to remember the tire attached on the bolt with 2 circles of plywood, the smaller one bolted somewhere along the length of the bolt,closest to the body and i think the one that i left with.

Go to campingworld.com and type in spare tire carrier in the search box. You will find 2 bolt on spare tire carriers that attach to your rear bumper. The most expensive one is $33.00. I welded one of these to the rear bumper of the Prowler that I sold a few months ago.
Hope this helps,
John