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Old 05-13-2007, 03:56 PM   #1
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Trailer: 2005 19 ft Scamp 19 ft 5th Wheel / 2005 GMC CNo Trailer Yeton Quad Cab
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Experienced 2 blownout tires within 200 mile distance on 5/11 & 5/12 on Scamp 5er. Tires were original equipment on 2005 trailer with estimated 6000 miles of useage. Tires were inflated to within 2 psi of recommended 45 psi. Tires were Goodyear Radial, trailer rated and had no signs weather cracks or other defects. Any ideas/suggestions-- both incidents occurred at speeds of +/-55mph, one late afternoon in Nashville,Tn and the other midafternoon north of montgomery,Al.
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Old 05-13-2007, 04:48 PM   #2
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Sure seems like you were doing everything right; speed, tire pressure, no visible wear. How about the trailer wieght, could you be exceeding the load limit for the tires? Our Scamp 5er comes in around 3100 lbs when loaded, and I've moved quite a bit of our supplies out of the 5er and into the truck, including the spare tire (40lbs) off the rear of the Scamp and into the truck bed.

Quote:
Experienced 2 blownout tires within 200 mile distance on 5/11 & 5/12 on Scamp 5er. Tires were original equipment on 2005 trailer with estimated 6000 miles of useage. Tires were inflated to within 2 psi of recommended 45 psi. Tires were Goodyear Radial, trailer rated and had no signs weather cracks or other defects. Any ideas/suggestions-- both incidents occurred at speeds of +/-55mph, one late afternoon in Nashville,Tn and the other midafternoon north of montgomery,Al.
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Old 05-14-2007, 11:25 AM   #3
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Trailer: 1994 19 ft Scamp 19 ft 5th Wheel
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What happened when the blowout occurred? Did the 5th wheel jerk, Or just list to the side? What told you that a tire went on the trailer.

I have a 5th wheel Scamp pulled with a Dodge Dakota and check my tires frequently for wear and pressure. However, I still worry about blowouts. I have never had one and just wonder what to expect.

Thanks for any insight you can offer.
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Old 05-14-2007, 04:43 PM   #4
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The Scamp 19' specs says there's 1600 lb on the axle in a dry, empty, no options trailer... but that could easily be 2400 lb or more when the real trailer is loaded (my stuff adds 600 lb to my 17' Boler, and I don't carry much water). Do you know the axle load as it was operated?

The same specs say only '13" C rating' for the tires; since they are Goodyear ST radials, they must be Marathons, and could be ST175/80R13 or (hopefully) ST185/80R13. Giving Scamp the benefit of the doubt, and thus assuming they are ST185/80R13, their capacity at 45 psi is 1400 lb each, which sounds adequate; inflation to their full 50 psi would get them to 1480 lbs each, while under-inflation to 43 psi would be about 1360 lb each. If the trailer is heavily loaded, and the +/- 2 psi is the wrong way, they could be near or above their rated limit.

Typical pressure gauges are not highly accurate; maybe they were not inflated to as high a pressure as intended?

If the trailer is heavier on one side, one tire could be overloaded while the average of the two is okay. That, of course, would not directly explain the second tire failing.

The operating speed of 55 mph seems comfortably within the maximum speed rating for these tires of 65 mph.

That's it for my ideas about what (other than defective tires) might be the problem. As for suggestions, how about larger tires with a little more margin, or running the tires (stock replacements) up at the 50 psi pressure which provides the most capacity?
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Old 05-14-2007, 08:32 PM   #5
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Trailer: 2007 Casita Liberty Deluxe 17 ft / Honda Odyssey
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Gee, that really sounds like a manufacturing defect to me. Hope you can get some credit or replacement for them!

On a related subject, and not meaning to hijack the thread, I am a little confused about my Scamp tire pressures.

I have the 13' with the Marathons ST175/80R13. They say maximum pressure 35# at 1,100# on the side. So that's what I've been filling them at for the past 20,000 miles. Well, this trip I was fiddling around and I noticed the Scamp sticker that said maximum load 2,200# at 45#!

So I figured I could pump them up to 45# and get some better mileage, but then started worrying that Scamp had made a typo since they got the 2,200 (1,100x2) right, and the tire size right on the sticker, but that 45# doesn't jive.

Any ideas or should I move to a new thread!

Patrick
On the road at Crown Villa RV Resort in busy Bend, Oregon!
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Old 05-14-2007, 09:27 PM   #6
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Trailer: 80 HawaiiLo 16 ft
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Like Patrick we have Marathons on our Lil Bigfoot and traveled to Vermont and back with no problems. We carried 45 to 50 pounds PSI at all times. These tires were ST185/80R13C off our Scamp 16 when we went to 14"s

By the way Patrick are you staying in the spot with the large "patio"? Keith
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Old 05-14-2007, 09:36 PM   #7
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I believe that would be the case!
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Old 05-15-2007, 12:27 PM   #8
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Patrick, if you look at the load tables in that capacity link to Goodyear, you'll see that the ST175/80R13 Goodyear Marathon has a maximum load of 1100 lb at 35 psi; that's presumably the size you have and ratings you are seeing on the tire. If it is only good for 35 psi, it is a Load Range B tire; tires with higher load ranges ("C" is the only higher option in this size and brand) have higher capacities only because they can handle more pressure.

Scamp may be mixing a minimum requirement (2200 lb of axle load and thus 1100 lb per tire) which can be met with a load range B tire (or load range C tire inflated to only 35 psi) with a recommendation for pressure to use if you have a load range C tire.

Another possibility is high-speed inflation. On the Marathon page (pg 9) of their RV Brochure, linked from their Tire Care page, Goodyear explains that ST tires can be inflated 10 psi beyond their normal limit (if the the wheel pressure rating allows) to handle higher speeds; this does not increase load capacity. Perhaps Scamp is suggesting that load range B tires be used at high-speed inflation pressures (35 psi rating plus 10 psi overinflation for speed).

Although I have linked and referred to Goodyear Marathon information, I believe that this all applies to ST tires in general; the load capacities are typical of this size (175/80-13) of ST tires, regardless of brand.
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Old 05-15-2007, 04:40 PM   #9
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Trailer: Casita 17 ft 2004
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Could they be Marathons? Recent blow out on I-75. Did all the "right" things. Pressure correct, drove the snail's pace 55 mph, tires aprox 2 years old and in great shape. I was in center lane when it blew and had to get to side, pull over in grass and change it myself. The good news is, I did it. Not bad for a 59 year old, 105lb 4' 11' female. I am proud of me.


On the Casita Club forum there are many of us that have had problems with these tire. I will never run a GoodYear Marathon on my egg again.


I really feel a need to warn you. That is all I can do. I know there will be many to dispute this. I care about each & every egg owner and do not want them to experience what I did, or worse!
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Old 05-16-2007, 05:14 AM   #10
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Trailer: Casita Spirit Deluxe 17 ft
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I to promoted and stuck by Goodyear on my 17 Casita SD. I upgraded the orginal Goodyear 205 x 14 to 215 x 14 for an extra safety margin. Had the Casita weighed on a certified scale at 3409 lbs , 505 lb hitch weight. At the time of weighing I was carrying a higher than normal load. My normal running weight I estimate to be 3300 lbs. Even if the curb side weighed 200 lbs more than the roadside the actual weight on the tire whould not have exceeded 1650 lbs vs the rated sustained capacity of 1870 lbs. In less than 15000 miles the curside tire failed. I never exceeded 65 mph and kept the tires inflated to 50lbs minimum. The failure occurred on a on smooth road with the ambient temp of about 80 deg driving 62 mph.. Goodyear is producing a defective or an inferior product in my opinion. At the recent Bluebonnet rally in Texas numerous people stated thay had failures of these brand tires. I replaced with a "D" rated Kumoho ( Korean) the only "D" rated in 14" - and I always try to purchase American made as a first choice. The Goodyear dealer in Atlanta stated when I took carcass for evaluation -no guarantee on Marathons - I guess that says it all better than I can ever do in this post. Martin
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Old 05-16-2007, 12:44 PM   #11
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Trailer: 2007 17 ft Casita Spirit Deluxe
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Very rare to have two tires fail within 200 miles if all specs were met. I used to work at a tire shop in my youth and never saw anything like that.

I will add my 2 cents which may not be received very enthusiastically. I think a 13" tire is too small for the larger trailers. In fact, I would not use 13" even on a 13' foot trailer. I just bought a Casita and will be switching over to 15" wheels and D rated larger tires. I want to have a margin of safety that's is beyond what the dealer provided.

A wheel and tire is not the place to cut corners or barely meet specifications. Buy a quality pressure gauge too. You can read views on line for each quality brand name gauge. Don't go one the cheap.

Good luck.
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Old 05-16-2007, 01:12 PM   #12
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At the end of last summer, I had a one tire tread separate one day and another blew out the next day. Bought three new tires, put about 6,000 miles on them and then ordered three new Kumoho 205R14 to put on. For other reasons decided to sell the trailer (2005 Scamp 5vr) so did not actually buy them but plan on doing so for the Casita 17SD that is on order.

Now – the 5vr weighs 3,780 lbs loaded for a trip with 660 of that being hitch weight so 3,120 on the axle. Always kept 50psi in the tires and usually drove a fast 65 mph on the Interstate. You can see that in all areas the tires were on the edge of the limits. So what happens on the edge? Sometimes you fall off. In this case, I think the weather was the final factor. If you remember last summer it was brutally hot in many areas of the country and we were driving in the north west. My guess is that the air temperature was about 98 and the road surface was hot enough to fry and egg – which it did!

My point is that the reason for a tire failure is varied. Sometimes it is age of the tire, or driving under inflated, or driving overloaded, or a road hazard (puncture or hit a pothole), or excess mileage or ….

We know that the manufacturer(s) only install tires with minimum capacity. We know that it is common to have tire problems with the OEM tires. Yes, it is good to complain to the manufacturers but in the meantime, given what we know, we need to become more realistic and do a bit more to protect ourselves. A couple of options are refusing to accept the trailer with the standard OEM tires or just plan on replacing them with higher capability tires.

Don
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Old 05-16-2007, 01:36 PM   #13
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Is your's a delux or standard 5?

Quote:
At the end of last summer, I had a one tire tread separate one day and another blew out the next day. Bought three new tires, put about 6,000 miles on them and then ordered three new Kumoho 205R14 to put on. For other reasons decided to sell the trailer (2005 Scamp 5vr) so did not actually buy them but plan on doing so for the Casita 17SD that is on order.

Now – the 5vr weighs 3,780 lbs loaded for a trip with 660 of that being hitch weight so 3,120 on the axle. Always kept 50psi in the tires and usually drove a fast 65 mph on the Interstate. You can see that in all areas the tires were on the edge of the limits. So what happens on the edge? Sometimes you fall off. In this case, I think the weather was the final factor. If you remember last summer it was brutally hot in many areas of the country and we were driving in the north west. My guess is that the air temperature was about 98 and the road surface was hot enough to fry and egg – which it did!

My point is that the reason for a tire failure is varied. Sometimes it is age of the tire, or driving under inflated, or driving overloaded, or a road hazard (puncture or hit a pothole), or excess mileage or ….

We know that the manufacturer(s) only install tires with minimum capacity. We know that it is common to have tire problems with the OEM tires. Yes, it is good to complain to the manufacturers but in the meantime, given what we know, we need to become more realistic and do a bit more to protect ourselves. A couple of options are refusing to accept the trailer with the standard OEM tires or just plan on replacing them with higher capability tires.

Don
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Old 05-16-2007, 06:34 PM   #14
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I will add my 2 cents which may not be received very enthusiastically. I think a 13" tire is too small for the larger trailers...
I'm enthused! I understand that as customers we put the trailer manufacturers under an enormous cost pressure which leads to minimally sized tires, but they seem just too small - on almost any type of trailer - to me.
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Old 08-18-2007, 10:15 PM   #15
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Trailer: 2007 Casita 17 ft Spirit Deluxe
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Quote:
Is your's a delux or standard 5?


Sorry about the late reply - missed your post - mine WAS a deluxe. Now I have a 07C17SD with Kumho tires.
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