Montana Owners Club - Keystone Montana 5th Wheel Forum - View Single Post

RonD · 09-06-2010, 04:58 AM

Those pictures Jim posted are not a good thing, I ordered the wet shackle kit a couple weeks back, and decided after reading this post to take a hard look at the existing Goodyear tires when they were off the trailer. About 3 weeks ago we had one tire that was low on air from sitting, all were 78 pounds, one was 52 pounds, I removed it and had it fixed, it was a staple, we towed it another 1000 miles or so, upon return I replaced the shackles, another subject, but our Montana has about 12-15000 miles on it and is 18 months old, all I can say is get the wet bolt kit, ours were very worn. Back to the tires, on our last trip parked next to us was a 5th wheel that was a few years old, he had just installed Goodyear tires, the same as our Montana's have new, one blew out at 400 miles, the other blew at 900 miles, all fully inflated, he has a claim in with Goodyear also, the damage to his rig is extensive, that got me thinking a lot, then Jim Fischer posted his story. When I removed one side of the trailer tires for the shackle install I washed them well to examine them, one had large blisters on the inside, and the other had small blisters on the outside, I think they were ready to blow, I replaced all 5 tires, no more made in China on our Montana, I went with the advise of Jim, and also Lonnie (thank you both), I installed B F Goodrich T/A Commercial LT tires, I wanted to keep the height down so I went with LT 245/75/16, they fit great, look good also, they are also a bit heavier than the original tires, Sam's Club had them in stock at $149 ea, plus balance, I really feel better not having to worry about blowouts. Just one more thing, on the drivers side of the Montana the brake control wires run down from the frame floor area to the axle, mine were rubbing on the spring, not good, I recommend you cover them with a wire cover, any big home center has it, I used 3/8", it just snaps over the wires to protect them, also the leaf springs are dry, no plastic inserts between leaves as a lot of truck springs have, a good soaking of WD-40 or similar should help, with annual applications.

09-06-2010, 04:58 AM	#35
RonD Montana Fan Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Placerville Posts: 357 M.O.C. #8962	Those pictures Jim posted are not a good thing, I ordered the wet shackle kit a couple weeks back, and decided after reading this post to take a hard look at the existing Goodyear tires when they were off the trailer. About 3 weeks ago we had one tire that was low on air from sitting, all were 78 pounds, one was 52 pounds, I removed it and had it fixed, it was a staple, we towed it another 1000 miles or so, upon return I replaced the shackles, another subject, but our Montana has about 12-15000 miles on it and is 18 months old, all I can say is get the wet bolt kit, ours were very worn. Back to the tires, on our last trip parked next to us was a 5th wheel that was a few years old, he had just installed Goodyear tires, the same as our Montana's have new, one blew out at 400 miles, the other blew at 900 miles, all fully inflated, he has a claim in with Goodyear also, the damage to his rig is extensive, that got me thinking a lot, then Jim Fischer posted his story. When I removed one side of the trailer tires for the shackle install I washed them well to examine them, one had large blisters on the inside, and the other had small blisters on the outside, I think they were ready to blow, I replaced all 5 tires, no more made in China on our Montana, I went with the advise of Jim, and also Lonnie (thank you both), I installed B F Goodrich T/A Commercial LT tires, I wanted to keep the height down so I went with LT 245/75/16, they fit great, look good also, they are also a bit heavier than the original tires, Sam's Club had them in stock at $149 ea, plus balance, I really feel better not having to worry about blowouts. Just one more thing, on the drivers side of the Montana the brake control wires run down from the frame floor area to the axle, mine were rubbing on the spring, not good, I recommend you cover them with a wire cover, any big home center has it, I used 3/8", it just snaps over the wires to protect them, also the leaf springs are dry, no plastic inserts between leaves as a lot of truck springs have, a good soaking of WD-40 or similar should help, with annual applications.