2955 RL & Tires - Montana Owners Club

wildcard · 09-19-2005, 03:20 AM

After 3 years of uneventful trips with the 5th wheel, this last trip was exciting. Traveling to Cherokee, NC. had the right rear tire tread completely seperate.Damage was to upper pan above tire well and part of siding behind wheel. Stair box probably saved further siding damage. Will replace all tires now, looking for suggestions from others on what tires to install ? Any comments greatly appreciated.

richfaa · 09-19-2005, 04:53 AM

What was the brand of the failed tires?????

wildcard · 09-19-2005, 05:28 AM

They were General AW Grabber

richfaa · 09-19-2005, 06:12 AM

Thanks..I am concerned about the tire failures on these heaver fifth wheels. We have NEVER had a tire failure on our lighter TT's. I an keeping track of the brand names to see if I can make some sense out of these failures. I will say that if the tires on your camper were the OEM tires that after 3 years they should probably be replaced even if the thread looks good because we tend to let our campers sit for long periods of time the sidewalls develop cracks and the tires weaken.

kdeiss · 09-19-2005, 07:19 AM

I also had General Grabbers did not like the look of the side wall of one tire replaced all 4 prior to our return home from Florida. Replaced with Uni Royal Larado's a tire that I have used over the years on my PU's and SUV's and have been very pleased with their proformance.

rames14 · 09-19-2005, 08:16 AM

At the rally, during a seminar on tables, the gentleman showed a digital pyrometer (thermometer) for checking the tire temperature. This is used in race cars to detect tire troubles early. I bought one at Radio Shack for $49. Unfortunately, it was stolen when someone decided I no longer needed my front passenger window this past weekend. Seemed to work pretty good. I also had a coworker tell me about Pressure Pro, a wireless digital tire pressure monitoring system that can help prevent issues. Also, maintaining proper wheel torque can cause problems. Maybe maintenance and monitoring can detect issues before they turn into major problems. Just some thoughts after the last rally.

padredw · 09-19-2005, 09:34 AM

Wildcard, we were just in the neighborhood of Cherokee, NC this past week in our 2955RL. Fortunately, our three year old tires are still doing well. They are inscribed "Maxxis". I know nothing about that brand, except that they are wearing evenly and still look good as new. We stayed at the Holly Cove Campground with the address of Whittier, NC. But that is just around the corner from Cherokee. We never did actually go into Cherokee this time (have been there many times), but visited Dillsboro, Franklin, Sylva, and Waynesville.

Sorry about your tire trouble.

wildcard · 09-20-2005, 03:44 AM

The only scarry part was that I checked all tires before leaving. The tires have no visible signs of wear.I have been running the tires at 70 lbs. This is what was recommended to me.I will be replacing all with a 14 ply tire.

sreigle · 09-20-2005, 07:09 AM

HamRad recently blew a General tire on his Montana, too.

The only blowout we had was with a Goodyear Marathon. That one was not on the Montana but a "lighter" (6600 lbs) 25'(255BH) Jayco Eagle fifthwheel. We have had several Goodyear Marathons go defective on us. Mostly belt separations. I don't know if this info helps any but here it is for whatever it's worth.

I've also heard people say they've had blowout problems with Michelin trailer tires but I have no personal experience with them.

Bob Pasternak · 09-20-2005, 11:40 AM

Steve: Back in my younger years whan I worked in a Goodyear service store, the Marathon was the cheapest tire they made. They had about 4 grades of tires at the time: Eagle was the top and Marathon was the bottom. We tried not to let people take them out of town.

kdeiss · 09-20-2005, 02:48 PM

I think today the "Marathon" is a trailer grade tire with special contruction and componds for trailer use.

Bob Pasternak · 09-21-2005, 03:02 AM

Steve R.: This is off the tire subject but if you're going to Durango and plan on riding the D & S N G RR, I have a suggestion. There are two ways, besides driving, to get to Silverton from Durango. You can ride the train and they have a bus that goes there. We rode the train both ways. If I were to do it again, I'd ride the train up and the bus back. If I remember it is 90 miles and takes about 4-41/2 hours each way on the train. It stops a couple times for water and photo ops. There are some stretches of the track that are 5mph speed limit for the train. They run 2 trains up and 2 down. We took the second. The train and bus leave from the same station so you'll be close to where you started. On the second train, it stopped on a trellis and did a blowdown. The sun shining on the steam made a nice picture. The track goes within 100' of where we were parked in the rv park. Just my thoguhts on it.

Check this site: http://www.durango.org/distribution/DSNGRR/index.asp

Parrothead · 09-21-2005, 07:12 AM

Bob
It all depends on whether you are a train fan or not. My daughter and son-in-law are there right now and they will ride both ways and we would also. They are on a "train ride" vacation and will ride 6 trains in all. They just bought a speeder so they are real train nuts. We went on a cruise a couple of years ago with them and we rode the Panama Railroad (both ways). It was fantasic.
Happy trails......................

Bob Pasternak · 09-21-2005, 08:32 AM

Sue: I like trains too, but there were things we might have done in Durango as opposed to spending 4 1/2 hours coming down. It was Labor Day week-end 2 years ago that we were there. Here is another site for a train we've ridden.

http://www.agawacanyontraintourpackages.com/

Parrothead · 09-21-2005, 10:41 AM

Thanks Bob. That web site is now in by "to do" list.

CountryGuy · 09-21-2005, 11:57 AM

Bob, We did Agawa SNOW Train many years ago! It was FAB!!! Beautiful beyond words!

padredw · 09-21-2005, 03:52 PM

We have made the Durango/Silverton run several times. Once we got off at Needle Creek and hiked up into the Wemenuche Wilderness, over Columbine Pass and down into Vellecito Valley.

For sure, if I were to do it again, I would take the bus back from Silverton. I think it is the ride up the Animas Valley which has the exciting views, and the ride back becomes tiring. Plenty of room for differences of preference on such matters.

sreigle · 09-22-2005, 08:52 AM

Thanks for the info and the links, Bob. I saved the entire thread on my laptop for reference and have the first link open to look at when I finish MOC for the day. I hope we can spend some time in the area on our way back to the Kansas City area. But it will be mid- to late-October so I suppose weather is a possible problem. Another factor is we're getting the grandkids itch and they're in Kansas City.

I've not developed our exact route yet nor have I planned any stops yet. I'm estimating we could spend about a week in the Durango area if everything works out. Where do you all recommend to stay (rv park) in that area?

Of course, if Rita takes out all those refineries and 25% of our domestic oil production as the 'experts' say it just might and then fuel goes to five bucks per gallon as they also say it might, then we'd likely be traveling during the peak price period. In that case I may plot the shortest route to Kansas City and we'll have to do Durango another time.

Thanks everyone for all the great info.

Sorry I hijacked the thread. Back to tires.

Bob Pasternak · 09-23-2005, 08:31 AM

Steve R.: We stayed at Alpen Rose. We could look out our back window at the D & S tracks 100' away. Took a picture from the train of our RV.

wildcard · 09-28-2005, 09:41 AM

Replaced 4 tires with Bridgestone R187 tires. These are all steel tires with a heaver sidewall. They also replaced the rubber tire valves with metal valves. Stated tires should be inflated to 80 lbs. Will hope to get more than 3 years or 13,000 miles from these.

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