Newest member to the Tow Max blow out club

[mattpopp]

Well I have been wanting to replace these tires but I guess I wasn't quick enough. Lost the right rear about an hour ago. Even topped the tires off to 80psi before I left the house. Maybe 45 minutes from the house the tire blew out. Garage was empty, water and gas tank empty also. The trailer was basically dry. Not to mention I may have about 1000 miles on this trailer. Bought it new in may.

Worst thing about this is the entire tread is wrapped around the axle between the hub and hanger. It is stuck and I can't get it out. So I am waiting on roadside to give me a hand.

The side of the trailer is tore up also.


I will post pictures later

 

[mattpopp]

 

[mattpopp]

It sucks but what sucks more is this may ruin the weekend. We still have another 3hrs to drive but I am only 45 minutes from home.

Best case scenario is we go up there tomorrow. As road side may not be able to get here until 5pm and it is 3pm.

 

[mattpopp]

Needless to say I will be buying the 17.5's very soon. I believe Camping World will be sponsoring part of the purchase.

 

[mattpopp]

Yep, Tear Up Your Trailer Max tires.

If y'all see a red Dodge and a Cyclone 300c sitting on the side of hwy 290 headed to Austin from Houston be sure to honk as you pass me.

 

[bd2dabone]

Does anyone from Heartland monitor this forum. Certainly with all the recent occurrences of TowMax tire blowouts there should be a red flag raised and Heartland should step up and investigate what is causing these problems. I pretty sure I have seen AJ Jones lurking around and answering a few questions. Hello mr. Jones read and take notice hiw many threads there are on Tow Max tire failures. Sent from my china made iphone. Good thing my iphone doest blow out I could lose an ear!

 

[rustyshakelford]

I didn't see you. We just got to new braunsfels from Magnolia. Your wheels look like mine and they are 110 psi wheels. Would itbe cheaper to just get some 614s on stock wheels instead of getting 5 wheels and tires? We love these and haven't had any problems.

Brett

 

[CrazyCooter]

Sorry Matt! Hope you get back on the road quickly and the repair goes smooth for ya. We rolled the dice and won with ours.

I second the G614's. The Tow Maxes were pretty smoked on the outer edges at 6K miles and I never felt comfortable rolling on them.

The G614's have 3000 miles on them and look almost like new and the tow is sooooo much more stable.

 

[JohnDar]

Golly Gee, boys & girls, let's take another look at this. According to the specs., the 300C has a GVWR of 16000 lbs., a pin of 2900 lbs., and sports 7000 lb. axles. But here's the rub, the specs. for the 300C show the tires as ST235/80R16-E. Remember the "good old days," when HL put G-rated tires on these heavy rigs??? Maybe just enough isn't good enough.

 

[jbeletti]

Hi gang,

I saw no reason to publicly call Jon a racist and irrelevant. If you don't know a person, personally, let's take a more restrained approach. I've decided to excise these comments and the discussion about them, from this thread. If you feel someone needs to be assailed, please do via private message.

Let's keep this thread on track about Matt's recent tire failure, the damage it caused, how he recovered from it on the road and where he and we go from here.

This TowMax matter has been flagged up the chain at Heartland.

Thanks,

Jim

 

[mattpopp]

John
From my understanding the specs that Heartland has on their website is wrong. They list the trailer as 37.8 ft long but a member on here that has this same model measured it to be over 40' long. The dry pin weight is overn 3klbs. Once I return home I will be emptying the tanks and removing all of the gear to weigh this trailer. I believe this trailer is over weight for a tandem axle setup.

If the dry weight comes out to far off from the listed weight I will be running into major issues. When we load up to hit a offload park this trailer will see an increase of about 3,000 lbs. we may find out in the next week if I am going to keep this trailer or move up to a larger triple axle.

But if everything pans out to be fine with just crappy tires I will just order the 17.5 and fix the problem that Heartland chooses to ignore.

Yesterday we sat on the side of the road for 4 hours. If I could have found a safe place to park I would have. As it got close to dark all I could think about was getting rear ended by a motorist. What would have been Heartlands reaction if that would have been the case?? More then likely nothing as Safety is not as important to them as saving a dollar. Which is obvious by their tire selection. Maybe this is not as big of a issue on triple axles but it is a issue on tandem axle toy haulers.

Depending on my outcome of how Heartland handles my matter will dictate my actions of pursuing this.

Camping World is fully aware and so is the tire manufacturer.

I am angry, I am angry that my 11 month old daughter had sit on the side of the road for 4hrs in harms way

Which we did arrive around 10pm last night to the RV park.

Getting that bit of tread out from the axle last night was a tough. We had to work to get it out after road side should up. I also checked the air pressure in the tires one more time and they were fine at 80psi. The spare was low but we topped it off with his service truck.


Sent from my iPad.

 

[danemayer]

Mattpopp,

Sitting on the side of a busy road can be very dangerous and your concern is understandable.

There's no telling when any of us might be on the side of the road, whether from tire failure, or some other problem. To everyone, I'd suggest getting an emergency kit. If you've ever seen a disabled tractor-trailer, they are required by law to put up reflective safety markers 200 feet behind the rig to alert other drivers. They're also required to carry a fire extinguisher. I keep my markers and fire extinguisher in the bed of the truck.

 

[mattpopp]

Mattpopp,

Sitting on the side of a busy road can be very dangerous and your concern is understandable.

There's no telling when any of us might be on the side of the road, whether from tire failure, or some other problem. To everyone, I'd suggest getting an emergency kit. If you've ever seen a disabled tractor-trailer, they are required by law to put up reflective safety markers 200 feet behind the rig to alert other drivers. They're also required to carry a fire extinguisher. I keep my markers and fire extinguisher in the bed of the truck.

Dan,
Yes, I had two of those reflective markers set out. One at 100ft and the 2nd at 200ft in the middle of shoulder. Though I had to go stand them up a coupel of times as the wind created from the big trucks would knock them over.

 

[caissiel]

I changed many trailer tires on the previous trailer and in 10 minutes I was on my way. Its the emergency service provider that is at fault here. Why wait on the side of the road that long for a simple tire change.

I was stopped at a rest area on my way south and this fellow had a bend rim on his U-Haul truck and tire was flat. He had hit the same hole I did just coming in the rest area. Of course I choose to hit pot holes with the truck wheel everytime because my truck tires are much better protected with softer springs.

When the service truck finaly arrived I made sure to tell him that the rental unit was given to this fellow with all tires at 50PSI and the wheel bend due to neglect. He had no compressor on the truck just a spare wheel. So I instructed the fellow to make sure the tires were at 80PSI like the signs all over the truck showed.

Tires , tires they are a constant problem and we should always be ready to need service. You just have to pass over a piece of debris and the rear tire gets damaged. I have a single3 axle utility trailer and never in 40 years did I ever had a flat. I fact its not recommended to carry a spare with single axles but with tandom yes because of the rear wheel being so close to the front one. It a habit ofthe front wheel to turn the debris and the rear tire gets punchered while not doing the same thing on the truck tires. That is why I always try to avoid debris on the road and if needcbe the truck tires take the roughing due to single tires.

 

[GOTTOYS]

Hi gang,

I saw no reason to publicly call Jon a racist and irrelevant. If you don't know a person, personally, let's take a more restrained approach. I've decided to excise these comments and the discussion about them, from this thread. If you feel someone needs to be assailed, please do via private message.

Let's keep this thread on track about Matt's recent tire failure, the damage it caused, how he recovered from it on the road and where he and we go from here.

This TowMax matter has been flagged up the chain at Heartland.

Thanks,

Jim

Good call Jim, I agree..Don

 

[TomSt]

Safety signs and flares or flashing lights not made a difference when my tire blew on 501 in SC. did not have to worry about standing them back up the people just ran them over just before leaving skid marks on the road. I also carry and wear a class 3 safety vest and they still do not see you! Be sure to watch your back out there walk backwards to your vehicles and always leave a way out to leap

 

[mattpopp]

I changed many trailer tires on the previous trailer and in 10 minutes I was on my way. Its the emergency service provider that is at fault here. Why wait on the side of the road that long for a simple tire change.

You didn't read my post did you? I changed the tire in about 15 minutes. The problem was that the tread of the blown tire was wrapped around the axle between the hub and leaf spring. It was in there so tight I could not get it off. Even after the Service guy got there we still fought like heck to get it off. He was complaining himself that he has requested the tool to cut tread but his boss refuses to buy them this tool for each of their trucks.

Heck I even took part of the tread that was expose and tied it against the spare tire. Then roll the truck in either direction to try to help unwrap the tangled tread. Did not work.

I could not risk moving the trailer as that tread was up against the spare tire.

This is a the first time I have ever called Road Side. I felt like a helpless city boy calling them but I had no choice. Growing up on a Farm out in the middle of nowhere to working offshore. It was pretty darn hard to make that call.

 

[scottyb]

Matt, I am sorry you had to endure this. It is a hard pill to swallow, spending a couple grand on tires for a new trailer you just spent 60-70K. It would be even harder to have to spend 4-5K to repair damage caused. These tires have to go. How many unhappy customers does it take?

Sorry to repeat myself, but I have 6 brand new ones laying in my shop, for sale CHEAP. Of course they come with full disclosure, "Install at your own risk, could cause massive damage, and may create situations that could be life threatening, cause serious injury, or even death".

 

[2TrakR]

Sorry to hear of the trouble and damage done. Been watching my TowMax diligently, they have just shy of 6000 miles. Pulled into camp tonight and found one getting ready to let loose (looks like a flat spot on either side with no tread across most of the tire for about 12 inches). Will be putting the spare on before we leave. Not looking forward to replacing all six on an 2011 trailer.Mine was the drivers side front tire. Don't see visual issues with the others, but did not see any issues with this one 75 miles ago.

 

[TravelTiger]

Take pics please and post, so others might see what to look for?




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