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Old 11-30-2015, 12:41 PM   #1
BadX
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Default What a trip, hitch problems and blown tires.

Headed out Saturday morning, nice cool sunny day. We were making great time, in no hurry at all and just past exit 42 the poop hit the fan. We hit a bump in the road that really jolted the RV which was followed by a big thud and the sound of metal scrapping the road coming through the speaker on the back up camera which I had on watching the hauler. Looked up and sparks were flying and I thought either the hitch came un-done or the hitch broke and the safety chains were holding the trailer. Got pulled off to the side of the road, walked back to see what was going on and to my surprise the trailer was hooked up to the hitch but the receiver had come off the RV and only one bolt was holding it on. Talk about being lucky, man that could have been real bad news if that last bolt would have sheered off. Called Good Sam and it took 4 hours for someone to get out to us with replacement bolts but we were able to get back on the road and made it safely to our destination without any other problems. Notes from this ordeal. Grade 5 bolts were used on the hitch from the factory and probably were over torqued when installed with an air gun. The road side mechanic brought grade 5 bolts with him. I changed these to grade 8 Bolts, washers and nuts at the camp ground on Monday morning and torqued them down to 100 ft lbs, 1/2" grade 8 bolts are recommended to be torqued from 100-115 ft lbs which I will re-torque them again in the next few days to 105-110. Repaired ended up costing us $278, $3 a mile for the service guy to come to us and $85 an hour with a 2 hour minimum. Good Sam covered 50 miles and 1 hour labor and I had to pay the other half plus tax and all that crap. The road side service guy was a joke though, no jack, no drop lights and he brought grade 5 bolts to put on a 20k lbs hitch. The Road side guy was a contractor that worked for a company that dispatches basically, Good Sam told me what my cost would be up front, when the company that dispatches called he tried to over charge me $100 but I rebuked that and he dropped the extra hundred bucks fairly quickly.


The lone bolt


On the way home, about in the same area as the hitch problem. Stopped to get the wife some breakfast and just got back on the road and BOOM! Blew out the right rear outside tire. No biggie, called Good Sam again and they raped us or at least I feel like they did. $790 for road side tire replacement. I'm going to get a spare to carry from now on, mounted and ready to go on, I can't carry the tools to do it but they would have covered that part. But again, 4 hours on the side of the interstate waiting. The guy got there in 1 1/2 hours with the tire but the two big nuts that hold the simulators on was the problem. A tool was in with the owners manuals when we bought the RV, it fits the front simulators but not the nuts on the back so the guy had to go back to his shop, 45 mins each way to get the correct socket size. I had him take off the driver's side off also just in case we had another tire problem down the road, I'll paint the wheels black and do the same to the front to match.

The tire looked good from this side


Big hole on the back side though.


Having made many road trips towing a enclosed trailer I have learned a lot on what I need to bring with me. Spare tires mounted and ready to go on the hauler, our tow vehicles always had a spare but this was our first time going to a event in the RV so a mounted spare for the RV is going on the list. I can't carry a jack to change the tire but Road side assistance will cover the changing of a tire but they will RAPE you selling you one.

You can't be prepared for everything but my list of things to be prepared for is growing Just thought I would share my experiences and hopefully help someone down the road.
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Old 11-30-2015, 12:45 PM   #2
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Default Re: What a trip, hitch problems and blown tires.

Oh yeah, Brake warning lights. Came on one time going down, happened between Jacksonville and Daytona. Came on for about 10 seconds and went back off. No problems with brakes. On the way home they came on again just south of the NC line, stayed on about 5 mins and went back off. The last time the RV was in the shop they went over and changed several ground wires stating this was a ground wire issue and I think they may be right because both times the lights came on we were on wet roads or it could just be a coincident I don't know but I'm going to drive the crap out of it till they quit working all together and yank up on the emergency brake...well slowly apply the emergency brake but I don't think I will have to do this.
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Old 11-30-2015, 11:44 PM   #3
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Default Re: What a trip, hitch problems and blown tires.

You are lucky that blowout did not do more damage. Looking at the picture usually the tire will shread when you have a blow out. The picture shows only the hole area damaged, but the rest of the tire looks still in tack.

Have you ever considered changing from Good Sam to Coach-Net? For about $130.00 a year you can get their premium insurance. They have been great with me in the towing part. I had a fuel filter that plugged up one time with some bad fuel I got in Sundance, Wyoming. They towed my coach about eighty miles to Gillette, Wyoming without a charge.
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Old 12-04-2015, 06:52 AM   #4
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Default Re: What a trip, hitch problems and blown tires.

Quote:
Originally Posted by GulfStream1
You are lucky that blowout did not do more damage. Looking at the picture usually the tire will shread when you have a blow out. The picture shows only the hole area damaged, but the rest of the tire looks still in tack.

Have you ever considered changing from Good Sam to Coach-Net? For about $130.00 a year you can get their premium insurance. They have been great with me in the towing part. I had a fuel filter that plugged up one time with some bad fuel I got in Sundance, Wyoming. They towed my coach about eighty miles to Gillette, Wyoming without a charge.

I am going to do some research on road side assistance over the winter. After looking at our Insurance policy we have Emergency road side assistance but after talking with them on the phone the deductible is $900 per incident so it would not cover either one of these problems. This was our last trip of the year anyways so hopefully by spring I'll have something better in place.
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Old 12-08-2015, 05:16 PM   #5
ScottJ6331
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Default Re: What a trip, hitch problems and blown tires.

I'm starting to think these coaches are cursed - mine's been in the shop 2 months on the ABS issue that can't be solved and during the tow the refrigerator vent must have been knocked off so the entire time rain has been flooding into the interior. This might have been the biggest failure at a vehicle level I've ever experienced. And this is ABS X 2 in 10k.

Scott
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Old 12-13-2015, 01:59 PM   #6
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Default Re: What a trip, hitch problems and blown tires.

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Originally Posted by ScottJ6331
I'm starting to think these coaches are cursed - mine's been in the shop 2 months on the ABS issue that can't be solved and during the tow the refrigerator vent must have been knocked off so the entire time rain has been flooding into the interior. This might have been the biggest failure at a vehicle level I've ever experienced. And this is ABS X 2 in 10k.

Scott

The wife thinks the same thing you do. We have only made two trips in ours and we have spent over 12 hours on the side of the road. 4 hours on the way home to NC from Key West, 4 Hours on the way to Daytona and 4 hours on the way home from Daytona. If it happens again the damn thing is GONE!
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Old 02-10-2016, 07:07 PM   #7
ScottJ6331
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Default Re: What a trip, hitch problems and blown tires.

new module and wiring fixed mine. Has new water boot also. Unit is turned around so electronics are in back-suspect this is the fix .

Scott
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