Well hhad my first blow out on the right front passenger tire last nite.
With just 1700 miles on the coach AND having checked pressures AND added air to that very same time a couple of hours earlier...it was unexpected to say the least! I can't seem to make my photo upload so you can take a look here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/438005...7645244449688/
and scroll down and click on the last picture.
Fortunately...we were in the slow down lane for a tollbooth when it blew and were only going around 40 mph or so rather than highway speeds. We managed to pull over after going through the toll booth...and no..I didn't get credit for one less wheel!
How it happened was the question and the answer can be seen in the picture and is the reason I'm posting this. If you look carefully...you can see the shredded tire and the rim as seen from the front of the coach looking back. You can also see the tire valve on the INSIDE of the rim...and the valve extension on the outside poking through the hubcap.
What you won't see...is what was missing and resulted in this mishap...
the NUT that goes on the tire valve thread where it pokes through the rim was never put on or was lost during assembly. It could not have fallen off because the knurled nut of the tire valve extension was too big to allow that other nut to slip entirely off the assemble. It had to have been that way before the extension valve was put on. From what the wrecker guy told me...this is not that uncommon...and the high air pressure inside the tire holds the rubber base of the valve in place until it begins to go and hits a bump just right when you get an immediate loss of pressure.
We were lucky to have no damage other than to the tire...but this could have wrecked a lot on the coach or even caused us to lose control. I will be speaking with FR and my dealer about this ... and will post some other stuff when I get back home...
but just thought that it might be useful to remind everyone that there must be a visible nut on every tire rim...and not just on the extention of the valve. I checked my other 5...maybe you should too next time you check air and particularly when you have new tires mounted.
Lesson learned and the value of a TPM system made evident!
Also..kudos to Coach Net on the Sunday nite road service call ...and the Monday redux. More on that later too.