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Old 09-22-2015, 08:54 PM   #41
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Well now that was an interesting read. I just read that link from Gyrogearloose. According to Carlisle, a well known (even if you dont care for their tires) tire company, and I quote "The combined capacity of all of the tires should exceed the loaded trailer weight by 20 percent"

The total weight rating of my tires dont even match the weight of the trailer let alone exceed it. I guess FR dosen't talk to its suppliers.
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Old 09-22-2015, 08:59 PM   #42
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SnR Gaskell View Post

and I quote "The combined capacity of all of the tires should exceed the loaded trailer weight by 20 percent"

The total weight rating of my tires dont even match the weight of the trailer let alone exceed it. I guess FR dosen't talk to its suppliers.

I know.
Mine are rated at 3520.
X4 is 1480.
Rig is 15500 gross.

I guess they are relying on the extra on the pin.
No good in my books.


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Old 09-22-2015, 09:27 PM   #43
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Originally Posted by Kenny kustom View Post
I know.
Mine are rated at 3520.
X4 is 1480.
Rig is 15500 gross.

I guess they are relying on the extra on the pin.
No good in my books.


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I think you missed a zero:

3520 x 4 = 14080

Not QUITE as bad as it first appeared!
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Old 09-22-2015, 09:49 PM   #44
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kenny kustom View Post
I know.
Mine are rated at 3520.
X4 is 1480.
Rig is 15500 gross.

I guess they are relying on the extra on the pin.
No good in my books.
They're also relying on equal weight on each tire. This isn't true, it's the one tire with the greatest load that needs to be considered.

No matter how hard you try to balance your trailer, tire loads will not be equal. This starts with the weight of slide outs (with couch) on one side and not on the other.

In my case with rubber torsion axles, I doubt the axle forces will be equal even if trailer loading were perfect. Rubber doesn't make an ideal spring. Each half axle will have a slightly different load for a given deflection. It's just a question of how much they're different.

And what happens if one tire is 2psi high and the others are 2 psi low? I bet it will take more of the load.

The 20% rule makes good sense when you think about all the variables that can unbalance the tire loading.
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Old 09-22-2015, 10:09 PM   #45
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It is not just the tires that FR. skimps on. According to Lippert frame comp. FR skimps on there frames. FR buys frame that are too light for the job they are making them do. I was told this by Lippert when I was having trouble with my slide out. I finally found someone at Lippert that could tell me how to fix the slide out frame. I am just hopping that I don't have any problems with the frame. As I have the same thing with the tires as everyone else not heavy enough tires, I am also changing to Disc brakes, because I don't think they are big enough. My rig dose not want to stop, the way it is.
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Old 09-23-2015, 10:40 AM   #46
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kenny kustom View Post
I know.
Mine are rated at 3520.
X4 is 1480.
Rig is 15500 gross.

I guess they are relying on the extra on the pin.
No good in my books.


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2016 Sabre 36QBOK
I have a 2015 QBOK and the sticker says mine is only 14665
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Old 09-23-2015, 11:44 AM   #47
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I have a 2015 QBOK and the sticker says mine is only 14665


My bad.
You are correct. Where did I get the 15500 from??


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Old 09-23-2015, 01:26 PM   #48
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My bad.
You are correct. Where did I get the 15500 from??


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Old 09-23-2015, 01:35 PM   #49
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Max fifth tow rating of the truck I think!!!


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Old 09-23-2015, 04:52 PM   #50
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Originally Posted by Ditchdigger View Post
It is not just the tires that FR. skimps on. According to Lippert frame comp. FR skimps on there frames. FR buys frame that are too light for the job they are making them do. I was told this by Lippert when I was having trouble with my slide out.
I'm having a little trouble with this allegation. When there are frame problems, Lippert has to fix them, not FR. The bad reputation falls back on Lippert, not FR. If someone get's killed because a frame fails, they sue Lippert (and FR).

I have trouble believing that FR is truly overloading a Lippert frame. I'm guessing this is another urban legend.
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Old 09-27-2015, 12:02 PM   #51
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Well, that was an interesting change of events.

Friday morning I got a call from a rep at FR. I am thinking that the guy I spoke to on the phone is a little higher up the food chain than the guy that I was talking to through email.

Anyway the meat and potatoes.....They are sending 5 new Load range D tires to the dealership. At their cost, not mine. Then I spoke to him about the dealership having the trailer so long for what should have been relatively easy repairs. He extended the factory warranty for an additional 3 months since the dealer has had the coach for 2 months, and then asked me to send him a copy of my monthly bill. He wants to pay me back for 1 of my monthly payments as well.

I guess you just need to wade through the BS at the bottom of the factory level long enough until you get to someone with enough seniority to be able to make a decision.

Now we just need to see how much longer the dealer is going to be keeping my coach.
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Old 09-27-2015, 02:28 PM   #52
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Friday morning I got a call from a rep at FR. I am thinking that the guy I spoke to on the phone is a little higher up the food chain than the guy that I was talking to through email.

That's great news!
Can your share the name of your contact at FR?
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Old 09-27-2015, 04:34 PM   #53
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Forest River always seems to come through.

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Old 09-27-2015, 06:02 PM   #54
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This is the guy that I spoke with on Friday. In looking at the website for FR, he works for the Rockwood side of things. I am not sure if he looks into other model lines. I must say, he told me straight up that he was not familiar with the engineering side of the business. He is involved in keeping customers happy and working out the issues.

Also, I forgot to mention that he put a note in the file attached to our VIN number file (which he stated could never be deleted) that if I have issues with the wheels in the future, since the wheels are rated at the lower weight capacity and are not being replaced, that they are to be replaced, no questions asked. That way I don't have to go through all this again. He seems to take his job seriously.



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Old 11-21-2015, 12:15 PM   #55
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This thread started out with discussing China bombs.

Trailer Life has an article titled RV Tires 101 in their December 2015 issue. Quite informative. One interesting item is that the 1st 2 characters in the tire ID number is where the tire was manufactured. You can go to this website to look up the plant and location:

Tire DOT Plant Codes ? Sorted by Plant Code - Tire Safety Group

For example, my Constancy tires start with "LL" and were NOT made in China, but in France. While there a lot of China listings, there are also a lot of other places listed. So it's quite possible that what many of you may be lambasting as China bombs may actually have been made somewhere else. You won't know unless you look it up.

It also quotes a Goodyear bulletin that says you can run up to 75mph on 65mph speed rated tires if you increase the cold pressure by 10psi (provided you don't exceed the load limit or the wheel pressure limit).
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Old 11-21-2015, 01:29 PM   #56
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I've now done some math that predicts that if I load my trailer to it's GVWR and then drive it at 20mph on a curve that has a posted 20mph advisory speed limit, I'll overload my outside tires by 580lbs each. This is because Forest River allows no margin between the static load of the trailer and the tire load ratings.


I've done similar math that predicts that if I drive in a 30mph cross wind (which isn't high enough to trigger a high wind advisory), I'll overload my leeward tires by 309lbs each. Again, because FR allowed no margin to absorb this type of overload.


I've also looked into testing of ST tires. Federal rule FMVSS 109 applies to ST tires. There is no requirement to test above 100% of rating, so there is no reason to trust ST tires to have overload capacity.


Forest River continues to try to duck this issue. They've offered to replace one failed tire, and then when I said that doesn't solve the problem, they offered two. In my opinion all of my tires, my wheels and my axles are overloaded by hundreds of pounds in fairly normal use and need to be upgraded.
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Old 11-23-2015, 12:20 PM   #57
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Gyro
Have you spoken to Mark Akins? contact details as above
If its not a Rockwood rig ask him who to contact in FR for your particular brand.
He worked with us to fix the undersized tire problem and we are now satisfied
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Old 03-25-2016, 04:19 PM   #58
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Safety issue

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Hello all.

We are new to the forum but not to RVs.

We recently purchased our first brand new trailer. We picked up a Rockwood Signature Ultra Light 8312SS. We love the trailer. It fits the need of our family perfectly, even though there is only the four of us.

We brought it home on June 5 of this year. Since then we have put almost 7,500 miles on traveling from California out the 10 fwy to Mobile, Alabama, then north to Washington DC, and Philadelphia. Then down through Nashville, Tennessee, and home along the 40 fwy. That was a 40 night trip. What a blast and a heck of way to get accustomed to the new trailer.

Now for the fun part. As we all know with new equipment, there comes the punch list of things that need to be fixed. The dealer said that there shouldn't be a problem with "most" of the list.

My big issue is with the wheels and tires. They equipped the trailer with load range C wheels and tires. They are rated at 2,150 lbs each. Doing the math, that's a total rating of 8,600 lbs. The trailer is rated at a gross weight of 8,800 lbs. Now, I know that some of that weight will transfer to the tow vehicle, approximately 10 percent if loaded properly. So that leaves 7,920 lbs for the wheels and tires. That leaves a very slim margin of 170 lbs available on each wheel and tire combination, only 7.9% of the tire rating. Now I am not a math genius, but in my warped mind, that load is calculated at static load, as in the trailer sitting still. How much more weight is transferred to the tires as the trailer is bouncing down the road. If there was a way to measure the weight during transit, I am fairly certain that the tires are taking a lot more weight than the max load specified.

The reason this has come up is that I blew a tire on the trip. I did not hit anything with the tire, road hazards or curb shots. The tire does not show any signs of abuse at all. I called Forest River when this happened and they went as far as telling me that they are aware that this trailer is at the high point of the wheel and tire rating and are planning on fixing it in future models. But they insist that it is safe the way it is and I'm pretty much on my own. If it is okay then why are the "fixing" it on future models?

Any help or suggestions or do you think i am out of my mind and should just plan on buying the higher rated wheels and tires myself.
That sounds like a safety issue. Seems to me that if that's the case, Forrest River should help you in correcting the situation. Their reputation is on the line for putting out on the market a Safe Unit.
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Old 03-25-2016, 04:36 PM   #59
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That sounds like a safety issue. Seems to me that if that's the case, Forrest River should help you in correcting the situation. Their reputation is on the line for putting out on the market a Safe Unit.
I agree completely. In my case, they offered me one tire to replace the one that failed. When I refused this, they offered me two tires. I again refused. The problem isn't solved by replacing one underrated tire with another underrated one. I pushed this through the BBB, and FR just stopped responding.

I wrote to Pete Leigl (CEO of FR). He responded with a conciliatory letter saying that he was passing the issue to the General Manager of Rockwood. I've heard nothing since.

The least they could do is take a look at my math that shows a 580lb overload when I tow on a curve, and either agree with it or point out where it's wrong.

I suspect the problem is that my math is correct, and that many trailers that they've shipped are at risk of tire failure. This would then be a lot bigger problem than just fixing my trailer.
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