I Love my Work & Play

[Geofish]

I have a Work & Play 275 ULSBS Toy hauler travel trailer. I special ordered my trailer so I could get the options I wanted, including the all season package which includes insulting the floor of the camper with spray foam. I also purchased a two year extended warranty.
I took delivery on 10-9-13. I had a few issues in the first two years, most of them I fixed myself, since my dealer was useless. I have had a lot of issues recently, but lets talk about the fun ones.


On 9-6-16, I blew out a tire in WV, in one of the worst spots you can be in. I did not want to drive back to VA without a spare so I purchased one in Beckley WV. I was concerned about this, so when I got home, I had the axle aliment checked. They did not find anything wrong.

I noticed that Forest River chose to install D rated tires on my dual 5,200 LB. axles.
For example Carlisle D rated tires have a rating of 2,540 Lb each X 2 = 5,080 Lb. This is short of the 5,200 LB axle rating.
Must be some kind of new math?
I changed all 5 tires (including the spare) to E rated tires that have a rating of 2,830 LB each X 2 = 5,660 LB. I did check the wheels and they are rated for 2,830 each, so I should be OK???

Then on 10-24-16, just before a 3,600 mile trip, my lovely wife looked down at the wheels and said, honey this wheel is cracked, and by the way this other wheel is cracked. We had taken the camper to Kentucky two months prior. When we came back, we washed the camper and the wheels were not cracked then. We did not hit anything unusual on any of our trips.
The cracked wheels were both on the same side of the camper, not the side that the tire blew out on.
Thank God for Lovely wives, because if we were traveling down the interstate and both wheels broke apart, we may not be here.

I always go to a CAT scale and weight my trailer and truck before a trip. I have never even come close to the rated 10,400 combined axle weight rating. So I have not overloaded my trailer or my truck.

When we got back from our trip, I investigated and found that when Forest River applied the floor insulation, they completely filled the void between the trailer axles and the bottom of the trailer.
This keep the axles from moving upward when hitting normal highway bumps. Thus the springs could not do their job. I thing that trailers have springs for a reason!

The only solution is to completely remove the insulation above the trailer axles or flip the axles putting the leaf springs on top of the axles. I chose to flip the axles.

Did the foam above the axles increase the load on the tires and wheels, thus causing my problem?
Or were the wheels & tires defective?


Of course the tires & wheels are genuine Cheeena brand. (You call it China, I call it Cheeena for cheep) Great stuff when life safety is involved.
I cant wait to buy my next Forest River product!

[farmerbythelake]

Thanks for the tip. I'll check my trailer 27ULSBS 2013 next time I get to the Farm. We use it for cleaning up from a long day of harvesting and eating supper. E rated tires and cracked rims???

[KFX450RXC]

Wow. It doesn't take long to become disgruntled. That's terrible workmanship.

I just received my check from the April warranty repair I had done on my fridge. FR approved but it took them six months to get me the check and they still did not pay the entire amount.

RV manufacturers make it so easy to dislike them sometimes.

[x90rider]

Originally Posted by KFX450RXC

Wow. It doesn't take long to become disgruntled. That's terrible workmanship.

I just received my check from the April warranty repair I had done on my fridge. FR approved but it took them six months to get me the check and they still did not pay the entire amount.

RV manufacturers make it so easy to dislike them sometimes.

If you don't mind me asking, what was wrong with your frig?

[KFX450RXC]

First the compressor. Then the evaporator. Its a residential type fridge.

Since you have to remove the slideout to remove the fridge from the camper (stupid design), FR authorized me to call a "Whirlpool Recommended Repair Company" to have it repaired at my house. Its cheaper for them and far easier versus tearing apart the whole camper. The repair was done in April and immediately submitted. The story of their delays is astounding. But in the end, my $592 bill was paid last week. Only $462 since they refuse to pay taxes and the service call fee.

I should have just taken the camper to the dealership and said, "fix it. Call me when its ready."

[MR.M]

Originally Posted by Geofish

I have a Work & Play 275 ULSBS Toy hauler travel trailer. I special ordered my trailer so I could get the options I wanted, including the all season package which includes insulting the floor of the camper with spray foam. I also purchased a two year extended warranty.
I took delivery on 10-9-13. I had a few issues in the first two years, most of them I fixed myself, since my dealer was useless. I have had a lot of issues recently, but lets talk about the fun ones.


On 9-6-16, I blew out a tire in WV, in one of the worst spots you can be in. I did not want to drive back to VA without a spare so I purchased one in Beckley WV. I was concerned about this, so when I got home, I had the axle aliment checked. They did not find anything wrong.

I noticed that Forest River chose to install D rated tires on my dual 5,200 LB. axles.
For example Carlisle D rated tires have a rating of 2,540 Lb each X 2 = 5,080 Lb. This is short of the 5,200 LB axle rating.
Must be some kind of new math?
I changed all 5 tires (including the spare) to E rated tires that have a rating of 2,830 LB each X 2 = 5,660 LB. I did check the wheels and they are rated for 2,830 each, so I should be OK???

Then on 10-24-16, just before a 3,600 mile trip, my lovely wife looked down at the wheels and said, honey this wheel is cracked, and by the way this other wheel is cracked. We had taken the camper to Kentucky two months prior. When we came back, we washed the camper and the wheels were not cracked then. We did not hit anything unusual on any of our trips.
The cracked wheels were both on the same side of the camper, not the side that the tire blew out on.
Thank God for Lovely wives, because if we were traveling down the interstate and both wheels broke apart, we may not be here.

I always go to a CAT scale and weight my trailer and truck before a trip. I have never even come close to the rated 10,400 combined axle weight rating. So I have not overloaded my trailer or my truck.

When we got back from our trip, I investigated and found that when Forest River applied the floor insulation, they completely filled the void between the trailer axles and the bottom of the trailer.
This keep the axles from moving upward when hitting normal highway bumps. Thus the springs could not do their job. I thing that trailers have springs for a reason!

The only solution is to completely remove the insulation above the trailer axles or flip the axles putting the leaf springs on top of the axles. I chose to flip the axles.

Did the foam above the axles increase the load on the tires and wheels, thus causing my problem?
Or were the wheels & tires defective?


Of course the tires & wheels are genuine Cheeena brand. (You call it China, I call it Cheeena for cheep) Great stuff when life safety is involved.
I cant wait to buy my next Forest River product!

The way the sprayed the foam insulation shows lack of quality and care from the workers . but it took you 5 yrs to notice it ? the cracked wheels may have been caused by the inability of the the suspension to be able to travel . And again it could just be cheap wheels . the weight rating on the wheels is good for the e load tires and weight of the rig .

[Big Red and 30WR]

Originally Posted by Geofish

I have a Work & Play 275 ULSBS Toy hauler travel trailer. I special ordered my trailer so I could get the options I wanted, including the all season package which includes insulting the floor of the camper with spray foam. I also purchased a two year extended warranty.
I took delivery on 10-9-13. I had a few issues in the first two years, most of them I fixed myself, since my dealer was useless. I have had a lot of issues recently, but lets talk about the fun ones.


On 9-6-16, I blew out a tire in WV, in one of the worst spots you can be in. I did not want to drive back to VA without a spare so I purchased one in Beckley WV. I was concerned about this, so when I got home, I had the axle aliment checked. They did not find anything wrong.

I noticed that Forest River chose to install D rated tires on my dual 5,200 LB. axles.
For example Carlisle D rated tires have a rating of 2,540 Lb each X 2 = 5,080 Lb. This is short of the 5,200 LB axle rating.
Must be some kind of new math?
I changed all 5 tires (including the spare) to E rated tires that have a rating of 2,830 LB each X 2 = 5,660 LB. I did check the wheels and they are rated for 2,830 each, so I should be OK???

Then on 10-24-16, just before a 3,600 mile trip, my lovely wife looked down at the wheels and said, honey this wheel is cracked, and by the way this other wheel is cracked. We had taken the camper to Kentucky two months prior. When we came back, we washed the camper and the wheels were not cracked then. We did not hit anything unusual on any of our trips.
The cracked wheels were both on the same side of the camper, not the side that the tire blew out on.
Thank God for Lovely wives, because if we were traveling down the interstate and both wheels broke apart, we may not be here.

I always go to a CAT scale and weight my trailer and truck before a trip. I have never even come close to the rated 10,400 combined axle weight rating. So I have not overloaded my trailer or my truck.

When we got back from our trip, I investigated and found that when Forest River applied the floor insulation, they completely filled the void between the trailer axles and the bottom of the trailer.
This keep the axles from moving upward when hitting normal highway bumps. Thus the springs could not do their job. I thing that trailers have springs for a reason!

The only solution is to completely remove the insulation above the trailer axles or flip the axles putting the leaf springs on top of the axles. I chose to flip the axles.

Did the foam above the axles increase the load on the tires and wheels, thus causing my problem?
Or were the wheels & tires defective?


Of course the tires & wheels are genuine Cheeena brand. (You call it China, I call it Cheeena for cheep) Great stuff when life safety is involved.
I cant wait to buy my next Forest River product!

What size rims are yours? Mine looks like yours and they are 16 inch. If yours are 16`s as well then I`m shocked mine hasn`t cracked being overloaded . My 30 WR with Polaris Rzr in garage no other food , clothes or gear its over 11K Trailer came with 10 ply Westlake tire . All 4 of them are scalloped on the outside edge . Got sailun 14 plys going it next spring.