Rough Neighborhood ...

[Cowracer]

Ok, it looks bad in the pictures... But it's not really. Nobody swiped my wheels

I have never been a "fan" of the Castle Rock Tires, but they never scared me like some people. Two campers, 4 years worth of tire use on each and nary a problem, till I hit a chunk of angle iron on I55 and cut a tire.



I was lucky, the tread did not separate and I managed to swap out with the spare and continue on my merry way. But the writing was on the wall, and new tires were in order. After much research, I bit the bullet ($$$) on 4 new Goodyear Enduarance

I have my camper temporarily spotted down at my lake community, and the easiest way to change them were to yank them off myself and haul them up to the dealer. I got jacks, I got cordless impacts. How hard can it be?. Turns out, not much harder than you'd think but truly frightening in the doing.

The Dexter torsion axles made it a complete PITA to change. There is not enough room to get my nice, stable floor jack onto the spindle arm with the wheel/tire installed. I wound up having to borrow a sketchy Harbor Freight bottle jack. It was scary as all hell having to crawl up under the trailer to pump up a wobbly-a** bottle jack enough to get the tire off the ground, and it got worse the more tires I removed. I cribbed up the axles best I could, but on that last one, if you would run up and yelled "BOO!", I probably would have needed a change of underwear.

Learn from my experience. If you have the torsion axles, make sure you pack a jack that will let you change a tire safely. I usually bring my floor jack when camping, but I forgot to load it the one time I had a blowout. I wound up using the mechanical "bottle" jack that came with my 2017 RAM 2500, and it worked-ish, but safety was marginal at best. Turns out my floor jack would have been useless, and the old trick of backing it up over a curb to let the flat tire hang does not work with torsion axles. Being on the side of the hiway with a flat, trying to MacGyver a way to jack a tire is not the place to be.

So anyway... 4 Brand New, USA made Endurance E-range tires are now safely tucked up underneath the camper. Can't wait to the first chance to put them to the test.

Tim

[Kcoulter]

I'd be scared too of your blocking

A few jack stands are relatively cheap.

[Cowracer]

Originally Posted by Kcoulter

I'd be scared too of your blocking

A few jack stands are relatively cheap.

Cheap in dollar cost, and definetly a good idea. One that never crossed my mind, till i was knee deep in it

Tim

[6CatDaddy]

Yeah, lots of pro/con, how to/how not to get the tires off the ground on travel trailers.

Dexter Torflex adds another layer of confusion.

I just replaced the Castle Rocks on our 2020 MiniLite with the Goodyears AND balanced them... whole 'nother topic.

I did mine with trailer at home in the driveway. Did 2 at a time right side first, then the left.

I got tires through Amazon then had a local TRUSTED auto repair shop mount and balance them.

What we carry with us traveling and what I use to jack trailer up with is an old mechanical railroad jack. A short one, has a ratcheting lever/screw mechanism, will lift each side of trailer wheels off ground, both wheels easily.

With the jack I have a lot of different sized wood blocks, most cut lenghts of 2x4s that I build height to the jack and also put between jack and frame of suspension to spread out the lift force.

I placed the jack between the front and rear wheels and jacked on the spacer block built into suspension on ours to raise trailer height for our model, 2205s.

I positioned jack so lever to jack was between tires facing out, and can easily slip an extension bar into jack handle and operate the jack.

Nice thing about this old mechanical jack is that it has no chance of slipping down until you reverse the ratchet and work mechanism the other direction... Can act as a jack stand once lifted height is reached, but I always use an extra stand "just in case" an earthquake or tornado hits while I have tires off the ground.

You could use a bottle jack in same spot, but with todays bottle jacks all chinese made... I am not a fan of them. Trusting hydraulics is scary enough without worrying about it being cheaply made.

Anyway, thats how I do/did it.

Works well, no issue with causing any harm to the Dexter axle or to trailer body.

[dblr]

So what your saying is you could not yank the wheels off as fast as you did on Kenny's golf cart

[Cowracer]

Originally Posted by dblr

So what your saying is you could not yank the wheels off as fast as you did on Kenny's golf cart

I have no knowledge of what you are talking about. But with that said, that particular miscreant had help. And they didnt need a jack.

Tim

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by Cowracer

Ok, it looks bad in the pictures... But it's not really. Nobody swiped my wheels

I have never been a "fan" of the Castle Rock Tires, but they never scared me like some people. Two campers, 4 years worth of tire use on each and nary a problem, till I hit a chunk of angle iron on I55 and cut a tire.



I was lucky, the tread did not separate and I managed to swap out with the spare and continue on my merry way. But the writing was on the wall, and new tires were in order. After much research, I bit the bullet ($$$) on 4 new Goodyear Enduarance

I have my camper temporarily spotted down at my lake community, and the easiest way to change them were to yank them off myself and haul them up to the dealer. I got jacks, I got cordless impacts. How hard can it be?. Turns out, not much harder than you'd think but truly frightening in the doing.

The Dexter torsion axles made it a complete PITA to change. There is not enough room to get my nice, stable floor jack onto the spindle arm with the wheel/tire installed. I wound up having to borrow a sketchy Harbor Freight bottle jack. It was scary as all hell having to crawl up under the trailer to pump up a wobbly-a** bottle jack enough to get the tire off the ground, and it got worse the more tires I removed. I cribbed up the axles best I could, but on that last one, if you would run up and yelled "BOO!", I probably would have needed a change of underwear.

Learn from my experience. If you have the torsion axles, make sure you pack a jack that will let you change a tire safely. I usually bring my floor jack when camping, but I forgot to load it the one time I had a blowout. I wound up using the mechanical "bottle" jack that came with my 2017 RAM 2500, and it worked-ish, but safety was marginal at best. Turns out my floor jack would have been useless, and the old trick of backing it up over a curb to let the flat tire hang does not work with torsion axles. Being on the side of the hiway with a flat, trying to MacGyver a way to jack a tire is not the place to be.

So anyway... 4 Brand New, USA made Endurance E-range tires are now safely tucked up underneath the camper. Can't wait to the first chance to put them to the test.

Tim

I have the Torflex axles too. I've found a 12 ton bottle jack to be the ticket. Overkill for lift capacity but it has a larger base and is nice and steady. I use a block of wood cut from an old pallet skid to let me jack on the frame between both axles. Just enough room to slide jack between tires and extend handle to outside, again between tires. If i want more "steady" I can lower stabilizer jacks but usually just run some jack stands under the frame for safety.

Tire Dealers, at least mine does, appreciate you bring the tire/wheels to them. Less room taken up in their parking lot and the trouble of jacking up is no longer their worry[emoji41]

[wmtire]

When I first read the thread title and then opened the thread to see your pics, I thought the worst. I was thinking someone had stolen your tires, along the g and h from the word neighborhood.


Glad to see that wasn't the case.

[Cowracer]

Originally Posted by wmtire

When I first read the thread title and then opened the thread to see your pics, I thought the worst. I was thinking someone had stolen your tires, along the g and h from the word neighborhood.


Glad to see that wasn't the case.

I gots big fingers and a little bitty keyboard. And apparently a undeserved level of trust in autocorrect. [emoji6]

Tim

[K_and_I]

I have rubber torsion axles on my tt and use a Trailer Aid for changing tires. Am I missing something?

[Cowracer]

Originally Posted by K_and_I

I have rubber torsion axles on my tt and use a Trailer Aid for changing tires. Am I missing something?

Have you actually tried it? I think you are in for a surprise.

Tim

[K_and_I]

Originally Posted by Cowracer

Have you actually tried it? I think you are in for a surprise.

Tim

Yes, I use it annually when I repack the wheel bearings. As someone mentioned earlier in this thread, the only place I can access the frame is between the tires, and it requires a lot of lift to get the tires clear of the floor. The Trailer Aid works well and is much quicker.