2016 Greenville, SC RV Show
Forest River 2016 Cardinal 3850RL
Right after I got to the RV Show my camera decided it was time to quit - almost. I notices right away it wouldn’t take anything other than close-ups. I tried everything from other batteries and memory chips to every setting on the thing. No luck. So I’ll have to modify the way I was going to do these presentations.
I’m a private citizen without affiliation to anything I’m presenting in these RV Show postings. Doing RV stuff is my hobby, especially tires, RV weights, the regulations and industry standards we are all supposed to abide.
OK, this is about a very nicely appointed 41’ Cardinal 5th wheel with a full body paint job. Most of my exterior and interior pictures were to blurred to use. So I ran the VIN number in a search engine and found the dealer. Here is his presentation.
http://www.adventuremotorhomes.net/New-Inventory-2016-FOREST-RIVER-Fifth-Wheel-3850RL-Greer-South-Caroline-1696925
In this reference there is a picture of the trailer’s certification label. Note that the GAWRs have been reduced from the 7000# axles to reflect 6840# GAWR for each axle. That’s because of the tire size.
http://www.irv2.com/photopost/showfull.php?photo=29698
All of the Forest River trailers - any size - had Westlake tires. The OEM provider is servicing them with 100% nitrogen. Green valve caps are used for quick identification of nitrogen servicing.
All of the tires I looked at had yellow dots on the tire sidewall and those dots were all correctly aligned with the valve stem. Red or yellow dots on the tires indicates its the optimum balance point. With only a yellow dot it’s aligned with the valve stem. When the tire has both red and yellow dots the red is aligned with a dimple on the rim. Bridgestone has a PDF file on the dots that can better explain it and I’ve provided it below. They are fast becoming an industry standard as evident with the Westlake tires.
NOTE: If you have tires other than Bridgestone with colored dots on their sidewalls I’d recommend finding and using each manufacturers recommendations for the dots. Until it truly becomes an industry standard each tire manufacturer may have a different procedure for their use.
http://www.bridgestonetrucktires.com/us_eng/real/magazines/ra_v13_i1/PDF/ra_v13i1%20ask%20doc.pdf
This particular trailer has a very desirable coupling hitch with two settings. Both more than adequate for the trailers GVWR.
http://www.irv2.com/photopost/showfull.php?photo=29699
Linear Mode
