Scary....but lucky!!! Tire blew!

[jstaddwtr]

Coming home from Yellowstone and points west.  We are coming across Illinois and felt a thump! and saw blue smoke!!!  Somehow remembered everything I have read about slowing down!!!  Chunks of tread all ofver the road with big trucks swerving to avoid them.  Able to get it stopped and luckily there was an adequate shoulder.  Rim bent, tire in shreds, parts or tread wrapped around the axle.  

After calming our nerves, grabbed the Coleman manual to read about calling for help in case a a flat.....m-m-m-m-m-

Used a bottle jack and jack for our truck to get it up and the tire off.  Luckily the tread wrapped on axle causing less damage to the wheel plastic shroud.  Got the tire on and gone in less than an hour.

Stopped in Elkhart Indiana and found a great service group to sell me two new tires and wheels and repair the shroud!  Good experience we hope never to have again!!!!!!!

We say this all the time but will do so again!  We learn so many things from all of you on this site and sometimes they come in handy at the right time!

[tlhdoc]

I know the feeling.  Glad you got home OK.  We blew a tire on the PU years ago.  Had trouble finding a replacement and now I carry two spares just in case.

[MommaMia]

Wow!  Seems like things went pretty smoothly for you.  Glad to know you all were ok.

[PopupSgt]

I know your exact feeling, we blew a tire on our once owned 14SO on the Penn Turnpike.  I was glad that I had tandem axles on that beast and thankfully there was a state trooper near by to give me a safety net to change the tire and get back on the road.  The sticker shock came when I had to buy a replacement tire.

[jstaddwtr]

You are all so right about replacement tires!!  (The price and availability!)

Here we were in Elkhart, Indiana, for those who don't know, the home of tons of RV manufactures, and it was difficult finding the tires we needed.  I am so glad we replaced both of them!  I don't know what I would have done if we were really out in the boonies.  

I cannot imagine braking down on the turnpike with the PU!  It has happened in the snow and sleet before but usually there is nowhere to turn off.  

As always, learned alot on that trip!

[Venatic]

I just replaced both of our tires this year. I hadn't noticed that they were getting a bit worn.

Tires at the dealer were about $90 each. Ouch! I called other tire stores, and none really had any trailer tires. They could order them, but it would take a few days and the price wasn't that much cheaper.

DW was going to be bringing the PU down to the campground and if I didn't get those tires changed and she would have had a blow out, I would have never heard the end of it.

[jstaddwtr]

Well, what I learned from all of this is that I will change them both more when I have any doubt.  We could have had some serious damage. In fact the service person said this was the least amount of damage he had seen in a blow out where the tread seprated so badly.  We learn something new each tiem we go out!