| Author |
Message |
Henry Draper (146.129.147.36)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, October 17, 2001 - 1:54 pm: | |
I've received several good questions about my blowout experience. Here are some answers.
I was not running retreads. The guy I bought the bus from doesn't believe in them, and after much question asking, neither do I. In the type usage we recreational drivers do, we'll never wear the tread off tires. Where a tire is likely to fail for us is in the sidewall, from sheer age. When running retreads, it's only the tread that's renewed and the part that's of most concern to us just continues to age. Also, my blown tire didn't fail in the sidewall; there was a big horizontal tear in the casing underneath where the tread used to be.
Tire pressure: I was properly inflated at 100 psi in my duals. I'd checked it not an hour before the blowout. My tires are rated for 5675 pounds on duals, at 100 psi.
Weight: My bus weighs 34,000 pounds, fully loaded--wife, five kids, two big dogs (three hundred pounds right there!), food, fuel, water, etc. I have three axles, the front carries 10,000 pounds, and the back two, drivers and tag,(I didn't weight the drivers and tag seperately) carry 24,000. Weights courtesy of the scale at the closed state truck weigh station just outside town on I-5 -- a very convenient and cheap(free) way to find out how much you weigh, by the way. Just do it at night, when they're closed but the scale is still active, in case you have a weight problem. I hear they have no sense of humor if you're overweight and they know about it!!
Size and ply rating: 285 75R 24.5. These are low profile 11X24.5 tires. They have a load range of G--whatever that means. I don't know how many plies, but here's what it says on the tire: Plies: Sidewall, steel 1, Tread, steel 5.
Age: Again, I don't know. I have been watching for age checking on the sidewalls and there was no significant cracks. And again, the failure was in the tread, not the sidewall. Here are the DOT numbers off the tires still on the bus--which are the same age: 6B4K 9M3 344. I belive the last three numbers are the date code, but I don't know how to decipher it. The tires look fine to my and my mechanics visual inspection--believe me, I ask about these things!! As any of you who know me are aware.
When I asked the roadside assistance guys what happened, they wouldn't venture a guess. "Happens all the time" was their response. Same from the tire guy I bought my replacement tire from. They see nothing that terribly unusual in a tire blowing out.
So, what happened? My best guess is that I had the misfortune of running over something that caused the tire to go flat, but what do I know?
Henry Draper
'64 Eagle
Edmonds, WA |
bob m (152.163.197.198)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, October 17, 2001 - 9:39 pm: | |
I had an inside rear blow out on my 4104 at 65mph on a 90% tread michelin radial. tire shop said I must have hit something i think they always say that to avoid a tread life warranty claim. my blowout took out the third/fourth gear shift rod |
Gene R (12.13.175.115)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, October 17, 2001 - 9:47 pm: | |
Henry, just a thought here. have been reading the responses to your blowout with intrest. I started to convert my 05 about 5 1/2 yrs before it was completed. I had installed a new set of Goodyear 24.5 when we first started the coach. Because of other intrests, the coach was put on the back burner from time to time and it sat outside for moet of the down time. When it was completed and I started driving the coach the problem occured. I was running about 70 mph in the HOV lane in downtown Atlanta when the left tire came apart in rush hour traffic. Somehow I crossed six lanes of traffic without hitting someone or something and got it off the road to the right side. Someone else was helping with the driving, huh??? Point is, I took the tire to Goodyear and in their own words, tires should not be used after five years, especially after setting in the sun for some time. The tire did just as you said and blew the tread completly off the tire, or the tread left shortly thereafter. Either way, it scared the hell out of me and the wife. Had I not weighed 225 lbs and been all over the steering wheel, I might have lost it. In your case, where you checked the pressure. and it was running on the drive axle (no alignment problem there) it must have been the tire or the age of the tire, in my oponion. Fact is, as your butt and life is depending on the point where the rubber meets the road, make sure the tires are not too old. I know tires are expensive, but a casket cost a hell of a lot more in the long run !!!!!!!! These are just my thoughts on this subject. Take care, Gene R. |
JayJay (205.188.200.22)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, October 17, 2001 - 10:37 pm: | |
The portion of the DOT Code that is 344 probably means the 34th week of 1994. The first two numbers are the week, and the last is the year. It is a violaton of Federal Law to sell a tire that is more than 5 years old.HTH ...JJ |
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