Dual Axle Payoff

[Greg A]

One of the huge selling points for us on the Escape 19 was the dual axle. As we get older we wanted the dual axle to have more contrrol of the vehicle if ever in a blowout situation. Well, we got the payback today. I was returning home from three nights in the White Mountains of AZ when I felt a change in the tow at 70 mph on the highway. I could see some flapping in the ps mirror in the tire area. Pulled off and checked and PS front tire had blown and shredded but no body damage fortunately. I was only a couple of miles from storage lot so drove slowly on into destination.
The trailer handled fantastically with the dual axles through the blowout and while you could tell there was something wrong, it was stable and never any loss of control.
Today I became a very happy camper that we decided to go with a dual axle trailer.

[gbaglo]

Others with single axle trailers have also had blow outs and simply pulled over on to the shoulder. Some with tandem axles ( stickies, from reports ) have had a blow out and had that tire shred the wheel well because they didn't notice until miles later.
I've not had a flat in 10 years, so I can't speak from personal experience.

[sclifrickson]

My Escape manual lists max vehicle speed as 62mph [emoji52]

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by sclifrickson

My Escape manual lists max vehicle speed as 62mph

Presumably that limit was chosen because it's the default speed rating of Special Trailer (ST) tires, although someone might try asking Reace if he would approve of towing at a higher speed with higher-speed-rated tires.

I won't ask Greg what tires he was using

[gbaglo]

Originally Posted by sclifrickson

My Escape manual lists max vehicle speed as 62mph [emoji52]

My RAV4 manual says to limit speed while towing to 45mph.
You're welcome.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

Some with tandem axles ( stickies, from reports ) have had a blow out and had that tire shred the wheel well because they didn't notice until miles later.

Another tandem characteristic is that when one tire goes flat, the other one on the same side is then loaded more heavily, possibly to the point of overloading and killing that tire, too. This is even more of an issue with duals, but any situation in which you have one tire taking over for another, it's a potential problem.

[padlin]

I had the same thing as Greg, first flat in 12 years. Felt a vibration and could see something in the mirror. Might just be an isolated incident, but the vibration would be hard to miss, like driving over one of the metal grate bridges. No damage to mine either other then the rim got a little beat up. Flat at 60ish on the highway, in the dark, in the rain, on a curve. I let Good Sam change it.

[cpaharley2008]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

Another tandem characteristic is that when one tire goes flat, the other one on the same side is then loaded more heavily, possibly to the point of overloading and killing that tire, too. This is even more of an issue with duals, but any situation in which you have one tire taking over for another, it's a potential problem.

When I had my flat, did not notice it until I stopped for gas. By then the wheel lugs were loose. I installed my non chrome spare (back then the package only gave you 4) and went on to the Rally. Upon returning home, as Brian indicated, the tire dealer recommend replacing both tires on that side, and then suggested that all 4 should be replaced since the tread on one side would be different than the other. $800 later I had 4 new tires and still my original spare. I was so glad when Escape started offering the 5 wheel package, if this happens today you just need one new tire.
BTW, later that year was when I discovered my full sized truck had a temporary spare when I went to purchase new tires for the truck.

[Jim Bennett]

While tandem axles is a bonus when you get a flat, the main reason I like them is for the smoother ride they provide. A lot less bounce when two tires on the same side help carry the load over bumps and dips.

[Bill and Earline]

Greg,
You could do the forum a service by giving details on these tires.
There might be enough of the shredded tire left to read the manufactured date. If not, the others are probably about the same date. Then please estimate how many miles on these tires, what tread depth is showing (on one of the other tires, of course) and what psi you normally use. The brand,too, and size.

Thanks, and glad you had very little damage.

[casejh]

Yes on the benefit of dual axles, and there is also something to be said for a tire pressure monitoring system. Mine has warned me once of a problem that I think would have probably gone unnoticed until the tire blew out and possibly caused damage to the trailer. Instead I was able to have the problem repaired and continue using the tire.

[Greg A]

Originally Posted by Bill and Earline

Greg,
You could do the forum a service by giving details on these tires.
There might be enough of the shredded tire left to read the manufactured date. If not, the others are probably about the same date. Then please estimate how many miles on these tires, what tread depth is showing (on one of the other tires, of course) and what psi you normally use. The brand,too, and size.

Thanks, and glad you had very little damage.

Hi Bill,
I will certainly get all that info and post it here as it would be good to have for reference. The trailer will be 3 years old in Nov, and we’ll see what the date info is on the tires.
I do need to clarify for the ones who would try and detract on speed. Where I suspect this occurred is on a massive 6% downgrade on I17 at Black Canyon City. I pulled this trip at sustained speed of 60-65 as I always have. On this down grade, even with engine braking, the speeds reach 70 and I dont ride brakes on long down grades unless needed for safety reasons. These tires are certainly capable of the speeds that were driven on this trip and all previous trips so personally I am not factoring that in.
I do have a slight recollection of a noise at about the time this occurred like when you run over a piece of road trash, but that simply could have been the actual blowout.
I didn’t intend initially to get into discussions about tires, only wanted to post my experience with the handling characteristics of the dual axle with a catastrophic event, but we’ll probabably be discussing Poutine shortly anyway.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Greg A

Where I suspect this occurred is on a massive 6% downgrade on I17 at Black Canyon City.
...
On this down grade, even with engine braking, the speeds reach 70...

I'm a little surprised that engine braking didn't keep the rig's speed under 70 mph; 6% isn't very steep (it's the lowest grade that rates a specific sign on the Canadian highways that I've towed on).

I assume that this was with the 2014 Frontier, and the Frontier is presumably an automatic V6 (not a lot of manual pickups anymore, and not many towing travel trailers with the 4-cylinder). What gear or engine speed would the descent at 70 mph have been?

[sclifrickson]

Originally Posted by Greg A

I didn’t intend initially to get into discussions about tires, only wanted to post my experience with the handling characteristics of the dual axle with a catastrophic event, but we’ll probabably be discussing Poutine shortly anyway.

I do enjoy poutine. More, perhaps, than I ought to. Some of the allure for me is probably due to it being a relative rarity, and therefore an exotic treat, south of the border. Do Canadians take it for granted, like Americans do with PizzaHotDogsBurgersBBQChineseEtc?

[gbaglo]

Poutine doesn't appeal to me. I'm ok with fries and gravy. Seems to be a conspiracy among pubs to add weird stuff to foods and then charge a premium.

[rubicon327]

Originally Posted by Bill and Earline

Greg,
You could do the forum a service by giving details on these tires.
There might be enough of the shredded tire left to read the manufactured date. If not, the others are probably about the same date. Then please estimate how many miles on these tires, what tread depth is showing (on one of the other tires, of course) and what psi you normally use. The brand,too, and size.

I'm sure Greg will come back with details. In the meantime I can tell from the photo that these are Carlisle 205/75/15.

[Hilola]

So, do any folks here use a TPMS system on their trailers?

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by Hilola

So, do any folks here use a TPMS system on their trailers?

I want to get one, that has to handle 8 tires (4 on the escape, plus 4 on my F250 because it predates TPMS systems), I'm pretty much convinced that TST is the way to go, all the bluetooth phone based things look too flakey to me.

[kstock11]

I went with the TireMinder Solar TPMS. It’s great to know what’s going on with the 4 tires on the Escape 19 as you’re tooling down the highway.

[gbaglo]

Originally Posted by Hilola

So, do any folks here use a TPMS system on their trailers?

If you use the search function ( the bottom Google box - see pic ) you will find hundreds of previous discussions.