Near disaster

Bald Eagles near Fort Stevens

April 23-May5, 2023

This was a very nice trip to the Oregon Coast and Stub Stewart. 11 days of sun and 1 day of rain (in that order).

As part of my routine on travel days, I inspect the tires and wheels before and after. I also continuously monitor the temperature and pressure of each trailer tire with my TPMS. Everything was fine until I parked at Stub Stewart after a 70 mile drive. (see photos above)

The trailer came with four Castle Rocks (AKA MayPops) st205/75R14. I had complete tire tread separation last June and had to replace another tire in August. The two remaining tires have approximately 23K miles on them.

When I had the first tire replaced, the technician warned me that the others might fall apart eventually. Confident that I knew what to look for, I planned to push it until the winter or spring.

One trip too many.

I put the spare on and parked the trailer in storage. I have an appointment next week to replace the two CRs with Towstars. At that time I will have them inspect the wheels, axles etc.

While we wait, what do you think caused the problem? My guess is the tread is starting to separate and a chunk broke off when I hit a rough patch on Highway 26.

If it is alignment, I think that means the axle has a problem and I would expect wear on both sides (according to my tire guy, the individual wheels cannot be aligned).

Axle? I think not (see above). I hope not because of down time and costs.

Brakes grabbing? Would explain bald spot, but not bulge. (tire is flipped in 2nd photo. Bulge and bare spot on same side)

update: May 16.

After five hours at Les Schwab, all four wheels had their bearings packed. Axles, brakes, wheels, anything else attached to the tires were inspected.

Conclusion: everything looks good. Trailer tires are not made very well. When they fall apart, they fall apart fast. I am just fortunate they didn’t fall apart while I was driving on the road.