Screw in tire

[Bugle Boy]

I started taking my wheels and tires in today for balancing. The first one needed 2 oz of weight. That's not too bad but too much to leave unbalanced.

The second one isn't done. As was picking the gravel out of the tread (you can't proerly balance a tire with stones in the tread) I found a big screw stuck in it. They will have it done tomorrow. The screw was at a low angle and had not fully penetrated the tire.....yet.

A wheel/tire combination that far off balance can beat up the wheel bearings and shake the dickens out of the brake assembly and the trailer. Not good.

[f6bits]

Ah, so I'm not the only one who's contemplated pulling wheels and taking them in one at a time. That's my plan for getting new tires. Start with the spare and work my way around.

Do you take them in one at a time? Does your shop give you any grief for doing it piecemeal?

[JRTJH]

Paul,

When we bought our current trailer I took all the tires off, had them balanced (the trailer had miles from the factory to the dealership and then to our house) with about 600 miles on them. One took a tad over 4oz of weight to balance. The tire shop wanted me to buy a new tire as they said nothing that out of balance would ever work right. We've got probably 15,000 miles on the RV now and other than rotate front to back every spring when I repack the bearings, all four tires are still doing well. I'm convinced that balancing them not only prevents wobble in the bearings and helps keep the brakes intact, I also believe that a tire bouncing down the highway "jittering" itself with every rotation is a tire that's not going to make it very far. Reducing that hopping, I think, helps preserve the tires and suspension.

I think it's probably one of the best $25 investments in RV maintenance.

Now, just to pull your leg a tad...... I've heard of "screw in light bulbs" "Screw in Plugs" even "screw in air fresheners", but I've never heard of "screw in tires" :cool: Smile: It's all good :)

f6bits: When I do my annual tire rotation, wheelbearing packs and brake maintenance/adjustment, I loosen all the lug nuts, jack up each axle, slip a jackstand under it and move to the next wheel. Once they are all on jackstands, I remove the wheels, do the bearings, brakes, etc, then install the wheels again. Having the jackstands makes it so much easier. You can get 3 ton steel jackstands at Harbor Freight for $25 a pair, often they are even cheaper. I can't imagine my shop without those jackstands, they come in handy for everything from lawn mowers, ATV's, tractors and even cars, trucks and trailers :) With them, you can get all 4 tires to the tire shop at once.

[Ron]

On all our rigs, big and small I use Equal Tire Balancer, so it does not matter what is in the tire tread and so on, it is continually balancing the tires, have used it for years in our semis, equipment trailers etc. now in all pickups and small trailers.......

[Bugle Boy]

Yes, one at a time. I have a long time relationship with my tire shop (fishing buddy) and it is only about 5 miles away.

If a tire is more than a few ounces out of balance the first thing to try is to rotate the tire 180 degrees on the rim.

Not familiar with Equal Tire Balancer but will certainly research it.

Oh yeah, the spare......almost forgot.

Screw is a good word. Fits many interesting applications. My submarines had a big screw.