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Old 03-06-2021, 03:15 PM   #1
brodavefla
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2 spare tires?

Hi all,



We recently bought a 2017 Cougar X-Lite TT 33MLS. We're newbies and just came back from out fourth outing. On our return trip from outing #3 we had a blowout on a busy xway about 10 miles from home. I got rid of the china bombs and got a set of Goodyears. So now I'm kinda tire-sensitive. As part of the learning curve, we found out that Class A's apparently don't carry spare tires! Too big & heavy for a mere mortal to change out I guess. On the other hand, a neighbor at the campground where we were had a 2016 Cougar TT, and showed me that he carries TWO spare tires, both mounted on the rear bumper. We had some concerns about what we'd do if we had another blowout while being in BFE somewhere, so that got my attention.


I've not seen anyone else carrying two spare tires on their TT. Your thoughts would be appreciated--is that overkill or wise planning?


Thanks, BD
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Old 03-06-2021, 03:24 PM   #2
flybouy
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For me personally it would depend on where my travels take me. Camping local (within a 300 mile range, close to towns) I'm comfortable with one spare. If I were traveling out in the desert or plains where road temps were really hot anmd the next town was 100 miles away then I would carry two.

If I were carrying two then one of them would be in the bed of the truck. There's NO WAY I'd use a mount on the trailer bumper to carry two. Chances are doing that you'd arrive with no spare tires.
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Old 03-06-2021, 03:33 PM   #3
LewisB
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Question: where would this end? If you carry two spares for your trailer, will you also have two for your tow vehicle?

I'm with flybouy; depends on where your travels take you. I would probably feel differently if we were headed up the Al-Can highway. For domestic travel in the lower 48, we carry one spare for the truck and one spare for the trailer.

Just as important as spares is 1) making sure to actively manage your tire inflation, mileage, age, etc., and 2) have a TPMS system. With today's tire technology and proper management, one spare should be adequate for almost all travel. JMHO
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Old 03-06-2021, 03:52 PM   #4
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I bought a new 5th wheel in 2016 and towed to Alaska and back plus all over the western states since and still have the original spare on the bumper and it's never been on the ground.
I did change out the china bombs in 2019 though.
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Old 03-06-2021, 04:04 PM   #5
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When we traveled to Alaska we had two spares for the RV. Only one in the lower 48. And certainly not both on the bumper.
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Old 03-06-2021, 04:18 PM   #6
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Something not yet addressed is the "other tire on the ground"...

When you have a blowout, then the remaining tire on that side of the trailer is carrying the entire load for both axles. That means the "good tire" is critically overloaded for the duration of that tow, from blowout until you stop and put another tire on the affected axle...

So, if you catch the blowout and get stopped in a quarter mile you've only got "a quarter mile of damage"... On the other hand, if you're "happily towing along at 65MPH until someone pulls up beside you, honking their horn and pointing to your trailer before you stop, well, then you've got no idea how far you've towed the trailer in that same "critically overloaded condition"...

What I'm getting at is that when you blow a tire and keep towing, whether it's just long enough to get pulled over to the side of the highway or whether it's a "who knows how far we really went".... Either way, there's going to be the question of "is the good tire now also a bad tire" ???

Consider, when towing with a single tire, no matter how far you tow, the other tire probably should be either "relegated to the spare position" or removed from service. Either situation, you get the "privilege" of buying two tires for a "one tire blowout"...

I'd be very reluctant to ever trust a tire that was on the same side of a trailer if the other tire blew.... YMMV
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Old 03-06-2021, 05:28 PM   #7
brodavefla
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When we traveled to Alaska we had two spares for the RV. Only one in the lower 48. And certainly not both on the bumper.

Seems like I'd read somewhere that those standard 4x4 bumpers have a load capacity of about 150 lb, so you'd probably want to reinforce it if you were going to hook up another spare tire to it. I'm trying to figure out how and where to mount an e-bike rack; same problem as e-bikes weigh 45 lb & up. Actually if we did that, which we wouldn't do until taking our big 2.5 mo trip out west this fall, I could stand up the extra spare in the truck bed. It wouldn't have as much of a footprint that way.
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Old 03-06-2021, 05:41 PM   #8
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I carry a spare for my TV, and I carry one for the 5er, I run LT tires on the 5er and have the same confidence in them as the ones on the TV.
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Old 03-06-2021, 06:40 PM   #9
sourdough
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Carry ONE spare unless you are prone to hitting all the "backcountry". If so keep one on the trailer and one in the truck bed (for the trailer). I carry one and I always have; never had an issue. Had blowouts; the spare took care of it until I could get to a facility that could replace the failed tire and then I replaced all of them. To some extreme, to me once a failure it places undue stress not only on the side of the loss but all of them. My dad always tried to go cheap on tires; buy one at a time etc. We had more tire failures, sat on the side of the road, tell me to stand on the side of the road (5 yrs old) so I could get someone to stop for us (in the middle of nowhere).....pure BS. Buy the best tires, take care of them and take a spare.....unless you are navigating the "outback".
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Old 03-06-2021, 06:56 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by brodavefla View Post
Hi all,



We recently bought a 2017 Cougar X-Lite TT 33MLS. We're newbies and just came back from out fourth outing. On our return trip from outing #3 we had a blowout on a busy xway about 10 miles from home. I got rid of the china bombs and got a set of Goodyears. So now I'm kinda tire-sensitive. As part of the learning curve, we found out that Class A's apparently don't carry spare tires! Too big & heavy for a mere mortal to change out I guess. On the other hand, a neighbor at the campground where we were had a 2016 Cougar TT, and showed me that he carries TWO spare tires, both mounted on the rear bumper. We had some concerns about what we'd do if we had another blowout while being in BFE somewhere, so that got my attention.


I've not seen anyone else carrying two spare tires on their TT. Your thoughts would be appreciated--is that overkill or wise planning?


Thanks, BD
The OEM flimsy bumper was designed to carry the sewer hose & not much more!
No way would I attach 1 spare tire to it let alone 2. Maybe if I had a welder remove that square tin can bumper & put something much more substantial in it's place.
Otherwise you may find you don't have any spares.
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Old 03-07-2021, 05:27 AM   #11
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If it makes you feel better, carry an extra.
What is your tow vehicle? If you have a pickup truck you could put an extra spare in the bed, properly locked. But don't put it on that sheet metal trailer "bumper".
If most of your travels will be east of the Mississippi, I probably wouldn't carry 2 spares. Out west, maybe.
edit add: I had a blowout last summer in nowhere New Mexico. I wish I had 2 spares. I did not want to drive home, 913 miles, with no spare after using my one. I could not find the brand I wanted and was at the mercy of whatever I could find. I saved the original spare that had only 70 miles on it. I'll throw it in the back of the truck for long trips.
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Old 03-07-2021, 06:46 AM   #12
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Carry one unless you're boondocking in no man's land and roads are less than desirable, and a commute to get a new spare (or two) is just not really something you would want to do.
I agree with John's post.
I would use the spare until I could get somewhere to replace both tires on that axle and put the original spare back on the bumper.
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Old 03-07-2021, 10:33 PM   #13
brodavefla
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I would use the spare until I could get somewhere to replace both tires on that axle and put the original spare back on the bumper.

I am unfamiliar with the concept of needing to change both tires on the same axle of a blowout, assuming you have a two-axle TT and are able to pull over within 0.25 mi or so to change the tire.
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Old 03-07-2021, 11:34 PM   #14
Northofu1
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Sorry,
I meant also change the tire that bore the weight on the side of the blow out. I would not trust it at that point.
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Old 03-08-2021, 05:43 PM   #15
brodavefla
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I am unfamiliar with the concept of needing to change both tires on the same axle of a blowout, assuming you have a two-axle TT and are able to pull over within 0.25 mi or so to change the tire.

I might be answering my own question here lol
I know when I had my AWV Subaru, they always got concerned about replacing the opposing tire after a blowout, but that depended on the amount of wear on the other tire. So the concept was, particularly with AWD, you'd be out of balance if the tire on one side had more wear than your new replacement tire did. So that kinda makes sense for the TT, if that's what y'all's thinking is.
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Old 03-08-2021, 06:14 PM   #16
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Originally Posted by brodavefla View Post
I might be answering my own question here lol
I know when I had my AWV Subaru, they always got concerned about replacing the opposing tire after a blowout, but that depended on the amount of wear on the other tire. So the concept was, particularly with AWD, you'd be out of balance if the tire on one side had more wear than your new replacement tire did. So that kinda makes sense for the TT, if that's what y'all's thinking is.
No, it's an entirely different concern with a travel trailer and a "blowout"....

What happens with a tandem axle trailer, if you have a blowout on one side, regardless of whether it's the front or rear tire, the remaining tire (that didn't blow) on that side of the trailer will be carrying the entire load of both tires for the remainder of the time the trailer "rolls forward" until it is stopped and repaired. In other words, if you have 2 axles and there's 10,000 pounds on the 2 axles, that's 10K supported by 4 tires (2500 pounds each). If you have a blowout on one side, the remaining tire on that side is supporting the entire 5000 pounds. That will critically overload the single tire and stress it such that it should not be "trusted to be serviceable"... Both tires ON THAT SIDE OF THE TRAILER should be replaced if there is any question about the damage or reliability of the remaining tire....

It has nothing to do with the tires on the opposite side of the trailer, or on the opposite side of the affected axle... It's what has happened "directly in front or directly behind" the blown tire.
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Old 03-08-2021, 07:19 PM   #17
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Thanks John, it makes sense that even if you are riding on just one tire on the affected side for "only" 1/4 mile, the double load would stress the bejesus out of that tire. For me at least, it's always helpful to have the "why" in addition to the "what". Can't risk safety and our investment by cheaping out on replacing the tire. We got the new Goodyears at our local Discount Tire. Not only is that a good tire, but there are like a thousand Discount Tire dealerships nationwide, so it should be relatively easy to replace them if need be.
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Old 03-08-2021, 08:00 PM   #18
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Most ST tires are made with steel belts under the tread and polyester cord fabric supporting the tire's "radial belts". In other words, the tire is "wrapped in polyester woven fabric from one side to the other with steel wrapped around the tire under the tread.

If you imagine a woven rope rated at 2000 pounds being pulled at each end, once the rope reaches 2000 pounds, any additional tension will start "tearing at the woven strands". So, if you could imagine that rope with 3000 pounds of pull, you would start to see the individual fibers in the woven rope start to break. One after another, they'll break until the rope snaps in two.

Sort of the same thing happens inside the walls of an ST tire when it's critically overloaded. The steel belts under the tread will stop it from "coming unglued and destroying itself" but those polyester cords in the fabric, just like the rope, will start to stretch beyond their limit and the strands of individual fibers will start to break. One after another, they'll come apart, weakening the entire tire sidewall structure...

Nobody knows whether the cords in the tire that's critically overloaded and supporting the entire trailer weight will be damaged beyond the ability to support the designed weight or if it will "develop a hole and self destruct" once it gets too hot (normal towing) or how that tire will respond if it hits a pothole and explodes from the previous damage.....

Tires are not "living things" but they do have an expected reaction to damage or stress... A critically overloaded tire can be as "fickle as a jilted friend" and you just never know when it's going to "stab you in the back"....

It's best, when carrying 4 or 5 tons of mass that's supported on 4 balloons, to make the balloons are the best they can be.......
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Old 03-08-2021, 08:25 PM   #19
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John that's a nice analysis/analogy on the tire situation. I wonder if we could get a mile long recitation of FMVSS writings quoted to us to refute everything you said???? Sorry, it's past my bedtime but figured that might be coming.
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Old 03-11-2021, 08:34 AM   #20
Bob Landry
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The bumper would probably be OK for one spare tire. There are a gazillion trailers out there running like that.
I'm carrying a spare tire and a fabricated aluminum box on my rear bumper that houses an air compressor, 2 power cords, 2 30A extensions, and x-chocks.
That being said, I had my local hitch shop do some serious reinforcement on the rear bumper. I think it was around $150 for the welder and materials.. Cheap insurance and convenience for what it provides.
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