What an awesome week we had at the RV-Dreams rally! Howard and Linda are to be congratulated for putting on a top notch rally filled with excellent information and loads of fun. We met lots of wonderful people and look forward to crossing paths with them on the road someday.
As many of you know, Howard cannot emphasize enough the safety aspect of knowing your weights and tire capacities. We took advantage of the opportunity to get weighed on departure day by Trey and Susan from RVSEF and are we ever glad we did! They discovered that one of our MORryde IS systems had failed and we were at risk for a blowout on the highway. Yikes! Not exactly what we wanted to hear but so thankful it was discovered before we pulled out for the 1100 mile trip back to Austin. I walked right over to the office and extended our stay for a few days until we could find out what needed to get done.
To make a long story shortish, Butch and Ken from RV's for Less were at our site first thing Monday morning to assess the damage and called us that afternoon to let us know that MORryde would have a replacement part in Knoxville by Thursday at the latest and they would do everything they could to get us back on the road by Friday. I must say I couldn't think of a better place to be stuck for a few days, right at the foot of the Great Smoky Mountains.
So the moral of this story is if you haven't done a wheel by wheel weighing I highly recommend it. A big shout out to Howard for his persistent emphasis (nagging?) on wheel and tire safety, a huge thank you to Trey and Susan for being at the rally and for their genuine care and concern about our issue, and many, many thanks to Butch and the RV's for Less team and MORryde for their quick and professional response to our situation. Can't say enough good things about all of these players!
Julie
MarkS said
01:49 PM May 10, 2016
How much over were you on weight?
Julie and Casey said
02:41 PM May 10, 2016
Mark,
All of our weights were good, as a matter of fact I have room to add more stuff if I want to! And here I was so worried about being overweight!
The problem was the front tire on the passenger side was carrying 5050 lbs and the back tire was carrying 2300 lbs because the IS had failed. The 2 tires on the driver side were carrying 3650 and 3700 lbs respectively, well within their limits. That front tire was poised to fail because it was carrying most of the weight on that side. Trey knew exactly what it was the minute he saw those scale readings. He felt so bad telling us that we probably shouldn't drive it home without getting it fixed but we were so thankful the problem was discovered. We were literally ready to pull out of the park and head for home.
Julie
Bill and Linda said
03:09 PM May 10, 2016
Julie and Casey wrote:
Mark, All of our weights were good, as a matter of fact I have room to add more stuff if I want to! And here I was so worried about being overweight!
The problem was the front tire on the passenger side was carrying 5050 lbs and the back tire was carrying 2300 lbs because the IS had failed. The 2 tires on the driver side were carrying 3650 and 3700 lbs respectively, well within their limits. That front tire was poised to fail because it was carrying most of the weight on that side. Trey knew exactly what it was the minute he saw those scale readings. He felt so bad telling us that we probably shouldn't drive it home without getting it fixed but we were so thankful the problem was discovered. We were literally ready to pull out of the park and head for home.
Julie
You didn't say what "broke," I assume it was a rubber spring or a separation, but I'll tell you this brief "IS" story. Had a Nev-R-Lub bearing fail out on I-40 in New Mexico. Wiped out the axle spindle - when Nev-R-Lub bearing fail they do that. So, I had no choice but to tow the trailer 50 miles on three tires into Albuquerque. The "H" tire and the singe IS axle on the passenger side carried the extra load without issue. No, I wasn't doing 60 for those 50 miles. :) But I was quite pleased I could still tow on three wheels in this emergency. And yes, MORryde had me parts overnight and we were back on the road.
You arriving to the Rally on "mostly" three tires was similar to my experience, just not as dramatic.
Safe travels,
Bill
Julie and Casey said
07:37 PM May 10, 2016
Bill,
I was familiar with your trials and tribulations after reading about them on the forum which is why I kept a close eye on the tires all the way to TN. At one point I started to panic thinking I saw smoke but it was just the shadow of the trailer. Geez. I don't remember exactly what the problem with the suspension is but I will find out when we get to the shop later this week and share it with you. I am very glad that you and Linda have not been harmed along the way other than the frustrations you have dealt with. Luckily you were within 50 miles of a big city when your bearing failed. And I have no doubt you were driving slow the whole way! Thanks for the safe travel wishes. Hope to meet you two down the road someday.
Julie
Bill and Linda said
08:11 AM May 11, 2016
Julie and Casey wrote:
Bill, I was familiar with your trials and tribulations after reading about them on the forum which is why I kept a close eye on the tires all the way to TN. At one point I started to panic thinking I saw smoke but it was just the shadow of the trailer. Geez. I don't remember exactly what the problem with the suspension is but I will find out when we get to the shop later this week and share it with you. I am very glad that you and Linda have not been harmed along the way other than the frustrations you have dealt with. Luckily you were within 50 miles of a big city when your bearing failed. And I have no doubt you were driving slow the whole way! Thanks for the safe travel wishes. Hope to meet you two down the road someday. Julie
Julie: Thanks for the concerns and offering to let me know what failed. I sort of file this kind of information for the future.
I have seen a trailer at the MORryde plant come in with 10,000lbs on an 8,000lb axle IS axle. Bent the cross member significantly. But it still was able to get the trailer to the factory. "H" tires held up fine.
Safe travels and please PM me with any information you might care to share.
Bill
MarkS said
01:02 AM May 12, 2016
So... maybe I'm not looking at this with clear glasses but, it seems to me that we experience a mighty high failure rate below the floor of the RV. Tires, bearings, suspension components and frame problems happen way too frequently on all towables to be coincidence. I'm thinking if an 18000 pound GVW fifth wheel had a 24000 pound suspension and components our concern would diminish.
BiggarView said
05:01 AM May 12, 2016
MarkS wrote:
So... maybe I'm not looking at this with clear glasses but, it seems to me that we experience a mighty high failure rate below the floor of the RV. Tires, bearings, suspension components and frame problems happen way too frequently on all towables to be coincidence. I'm thinking if an 18000 pound GVW fifth wheel had a 24000 pound suspension and components our concern would diminish.
While true, methinks the mfrs would then load up more bells and whistles and the GVW would again start to approach the GVWR of the rated components and cut into what we could carry onboard. Hmmm, is that by design? Are CG operators and the RV mfrs in bed together to constrain RVers to be chained to their properties? Will boondocking be outlawed by hook or by crook? The RV mfrs are already trying to convince us that we need larger trailers, thus obviating the need to buy again. I believe the term in the boating world is "one-foot-itis". The truck builders love this plan also. Why have a 3500 when a 5500 is what you really need to tow? While we are at it... lets consider an HDT for the job. True, the arguments are sound, but do we really need to copy the upsize life into our downsized new paradigm?
Hah, listen to me... we have "creeped" from 35' and 16k of 5er in our search to 40ish feet and 19K of trailer GVWR. I should talk.
OK, removing tinfoil hat.
Brian
Alie and Jims Carrilite said
11:44 AM May 13, 2016
MarkS wrote:
So... maybe I'm not looking at this with clear glasses but, it seems to me that we experience a mighty high failure rate below the floor of the RV. Tires, bearings, suspension components and frame problems happen way too frequently on all towables to be coincidence. I'm thinking if an 18000 pound GVW fifth wheel had a 24000 pound suspension and components our concern would diminish.
Mark, it goes back to the rule of- "If you use 100% of the capacity 100% of the time, you will have a 100% failure."
So few RV's are built for a long trouble free life. Most all the companies that did are not defunct. Travel Supreme, Carriage, NuWa, Excel, and the old DRV company- before the Thor takeover, understood what it took to build a long term liveable usable not-repaired every other day RV.
If I ever get to build a custom unit, it would be on a suspension rated so there would be at least 25% safety built into it.
Julie and Casey said
04:44 PM May 13, 2016
The repair was successful and we are back on the road with a new IS; the truck and trailer rode like a dream today. Woo Hoo! For the record, we are very happy with our DRV and it's suspension and weight capacities. It appears that our trailer just had one bad suspension but we will keep an eye on the others just to be safe. In the meantime, see ya'll down the road.
Julie
Camper Chronicles said
07:23 AM May 16, 2016
First off, Julie so very happy you discovered this and I totally agree, get weighed frequently and often. WE have been weighed three times in 2 years of RV ownership and would like to do a fourth as soon as possible.
All that being said as someone who just had a shackle strap break and upgraded to a heavier duty suspension I am concerned. Plus when I see that there are two levels of Mor Ryde well I don't know. Aren't they supposed to be the best? We ended up spending $700 to upgrade components of our underneath and I feel better but by no means do I now feel comfortable. I think I agree that they just aren't made for the constant shaking and sooner or later something in the under carriage will break. I just wish I knew how long it will last, but I get it to many variables.
Trace
MarkS said
06:50 PM May 16, 2016
You guys keep making my case for me. There is no excuse for this failure rate. We need an ANSI standard to drive RV frame and suspension specifications. What if your car or truck suspension performed like your RV?
All of our weights were good, as a matter of fact I have room to add more stuff if I want to! And here I was so worried about being overweight!
The problem was the front tire on the passenger side was carrying 5050 lbs and the back tire was carrying 2300 lbs because the IS had failed. The 2 tires on the driver side were carrying 3650 and 3700 lbs respectively, well within their limits. That front tire was poised to fail because it was carrying most of the weight on that side. Trey knew exactly what it was the minute he saw those scale readings. He felt so bad telling us that we probably shouldn't drive it home without getting it fixed but we were so thankful the problem was discovered. We were literally ready to pull out of the park and head for home.
Julie
You didn't say what "broke," I assume it was a rubber spring or a separation, but I'll tell you this brief "IS" story. Had a Nev-R-Lub bearing fail out on I-40 in New Mexico. Wiped out the axle spindle - when Nev-R-Lub bearing fail they do that. So, I had no choice but to tow the trailer 50 miles on three tires into Albuquerque. The "H" tire and the singe IS axle on the passenger side carried the extra load without issue. No, I wasn't doing 60 for those 50 miles. :) But I was quite pleased I could still tow on three wheels in this emergency. And yes, MORryde had me parts overnight and we were back on the road.
You arriving to the Rally on "mostly" three tires was similar to my experience, just not as dramatic.
Safe travels,
Bill
I was familiar with your trials and tribulations after reading about them on the forum which is why I kept a close eye on the tires all the way to TN. At one point I started to panic thinking I saw smoke but it was just the shadow of the trailer. Geez. I don't remember exactly what the problem with the suspension is but I will find out when we get to the shop later this week and share it with you. I am very glad that you and Linda have not been harmed along the way other than the frustrations you have dealt with. Luckily you were within 50 miles of a big city when your bearing failed. And I have no doubt you were driving slow the whole way! Thanks for the safe travel wishes. Hope to meet you two down the road someday.
Julie
Julie: Thanks for the concerns and offering to let me know what failed. I sort of file this kind of information for the future.
I have seen a trailer at the MORryde plant come in with 10,000lbs on an 8,000lb axle IS axle. Bent the cross member significantly. But it still was able to get the trailer to the factory. "H" tires held up fine.
Safe travels and please PM me with any information you might care to share.
Bill
While true, methinks the mfrs would then load up more bells and whistles and the GVW would again start to approach the GVWR of the rated components and cut into what we could carry onboard. Hmmm, is that by design? Are CG operators and the RV mfrs in bed together to constrain RVers to be chained to their properties? Will boondocking be outlawed by hook or by crook? The RV mfrs are already trying to convince us that we need larger trailers, thus obviating the need to buy again. I believe the term in the boating world is "one-foot-itis". The truck builders love this plan also. Why have a 3500 when a 5500 is what you really need to tow? While we are at it... lets consider an HDT for the job. True, the arguments are sound, but do we really need to copy the upsize life into our downsized new paradigm?
Hah, listen to me... we have "creeped" from 35' and 16k of 5er in our search to 40ish feet and 19K of trailer GVWR. I should talk.
OK, removing tinfoil hat.
Brian
Mark, it goes back to the rule of- "If you use 100% of the capacity 100% of the time, you will have a 100% failure."
So few RV's are built for a long trouble free life. Most all the companies that did are not defunct. Travel Supreme, Carriage, NuWa, Excel, and the old DRV company- before the Thor takeover, understood what it took to build a long term liveable usable not-repaired every other day RV.
If I ever get to build a custom unit, it would be on a suspension rated so there would be at least 25% safety built into it.
Julie
All that being said as someone who just had a shackle strap break and upgraded to a heavier duty suspension I am concerned. Plus when I see that there are two levels of Mor Ryde well I don't know. Aren't they supposed to be the best? We ended up spending $700 to upgrade components of our underneath and I feel better but by no means do I now feel comfortable. I think I agree that they just aren't made for the constant shaking and sooner or later something in the under carriage will break. I just wish I knew how long it will last, but I get it to many variables.
Trace