[Bill]

Andromeda -

Welcome (back!) to the forum. Although you have been a member for 4 years, the post at the top of this thread is your first post. This suggests that you have't spent a lot of time with us, and that is a shame. It might have prevented the problem you experienced. The issues that you brought up have been widely discussed, and there is a lot of information, suggestions, and member experience available here. Most of it is in the Tires forum or the Plumbing forum.

To get you started on the right road, let me mention some misconceptions you may be carrying.

Even if there is a complete tire failure, I don't think the TM can "drop to the road", or drop so low that the plumbing contacts the ground. I have had tire failures on two 2720SLs, and in neither case could the plumbing contact the ground as long as the steel wheel was intact. So although there are legitimate reasons to add a lift kit, keeping the plumbing off the ground is not really one of them. And adding a lift kit will not prevent or reduce the damage you experienced.

A much more likely cause of the destroyed plumbing is that the disintegrating tire threw heavy chunks of rubber tread material into the pipes and valves. At high speed, these chunks are very destructive. I'm assuming you have round wheel wells, as opposed to square, or the damage would have been even worse.

This board has had long discussions about various ways to protect the plumbing from flying rubber. Several suggestions and mods have been made, ranging from heavy mud flaps to steel cages, to deflect the chunks. Not all have been tested under duress, but some have, and they work.

The tire capacity issue, and all the arithmetic involved, have been covered in great detail. Everyone seems to agree that the 14-inch tires are marginal, especially since many of us (including me) tend to pack heavy. As a result, many of us, including the TM factory, have made the switch to 15-inch tires with higher load-bearing capacity. In about 2006, well before the factory switched over, they started adding lifts to all trailers, but if yours is earlier, you may need to install a lift kit to accommodate the taller tire. Again, there is a lot of information about what constitutes a lift kit and how to install it. You found one of the really good tutorials, but far from the only one.

Wheel well width is not (or does not have to be) an issue, though. For example, I went to 15-inch Marathons, and they just popped right into place. I don't think you need to consider altering the wheel-well width, which would be a big job.

All of the trailers that I am aware of already have skids welded to the frame at the rear. I don't think you need to consider adding skids.

The trailer has torsion bars to aid in lifting the shells during setup, but there is no adjustment that will lift the entire camper.

As noted above, no one would recommend overloading any of the running gear. That being said, the members of the forum have experienced many tire failures over the years, but I don't think there has been a single axle failure reported in the dozen years of this forum.

Finally, a mechanic at a defunct trailer shop may know something about TMs (a surprising number of them don't). But the collective membership of this board knows a great deal as well. We welcome your questions and discussion. As was noted above, it will be helpful if you add your TM model and year (and tow vehicle) to your signature line.

A great deal of detailed, up-to-date info has been posted about how to replace your plumbing. With any luck, this will get you started in the right direction.

Bill