Fender skirts or no fender skirts

10-20-2006, 02:35 PM

Well, tonight we are going out on our first outing with the Travelmanor. While I was checking the tires and cleaning the wheels, I had a thought about the fender skirts (not a good one). Two screws hold them on, and I was wondering how much patience I would have on a rainy night fooling around with those two screws. Are the fender skirts for appearance, or do they have a function? I would think that if the tire blows, their toast anyway. Anyone else remove them? Any advice would be appreciated.
If anyone wants a good laugh, your welcome to join us. We're going to Cedar Breaks in Georgetown, Texas.

Randy & Janie Veach
Round Rock, Texas
3023

**YWORRYDOG** · 10-20-2006, 04:11 PM

They are functional, if you remove them, you will get a lot dirt, and dust inside when you are traveling. I had a tire go down quickly due to separation, with no harm done to the skirts. Also if you have the lift kit they do not need to be removed when changing a tire.

**B_and_D** · 10-20-2006, 08:44 PM

We too have had a blowout/tread separation, and it didn't damage the skirt at all. The damage (slight) was to the bottom of the trailer, behind the wheelwell.

If you think about the TM when it is closed down, without the skirt on, being towed, the wheel would be flinging dust and mud and road gunk onto the inside of the top shell of the trailer. The skirt effectively keeps the insides of the top walls clean.

**grill-n-go** · 10-21-2006, 01:24 PM

When I got my blowout the skirt got torn off. I was so NOT thinking I didn't notice it was missing till my ordeal was over. We had all kinds of dirt inside. Most of it though, was the very find black dust you get when your tire gets pulverized. I do think you will get some dirt in the bathroom and wardrobe areas.

**Bill** · 10-22-2006, 01:08 PM

Randy -

The skirt is easy to remove when you need to do it, and it takes virtually no time to do it. Of course you do need a square-driver screwdriver to match the screw heads, but they are cheap and easy to get - you really should have one anyway.

Experiences vary regarding a blown tire ripping up the skirt. I had the skirt destroyed once, and another time just a small crack and some black marks on it.

Bill

Speckul8r · 10-22-2006, 05:29 PM

The skirt screws on my 2720 can be removed with a phillips driver. They are "combo" type screws. If yours are square drive only, I'd replace them.

10-22-2006, 07:45 PM

My Tm came with the square screw driver. I keep it in the Tv at all times, let I forget and leae it at home.

I would keep it in the TM, but then I would have to pop it open to get it.

10-22-2006, 09:54 PM

I find it curious that so many have experienced blowouts. Is this something to be expected on 2720's because of the loads carried by 14 inch wheels & tires, or has this happened to folks because they pushed the tires beyond their useful life, or did they fail to maintain correct tire pressures? I think I've had only one blowout in a lifetime of driving and it's certainly not something I'd wish to experience on a downhill run to or from a mountain vacation. Are there blowout proof radials for our TM's that will still stay together with a sudden pressure loss or tread separation? Sorry for all the questions.

10-22-2006, 10:11 PM

There has been much lively discussion on the tires.
You may want to start here:
http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...ead.php?t=4308

10-23-2006, 01:43 AM

Eric,
This site gets read by many newbies to TMs and TTs in general. Pleae try to be very accurate in your statements. When you say you are surprised that so many have had problems and wonder if it is a design or safety issue that gets people's attention. We openly discuss these issues and I am not suggeting that you not question anything but 4 people having a tire blow out out of the 2,856 members (BTW, I am sure more than 4 have had a blow out) does not equal "so many" in my parlance. If you factor in the number of years of ownership by these owners and the miles driven it really makes your statement appear inflamatory and over exagerated. Texas Camper is one other I can think of off the top of my head that has had a blowout but he attributes that to trying to get one more year out of his tires.

That said, maybe you should post a poll and ask "Among those that have had a tire fail in any way shape or form, do you believe a design defect was the cause - yes or no?

Some very serious and expensive problems have been identified here on the forum and have lead to changes by the Factory. Joe Wetherbee, in Portsmouth VA suffered damage to his TM after a blow out that was more extensive than it should have been due to the design of the TM wheel wheel (they used to be square). He designed a mod to "round" out the inside of the well and made the plans available to all on this web site http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...l+modification

If I recall correctly he spent most of one if not more rally's/jubilees actually helping others install the mod. If you own a late model TM (change happened sometime around 2001) your's came from the factor with a rounded wheel well because the factory took a look at what Joe did and found it was a better way to do things. Joe will be quick to tell you there were alot of others that deserve credit as well but as a minimumn Joe started the ball rolling and in my mind will always be the father of the rounded wheel well.

For what it's worth - Bill