Blow-out damage prevention

[ShrimpBurrito]

I'm thinking about something like this:



B_and_D - I also don't like the idea that dirt, rain, and drips from the waste tank would land on this cage. What do you mean, "it would have been better if I had folded the sheet metal over so that it was folded over facing the bottom instead of the top."

This design could probably be simplified a bit to minimize cutting, but I'm thinking of making this out of something like 14 gauge galvanized steel, and all joints welded. (I've actually been thinking of taking a welding class, but it's hard to find a class that is just designed to teach you how to prevent hurting yourself and doing a decent job vs. becoming a welder by trade.) I'm guessing the cost will be around $100, including welding labor and the added frame member. Definitely more of a premium vs. your $15.

I'm also concerned that this design may also "catch air" as I'm driving down the road.

Both of these problems would be ameliorated with a true cage-like design, perhaps made from 1" tube steel. It would be stronger than sheet metal, would allow water and dirt to flow through it, and wouldn't catch air. But there are alot more weld joints, so I'm guessing cost would be much higher. I thought about trying to modify one of those hitch-carriers to function in this manner, like this:



...but none that I could find were deep enough to span the width of the tire and thus provide adequate protection.

Sigh...sometimes I feel we are doing jobs the factory should be doing....

Dave

[B_and_D]

Dave, both of your ideas look/sound good. I don't ever think I've seen an RV of any type with a cage around the plumbing. I've seen a few RV's with substantial damage from blowouts; it seems the bigger the RV (and the tire) the worse the damage can be.

Originally Posted by ShrimpBurrito

B_and_D - I also don't like the idea that dirt, rain, and drips from the waste tank would land on this cage. What do you mean, "it would have been better if I had folded the sheet metal over so that it was folded over facing the bottom instead of the top."

The edges of my cage are folded over around the wire on each side. I put the side with the fold facing the underneath of the trailer vs. facing down towards the street. It creates another area where moisture & dirt could build up and remain, which would tend to make the sheet metal rust out faster. Probably the same thing would happen if it was facing the pavement, but it may drain better if it was facing down. I guess I could caulk it up.

Wow, checking once every 5 minutes is not continuous.

I checked my tires at a rest stop. I put my hand on the tires and hubs to confirm that they did not feel too hot. I checked sidewalls inside and outside and all looked normal. I check as much of the tread as I could see and it looked normal. Tire pressure had been checked with a digital gauge an hour earlier when we started out and the tires were cold, so I just looked at the bulge of the tire and it looked normal. I did not check the pressure with a gauge.

One hour later it went pop. We could hear it in the truck with the windows up, a/c on, radio off.

If the pressure is only checked once every 5 minutes, then if the pressure drops at a random point in time, on the average, it will be two and a half minutes before it is reported. Worst case it will not be reported for 4 minutes and 59 seconds. Two and a half minutes can let a lot of air out of the tire.

From my experience, from the time an event occurs that gets your attention, and you comprehend what it is and you pull over to the side of the freeway in a safe manner, that will easily take 2 minutes.

So you start loosing air at a significant rate. You get an alarm 2.5 minutes after it drops below the minimum acceptable value. You are stopped 2 minutes after that. Is that soon enough to prevent a blow out?

Anything that samples less often than every 30 seconds is not a lot of warning, imo.

There is a little bit of strange information regarding TPMS response times in this post so here is what I found on the system I currently have.

At the risk of being branded a sales person for Doran...

Taken from the Doran Website . . .

A Doran 360™ series tire pressure monitoring system is a compact system that delivers powerful results and protection. The Sensors are continually reading pressure and sending signals to the monitor about the air pressure in each tire around the clock. Each tire pressure monitoring system from the Doran tire pressure monitor product line consists of two basic components. . .

Key word being continually . . .

I cannot speak to what others have posted but here is a link if anyone is interested. http://www.doranmfg.com/tirepressuremonitorproducts.htm I test the system by removing the sensors and the monitor alarms instantly.

and if someone can build me a cage to protect that plumbing I'll buy it too!

Happy Camping!

[rtcassel]

http://www.tirepressuremonitor.com/details.htm states the following: The Sensors assess/read the air pressure in each tire 12,343 times every day! No other system on the market has this kind of coverage – most others only react to low pressure. Sensors assess pressures anywhere from 10 psi to 199 psi.

That's once every 7 seconds.

[Padgett]

Protection is good but the bottom should be within 1/4" of the bottom of the pipe and rounded on both ends as a skid should you lose a tire or drop it into a hole. Idealy it should be able to support the side of the TM.

If going to add a belly pan, might as well make it a skid plate as well.

[angerlo]

TM Pilot
Thanks for your post. My mud flaps have not been tested by any blow outs. I did add steel plates later. I purchased one 8 X 24" (16 gauge) plate of steel at Tractor Supply Co., cut it in half to make each section 8" long, painted them with a primer and black Rustoleum. Then I attached the plates using the existing bolts. Then later I added two more plates of the same material (22 gauge) steel plates on the plumbing side of TM to give added protection to that mud flap. Three plates total on plumbing side!
The plates are not only fastened at the top but bolted to mud flaps with three through all layers at lower edge of plates. This keeps the glued sections of mud flaps in place and still allows some flexibility for the four inches of rubber at the lower end. The bottom of the flaps are about 2" above the pavement. I hope it will never get tested.

[TM Pilot]

Hopefully, with those Maxxis tires they never will get tested!
http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...ad.php?t=11083

Do you have any pictures of your modified mud flaps that you can post?

[angerlo]

Below are a couple of pictures of my mudflaps which I reenforced with steel plates at a later date. (See "Blow Out and Damage Prevention") under Tires, Tires, Tires. I attached the steel plates with 1/4" by 2" long stainless steel hex bolts, 1/4" self lock nuts and appropriate size washers. I tried to place the head of most bolts on the outside of the TM outrigger part of frame.
In the pix you can see that the steel plates are 12" wide, as wide as flaps. They extend 8" downward and are attached as high as possible. The 15" long flaps are not attatached as high. Notice also that the TM is now on jacks thereby raising the flaps a little more off the ground and causing the wheel to hang lower.
The picture with part of the jack showing is of the plumbing side. The other picture shows the door side.

Jacob:
We have the exact model TM as you do and share your concern regarding tire blowouts. Before our next trip I am going to upgrade to 15" wheels, which I hope will minimize or eliminate the problem. Our dealer (Custom RV in Anaheim CA) is now doing the mod. They say the spare fits the holder just fine and there is adequate clearance in the wheel wells. Cost is a little high at $500-$600 or so (estimated, don't know for sure), but you can't really put a price on piece of mind!