Fear or fear not

Ok I have read some of the post in this section (most late last week before my first trip out). I have now put about 250 miles on these tires (I think original) The tires are GYM 15" ST on a 3124KS. The ones on the road were made week 15 of 2005 with the spare of unknown date but it has all the little spiky things on it so I would guess same timeframe and has never been on the road. I am running 63 PSI in the two. I do not remember see in lead weights so I do not know if it is balanced....when did this start? The stems are rubber. The treads look very good and I am not sure exactly what to look for with regard to tread seperation but I do not think I have any. About how long do these tires last? Is it getting time to replace..if so balance and add metal stems right? Still go with GYMs? or is there something better? I did move everything to change a tire from the TM storage to a TV box. Have blow out mainly happened with the 14" GYM? Are these blow outs still going on or have these slowed or stopped?

Thanks

Kevin,

I have the 2008 version of your model and the tires were not balanced. One was so out of whack the tire technician couldn't even balance it. It was under warranty and TM sent me a new one. Low and behold, the replacement was balanced. I'm guessing they started doing it on later 2008 and 2009 models.

Phil

[Bill]

Kevin -

To the best of my knowledge, which comes from reading this forum, most of the failures have been on the 14 inch Marathons. Of course, that could be because the great majority of TMs are equipped with 14 inch Marathons ... But I am under the impression that the 14 inch Marathons are loaded much closer to their stated caapcity than are the 15 inch Marathons. In other words, the 15 inchers have a lot more margin.

By the way, I just noticed that the new TM website says that all TMs come with 14 inch tires. If true (and not a typo), that's a change, isn't it?

Bill

That's got to be a typo - I can't imagine a 3023 or 3124 without 15" tires - the 14s would be way overloaded!

[Mr. Adventure]

Originally Posted by Bill

By the way, I just noticed that the new TM website says that all TMs come with 14 inch tires. If true (and not a typo), that's a change, isn't it?

Bill

I think that's a typo. The Specs for the 3023 on the TM website are still indicating 15" tires.

.....with new GYMs! Yes I know what you are thinking but I also balanced all three wheels (BTW the Spare was made 20th week of 05 and was kept as spare) and added metal High Pressure stems on all three. The DOT date is 4707 on the two ST225/75R15D. The Stems were XTS 17-600HP from O'Reilly's. So far 150 miles on them...

Thanks,

Bobby, or anyone else, do you know if valve stems can be replaced without removing the tires and wheels from the TM? In advance of a planned trip to Indiana I was thinking about running the TM by a local tire store and having the stems replaced if I can do it by just raising the wheel. - camp2canoe

[rtcassel]

Originally Posted by camp2canoe

Bobby, or anyone else, do you know if valve stems can be replaced without removing the tires and wheels from the TM? In advance of a planned trip to Indiana I was thinking about running the TM by a local tire store and having the stems replaced if I can do it by just raising the wheel. - camp2canoe

When my rubber stems were replaced with metal, the tire guy remounted the tire on the wheel. I think that there is a nut that goes onto the valve stem inside the tire. By the way, I found out that not all places that sell tires carry metal stems. I bought some at NAPA and took them to the tire store.

[ShrimpBurrito]

Originally Posted by rtcassel

When my rubber stems were replaced with metal, the tire guy remounted the tire on the wheel. I think that there is a nut that goes onto the valve stem inside the tire.

That is the way mine are. I bet the wheels will also have to be rebalanced with the metal stems installed.

Dave

Originally Posted by camp2canoe

Bobby, or anyone else, do you know if valve stems can be replaced without removing the tires and wheels from the TM? In advance of a planned trip to Indiana I was thinking about running the TM by a local tire store and having the stems replaced if I can do it by just raising the wheel. - camp2canoe

As Tim and Dave said, if you are wanting to put clamp-in metal stems, you will have to break at least the top bead off of the wheel to do this (which is going to require taking the wheel off the trailer).

I have a pneumatic ram tool that will actually shoot a rubber snap-in stem into a wheel from the outside, then you pull it back into place. You don't have to dismount the tire or wheel to do this. This is only for rubber stems.