Change Tire & water heater questions

Every trip with my new 2619 brings a few new unanticipated challenges. First, we really like our TM, but the owners manual was obviously written by someone who knows the TM line inside and out. Just once I'd' like someone to write a "how to" manual from the point of view of some who does not know "how to". But that should be a whole new thread in itself......anyway.

The tires on my TM should not have been an issue as my TM is a 2007 with less than 4,000 miles. So, my tire goes flat on the interstate. While looking for "how to change a tire" in the manual, a Goodyear roadside assiatance truck (unbelieveable right?) pulls up behind us and changes our tire out for $25.00. As it turns out the valve had deteriorated, so he changed that out. As he was inflating the tire it's side wall blew out. He said it would be under warranty so I should check that out. He then changed out the bad tire with the spare that he suggested we also change the valve when possible. He also said that although I may have a 2007 TM, my tires may have been sitting on a lot somewhere for much longer.

Questions. I read someplace where the fender needs to come, off and a special tool is needed. The Goodyear guy easily removed the tire without taking off the fender. So apparantly this is not true. Yes, no?

The tire changing instructions, of course not found under any "change tire" index, said to put the jack on the frame by the axle. The Goodyear guy put the jack right on the axle. Where should the jack really go?

The Goodyear guy said to take pressure off the tire, first use the two rear levelors to raise the back end of the TM, then jack up the TM. Yes, no?

The good news is that for 25.00 I was back on my way within about .5 hour.

Question two. We tried dry camping for the first time and all went well, however, I distinctly remember that on a previous trip using the water heater that the water heater, working quite well, showed the switch lit up red when on, and the small little round light next to it also was lit (amber). This was how I remebered it. This time everything worked well (the same) yet the small amber light was not on. The manual said the "amber light" shows the heater is on. It was not, so what was going on as we had hot water for four days?

Thanks for your replys....

[B_and_D]

I have an older TM, but I think I can still answer your questions. People with newer TM's, please correct anything that has changed that I don't know about.

There have been numerous reports of bad valve stems in previous posts. http://trailmanorowners.com/forum/sh...ht=valve+stems

As far as I know, you are not supposed to jack up the TM (of any vintage) under the axle. Are you sure that they didn't jack it up under the frame? It seems that an experienced roadside assistance person would know better. You'd have to get around (as in towards the center of the TM) the tire to jack it up by the axle. The frame is right behind the tire.

I don't have a lift kit on my TM, but from what I've read the newer ones like yours already have one built in right out of the factory, so there is no need to remove the "skirts" or "fenders" as you call them. If we change a tire we have to remove the "skirt". If you need to remove this you need a special tool, it's just a square driver. You will need this driver to take out or replace most of the screws in the TM.

Our water heater is gas only. I'd imagine that if yours is both gas and electric, when the electric element is on, the amber light would come on. If it's on gas (which it would be if you're dry camping) then it wouldn't be on.

Sorry to hear about your tire changing problems on one of your first trips! At least it didn't take you long to get back on the road!

Hope you are enjoying your TM. We're looking forward to our next trip to the TM rally in Petaluma, CA.

About the axle jacking: I had a "experienced" trailer shop try to jack my TM up via the axle (before I asked him to use the frame), so I imagine the Goodyear guy was probably unfamiliar with a Dexter axle and that it shouldn't be used as a lifting point.

Chap

Originally Posted by mtnguy

About the axle jacking: I had a "experienced" trailer shop try to jack my TM up via the axle (before I asked him to use the frame), so I imagine the Goodyear guy was probably unfamiliar with a Dexter axle and that it shouldn't be used as a lifting point.

Chap

I agree with Chap (as most always ). This guy most likely didn't know about the Dexter axle. Dexter recommends that you always use the frame to jack the trailer up. I went back and found a previous discussion on this.

Here is the link and what Dexter recommends:

http://www.dexteraxle.com/faq_s

MISCELLANEOUS - Is it okay to jack up my trailer?
Dexter recommends that you do not jack up the trailer on the suspension components because there is always the potential for damage. Bent hangers, leaf springs, or axle tubes can cause bad axle alignment with bad tire wear resulting. Also, many trailer builders do not use Dexter hangers and we have no idea how strong these hangers may or may not be. Therefore, we take the conservative approach and recommend jacking up only on the trailer frame.


Keep me informed on how your tire warranty goes. I have a feeling that since the tire was run low/flat (due to the faulty valve stem), you may run into some resistance on getting it adjusted. It sounds like to me that the inside of the tire had broke down due to it being ran underinflated/flat. When the service guy replaced only the stem and inflated it, it blew out due to this. I am assuming that he did not demount the tire off the rim ( but just broke one side loose from the bead) before he replaced the stem and reinflated the tire. If he didn't dismount the tire and visually inspect the inside before reinflating it, that is actually a violation of proper tire safety procedures on his part. That is the part of the same reason on why you should never have a tire "plugged" from the outside. Unless you dismount the tire and visually inspect it, you cannot see if the tire is tore up internally, and too dangerous to repair/keep in service.

I may be wrong on this, but the fact that he charged only you $25, it kinda sounds like it was an "off the book" deal. It sounds to me like he was in the company truck, and saw you on the side of the road. He used the companies equipment/truck to fix you up, but kept the whole deal off of the companies books (ie pocketed the money for himself). I don't know of any true tire service trucks, at least in my area, that will do anything less than $50-75 for the call then add the price of the actual service they perform.

The reason I am saying all of this, is I just don't know how much stock I would put into anything this service guy told you.

OK, enough ranting about my profession. I'll get off the soapbox now.

[Bill]

dfranke -

Re question 2:

The red light (which is right beside the water heater switch) does not indicate that the water heater is on. It indicates that the gas burner is in the process of lighting (it is self-lighting). Once the flame is lit, the red light goes out.

For the life of me, I can't remember an amber light that is associated with the water heater. And the Gallery photos on the TM site don't show one, either. Look at the 23rd and 26th pictures at http://trailmanor.com/WebDocs/Showro...Gallery08.html - is your TM different? Was there a previous owner who might have installed one? At any rate, it sounds to me like the amber light indicates that shore power is available to the water heater. But since you were dry camping, you didn't have shore power, and hence the light was out.

And I urge you to take B&D's advice and get a square drive screwdriver of the appropriate size. Cheap at any hardware store. Almost all of the screws in the TM have square drive heads, so you are bound to need one. Maybe even get a kit of three different sizes. If the screw isn't too tight, you can often use a Phillips driver to turn it - but sometimes you can't. For $5, do it right.

Bill

[ShrimpBurrito]

Interestingly, my local TM dealer also jacked up my TM by the axle before I asked them to let it down and jack it up by the frame.

Dave

[wbmiller3]

dfranke -

I had to laugh at your comment about the owners manuals being written by the experts. This is a constant issue where I work: the training manuals are all written by the experts so it all makes sense to them. This leads to using new terms before explaining what they are, assuming certain things are already known, etc. etc.

I'm with you, bud!