So I was traveling up the 101 Freeway just north of Los Angeles a week ago and some guy pulled up to me indicating I had a problem. I looked back and noticed the skirt around the wheels was hanging loose, so I pulled over onto the side of the freeway. Well it turns out my entire wheel was gone! The studs were just sheared off at the brake drum.
I will say it was very unexpected I had no idea the wheel was missing and I was motoring down the freeway at 60mph. And on top of that, my TPMS never indicated any problem at all. (I guess technically the tire still had air in it). That does not inspire confidence.
So after I pulled over a guy with a smashed up front bumper pulled behind me and informed me that my tire hit him, so we did the insurance thing - still not sure what's going to come of that, it won't be nice I'm sure.
The wheel apparently went sailing off the freeway and I was unable to retrieve it.
So I limped the trailer off the freeway into an empty parking lot and started looking at it. The studs were all broken off at the drum, clearly that drum was shot. It was about 4:45pm and I was able to find an RV repair place about 10 miles away in Oxnard named C & S RV Service Center - I spoke with a guy named Jim who informed me that they were closing in 15 minutes, but he confirmed he had a brake drum that would fit and said he would stay open late for me if I headed over. I told him I didn't have grease etc... with me (I travel with tools but not a grease gun), and he said he would put in the races, bearings loaded with grease etc... so I could just put the hub on. That was a total life-saver - without this we would have been stuck in this parking lot which I'm sure would not have been empty the next morning. So I unhooked drove over and picked up the Drum/bearings/lug nuts etc.... I highly recommend this place if you need something in that area, Jim is super knowledgeable and the owner Candice was very friendly and accommodating as well.
So I got the back to the RV, and after I struggled figuring out how to get my bottle jack under an axel that was hanging 6 inches off the ground (12 ton bottle jack is maybe 10 inches high), but eventually worked it out, and then got the old hub off and swapped the new one on. The axel and brakes seemed okay, and I was able to mount the spare tire and get back on our way.
So here is the salt in the wound: I call a Grand Design dealer in the area and ask them if they can order me a 15x6 lionshead Cheetah wheel to match the others on that trailer. I am informed the are no longer made. So I call Grand Design directly, and I'm given the same information. This is a 2020 imagine 2500RL - it's only 3 years old - how can they not have replacement parts for this thing in that timeframe? What am I supposed to do ? replace the other 3 wheels too ? (and what else might they no longer have available if it breaks?)
I have looked on ebay and other places to try to find one of these wheels but I'm not finding anything. If anyone has any hints let me know please. I'm of half a mind to leave the spare on there and every time we show this trailer on our youtube channel I could rant about Grand Design Supply Chain management, but that's not productive. I am also thinking I could just replace the two wheels on that side (driver side) with something that looks similar and probably nobody would be the wiser - but I would still know.
Anyhow, that's my adventure for this month, I'm just glad nobody got hurt as this was rush hour traffic on a busy freeway, that wheel could have caused all sorts of problems.
If anyone knows where I can get this wheel please let me know, that would be awesome.
Bob
I will say it was very unexpected I had no idea the wheel was missing and I was motoring down the freeway at 60mph. And on top of that, my TPMS never indicated any problem at all. (I guess technically the tire still had air in it). That does not inspire confidence.
So after I pulled over a guy with a smashed up front bumper pulled behind me and informed me that my tire hit him, so we did the insurance thing - still not sure what's going to come of that, it won't be nice I'm sure.
The wheel apparently went sailing off the freeway and I was unable to retrieve it.
So I limped the trailer off the freeway into an empty parking lot and started looking at it. The studs were all broken off at the drum, clearly that drum was shot. It was about 4:45pm and I was able to find an RV repair place about 10 miles away in Oxnard named C & S RV Service Center - I spoke with a guy named Jim who informed me that they were closing in 15 minutes, but he confirmed he had a brake drum that would fit and said he would stay open late for me if I headed over. I told him I didn't have grease etc... with me (I travel with tools but not a grease gun), and he said he would put in the races, bearings loaded with grease etc... so I could just put the hub on. That was a total life-saver - without this we would have been stuck in this parking lot which I'm sure would not have been empty the next morning. So I unhooked drove over and picked up the Drum/bearings/lug nuts etc.... I highly recommend this place if you need something in that area, Jim is super knowledgeable and the owner Candice was very friendly and accommodating as well.
So I got the back to the RV, and after I struggled figuring out how to get my bottle jack under an axel that was hanging 6 inches off the ground (12 ton bottle jack is maybe 10 inches high), but eventually worked it out, and then got the old hub off and swapped the new one on. The axel and brakes seemed okay, and I was able to mount the spare tire and get back on our way.
So here is the salt in the wound: I call a Grand Design dealer in the area and ask them if they can order me a 15x6 lionshead Cheetah wheel to match the others on that trailer. I am informed the are no longer made. So I call Grand Design directly, and I'm given the same information. This is a 2020 imagine 2500RL - it's only 3 years old - how can they not have replacement parts for this thing in that timeframe? What am I supposed to do ? replace the other 3 wheels too ? (and what else might they no longer have available if it breaks?)
I have looked on ebay and other places to try to find one of these wheels but I'm not finding anything. If anyone has any hints let me know please. I'm of half a mind to leave the spare on there and every time we show this trailer on our youtube channel I could rant about Grand Design Supply Chain management, but that's not productive. I am also thinking I could just replace the two wheels on that side (driver side) with something that looks similar and probably nobody would be the wiser - but I would still know.
Anyhow, that's my adventure for this month, I'm just glad nobody got hurt as this was rush hour traffic on a busy freeway, that wheel could have caused all sorts of problems.
If anyone knows where I can get this wheel please let me know, that would be awesome.
Bob