Lost a wheel on our imagine driving up the 101 freeway. Now can't find a replacement

Oh, sorry, I wasn't trying to imply that anything was your fault, I just thought Todd set a great example. If you're checking torque that often, I'm not sure what more you could do. I also learned a few things about the mechanics of the wheel/hub that I thought might be useful to you. God's blessings on your journey and on this particular challenge.

No worries - I didn't take your post as a criticism, but I do own this failure - I'm still trying to figure out the root cause but I'll probably never know. Again, thanks for sharing the video that was very informative.
 
Have you checked out Lionshead tire and rims. They have cheetah rims on website along with plenty of other trailer rim.
 
EXACT same thing happened to us on Easter morning. Lost wheel/tire, lugs sheared off at surface of drum and caused damage to slide out skirting. Retraced path but could not locate missing wheel. Still in shop (even now) due to inability to obtain matching Lionshead Jaguar wheel. They say it was discontinued. I understand that the problem has been resolved and we should be getting it back next week. Service advisor finally contacted insurance adjuster, explained problem, and got them to cover a complete set of wheels.

Was a 2018 GD Reflection 320MKS. I was told that only way it could shear off all 6 bolts at the drum was lug nuts either to tight or too loose. After reading this post I’m thinking mfg. has a serious problem with defective wheels. Maybe start a thread devoted to reporting GD axle/suspension component failures and/or Lionshead Specialty Tire and Wheel wheel product defects?
 
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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 had a blowout in July on my Reflection 320 MKS fifth wheel in July and experienced trouble also finding an appropriate match. E trailer has comparable wheels available and I had one shipped to friends the next week. I am told also to check on trailer salvage yards as the sometimes have them as well but I found many of them on the East coast which didn’t help me but you might google on the west coast and see if they are available.
 
EXACT same thing happened to us on Easter morning. Lost wheel/tire, lugs sheared off at surface of drum and caused damage to slide out skirting. Retraced path but could not locate missing wheel. Still in shop (even now) due to inability to obtain matching Lionshead Jaguar wheel. They say it was discontinued. I understand that the problem has been resolved and we should be getting it back next week. Service advisor finally contacted insurance adjuster, explained problem, and got them to cover a complete set of wheels.

Was a 2018 GD Reflection 320MKS. I was told that only way it could shear off all 6 bolts at the drum was lug nuts either to tight or too loose. After reading this post I’m thinking mfg. has a serious problem with defective drum bolts. Maybe start a thread devoted to reporting GD axle/suspension component failures and/or Lionshead Specialty Tire and Wheel wheel product defects?
 
I'm surprised that your TPMS didn't alert you that you had a problem. What brand TPMS do you have?

This is just a thought, but I you can't find a matching wheel have you considered only buying two new wheels? Meaning only buying wheels for one side. No one will ever notice that the wheels on one side of your trailer don't match the wheels on the other side.
 
I'm surprised that your TPMS didn't alert you that you had a problem. What brand TPMS do you have?

This is just a thought, but I you can't find a matching wheel have you considered only buying two new wheels? Meaning only buying wheels for one side. No one will ever notice that the wheels on one side of your trailer don't match the wheels on the other side.
Unfortunately, most TPMS will not alert you to a missing wheel immediately. :) One of the most popular, the TST system, won't alert you to loss of communication with a sensor for about an hour. Other systems have varying degrees of time. Unlike a change in pressure/temperature which you'd be alerted to immediately.
 
Unfortunately, most TPMS will not alert you to a missing wheel immediately. :) One of the most popular, the TST system, won't alert you to loss of communication with a sensor for about an hour. Other systems have varying degrees of time. Unlike a change in pressure/temperature which you'd be alerted to immediately.

My tire Traker system will. It is instant
 
Have you checked out Lionshead tire and rims. They have cheetah rims on website along with plenty of other trailer rim.

Unfortunately, they don't sell the the public (according to their website), and direct to etrailer, who does not have that rim in my size.

What I'm going to do is replace the two wheels on that side (recommended earlier in this thread), and if I like those wheels I'll probably replace the other two as well in a while, just so ti stops bothering me :)

Im going with these: https://www.etrailer.com/Trailer_Tires_and_Wheels/HWT/AM22651.html. - they don't look very similar to the outgoing Cheetah, but probably close enough. On our youtube videos we often do rotations around the trailer with the drone - and we will see how noticeable it is in that context.

I don't have any experience with that brand, hopefully they are well made, I don't expect they will be any worse than the Lionshead's.

Appreciate the suggestion nonetheless
 
I'm surprised that your TPMS didn't alert you that you had a problem. What brand TPMS do you have?

This is just a thought, but I you can't find a matching wheel have you considered only buying two new wheels? Meaning only buying wheels for one side. No one will ever notice that the wheels on one side of your trailer don't match the wheels on the other side.

TPMs is tireminder, they seem to be well respected in the industry, though I have never had occasion to check them on a real blowout situation. Thanks for the recommend on the buying 2 - I'm going to start that way, and see how much it annoys me to know I have mismatched tires. Funny in our recent video on valley of the gods boondocking I poked fun at a car that drove by with 4 different wheels on it - now I get to join that club :)

Thanks for the response
 
EXACT same thing happened to us on Easter morning. Lost wheel/tire, lugs sheared off at surface of drum and caused damage to slide out skirting. Retraced path but could not locate missing wheel. Still in shop (even now) due to inability to obtain matching Lionshead Jaguar wheel. They say it was discontinued. I understand that the problem has been resolved and we should be getting it back next week. Service advisor finally contacted insurance adjuster, explained problem, and got them to cover a complete set of wheels.

Was a 2018 GD Reflection 320MKS. I was told that only way it could shear off all 6 bolts at the drum was lug nuts either to tight or too loose. After reading this post I’m thinking mfg. has a serious problem with defective drum bolts. Maybe start a thread devoted to reporting GD axle/suspension component failures and/or Lionshead Specialty Tire and Wheel wheel product defects?

Funny thing, had the tire not torn off the skirting so it was dangling there I don't think I would have ever noticed there was a problem! (well, I mean the guys pulled up next to me so I would have pulled over but by looking in the mirror and seeing that added to the urgency).

I am convinced now that either I must have completely missed torquing those lug nuts, or perhaps there was something interfering with the mating of the wheel to the brake drum. I only use my impact to remove the lugs, never to tighten, and I always tighten lug nuts according to spec with a good torque wrench and using a three stage star process. I tested calibration of of the torque wrench after this event and its within a few foot-pounds - no way I over tightened them. What is odd is if they were under tightened I would have expected some scuff marks on the brake drum where the tire seats to it, from the tire wobbling around before it sheared the lugs, but the drum is clean. I have googled around a bit on the topic hoping to see other pictures with indications of scuffing etc... but not found anything.

Thanks for the response
 
TPMs is tireminder, they seem to be well respected in the industry, though I have never had occasion to check them on a real blowout situation. Thanks for the recommend on the buying 2 - I'm going to start that way, and see how much it annoys me to know I have mismatched tires. Funny in our recent video on valley of the gods boondocking I poked fun at a car that drove by with 4 different wheels on it - now I get to join that club :)

Thanks for the response

I'll bet you that no one ever notices that the wheels on one side of the trailer are different than other side.

How old is your trailer?
 
I'll bet you that no one ever notices that the wheels on one side of the trailer are different than other side.

How old is your trailer?

It's a 2020 - we bought it right before all the Covid craziness happened. I can't take any credit for that timing, it was just dumb luck.
 
Arrrrgh!

I only use my impact to remove the lugs, never to tighten, and I always tighten lug nuts according to spec with a good torque wrench and using a three stage star process.

I think you just found the root cause of the problem.


"EVA'BODY KNOWS" using an impact wrench to tighten lug nuts is A Very Bad Idea (tm).

That is one of the few "Eva'body knows" nuggets of wisdom with which I agree.

(There are others, but they are few.)


What "Eva'body" DOESN'T know is that there is one condition in which using an impact wrench is NOT advised to REMOVE lug nuts - soft lug bolts (studs).


On a Main Battle Tank, you use an impact wrench for everything, because those bolts are over-specced and super hard (the steel, not the effort).


On bolts (studs) of lower hardness, using an impact wrench to remove a lug nut can stretch that lug stud on initial impact enough to stretch it out of spec, due to the increased torque necessary to break the nut loose.

An impact wrench just slams that nut loose and it won't loosen fast enough to keep from stretching the stud.


That means, when you re-use the stud, the recommended torque is too much and you stretch the stud too far in its now-weakened condition.

Of course, this also means you can't clamp the nut to the bolt tight enough to reach spec, resulting in a loose lug nut.

You won't be able to spin it with your fingers (I hope!), but it will not ever reach proper clamping force.


Note this only applies to soft steel bolts.

Super hard bolts will laugh at you, as you try to get them to proper clamping torque, puny human.


I have not seen any really hardened studs on travel trailers.

Looking at the suspensions on my travel trailers, with the crappy shackles, bearings, bushings and equalizers, I am convinced the lug studs are the same level of quality - i.e., barely up to the task.


Betcha a doughnut and a cup of coffee those lug studs on our trailers are soft.

Before you take that bet, consider that it takes only 100 ft-lbs of torque to stretch that lug bolt to its proper clamping pressure when it is in pristine condition.


Harder studs would take a LOT more torque to clamp, properly.


Moral of the epistle?

Don't use an impact wrench ANYWHERE on a travel trailer.


Breaker bars are your friends...



Stay safe.
 
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TPMs is tireminder, they seem to be well respected in the industry, though I have never had occasion to check them on a real blowout situation.

We had a blowout, heard it go BANG . . . . . TPMS (TireTracker) didn't go off until I had the tire off. I've also forgotten to turn it off and have driven off without the trailer and it doesn't go off, so I'm looking at getting a system by TST . . . . .
 
We had a blowout, heard it go BANG . . . . . TPMS (TireTracker) didn't go off until I had the tire off. I've also forgotten to turn it off and have driven off without the trailer and it doesn't go off, so I'm looking at getting a system by TST . . . . .
I have the TST system, and I can drive away and the system won't alert. It takes about an hour for it to alert for lost sensor. Now a low pressure, or high temperature, or other alerts happen immediately.
 
We had a blowout, heard it go BANG . . . . . TPMS (TireTracker) didn't go off until I had the tire off. I've also forgotten to turn it off and have driven off without the trailer and it doesn't go off, so I'm looking at getting a system by TST . . . . .

We had a blowout on our recent trip. The TPMS started beeping and, in the time it took me to raise my head from my map (I'm the navigator, not driver) to see which wheel, we heard POW! Looked back and saw curbside front tire was down.
 

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