So we’re on a vacation hauling our 2019 5th wheel from Virginia to Maine, all pre-travel checks were done prior to departing to include tire pressures. Not running any heavier than usual from our previous trips and our journey was uneventful up I-95 til we hit the entrance to the Jersey Turnpike (never again, but that’s a different discussion) about 13mi in there was a sound like a gunshot and the sad flapping sound of a blowout on the passenger side rear axle. The trailer handled the loss well and didn’t pull or lurch over thankfully (good info to know now) it almost handled like there was no failure. We were able to pull off safely. After assessing the blowout I started to pull out the spare tire winch handle, bottle jack and shockingly could not find my lug wrench, for whatever reason I had taken the wrench out of the trailer and not put it back.I had brought absolutely no “major” tools so we were now stuck. Of course 800 (or was it a million) vehicles drove by and no one stopped, we didn’t even get a trooper or DOT vehicle. We ended up using Good Sam and a truck was dispatched. We got the spare installed and got back on the road.
The PSA part- I implore you that if you haul any kind of trailer have an appropriate spare tire, lug wrench and jack on hand. I now have a new to me Wally World 4 way lug wrench for the remainder of the trip.
Of course the saga does not end there, just past NYC (again never again) we had a second blow out on the drivers side front axle. This definitely required a road service call for a new tire. After a long wait and a bunch of $$ for the tire the young man had the tire swapped and we were once again on our way to our midway pre-planned stop. The next day we procured 2 new tires from a shop nearby the campground. The second new one was installed on the drivers side rear to put 2 new tires on the “dangerous” side axles and the second installed on the passenger front to go with the factory spare on the rear. The last original tire on the fancy rim from the passenger front is now the spare and I kept the “good” original tire from the tire shop just in case we have further tire trouble.
PSA #2 check the DOT tire date codes on all your tires (google how to check). Tires are generally good for the first 5 years and should remain usable for some period after. All of mine are at the 5 year mark.
For future trips with this trailer I will definitely have more than one spare, and also bring along a better tool kit.