Who stole the other half of my rim?

Ryan Holton · **Posted:** Tue May 22, 2007 7:40 am

That's what is remaining of the wheel on my tire trailer.

I never hear or felt anything weird (the car is loud and I was tired). I didnt notice something was wrong until I saw sparks flying out of the trailer on 264 :shock:

Im still not sure EXACTLY what happened but the trailer axle is ok, so I'll pop a new hub on this weekend.

Dustin Fredrickson · **Posted:** Tue May 22, 2007 9:45 am

Les Davis · **Joined:** Fri Aug 29, 2003 2:04 pm **Posts:** 2059

You must have dragged that for quite a ways to have that effect. Dustin is right :shock:

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Tue May 22, 2007 11:33 am

What’s odd to me is you didn’t feel anything.

If the root cause was bearing seizure, that tire would have locked up. I would think that would make the trailer take a sudden turn and you would have definitely felt that.

Ryan Holton · **Posted:** Tue May 22, 2007 11:39 am

Never felt a thing, I would have thought the same.

Michael Westerfield · **Posted:** Tue May 22, 2007 11:40 am

Vincent Keene wrote:

What’s odd to me is you didn’t feel anything.

If the root cause was bearing seizure, that tire would have locked up. I would think that would make the trailer take a sudden turn and you would have definitely felt that.

Everyone, I would like to introduce a graduate of the Mike Westerfield tire trailer driving school. Stand up and say hello Ryan.

DickRasmussen · **Posted:** Tue May 22, 2007 12:03 pm

One reason for mirrors is so you can check the trailer . . . assuming you have at least one mirror which allows you to see the trailer. :lol:

Didn't you notice the extra throttle it took to maintain speed? It's not like you were driving a Mustang GT. :wink:

I avoided a big wreck coming back from the Little Rock Pro Solo many years ago when the trailer axle broke after a BIG bump just East of Little Rock. Saw the huge amount of negative camber in the mirrors and pulled over before the axle totally came apart at the broken butt weld (don't get me going on why a reputable trailer builder used a butt weld in the middle of an axle. :evil:

)

JamesFeinberg · **Posted:** Tue May 22, 2007 12:21 pm

Wow, that is quite a bit of damage to the rim. Most impressive!

Sometime in the mid-90's my grandparents were passing through on their annual trek from New York to Florida when we got a strange call from one of my dad's patients.

My grandparents had some kind of big-honkin' Lincoln (Towncar maybe?) and they used to tow a rather heavy metal-framed trailer behind it. Apparently they were tooling along the highway somewhere north of Durham when a guy in a big pickup truck pulls up next to them and starts frantically waving at them. Naturally my grandparents ignored the guy for several miles until he literally forced them off the road boxing them in along the shoulder.

They were pretty freaked out at this point especially when they see the guy jump out of the truck, grab something out of the back of it and come running toward them. In a panic, they manage to lock the car doors but the guy runs right past them.

Well it turns out that one the hubs locked up and they have been dragging the trailer along the highway for god knows how long at this point. The guy turned out to be a volunteer fireman and he thing he grabbed was a fire extinguisher! The locked wheel/tire was on fire and in danger of consuming the rest of the stuff in the trailer. Oops!

At fate would have it, they happened to stop ~1/2 mile from the next exit which just happened to have a small trailer repair shop right there. Even stranger was the fact that it was owned by one of my dad's patients and he instantly recognized my grandfather's last name. The guy fixed them up for free, sent them along their way and gave us a call that they would be at our house in about 45 minutes. Now *that* is full service!

Anyway, my grandfather never felt a thing either. Of course he was 80-something at the time and was driving a 4000lb+ car. I'd say that's pretty much identical to Ryan's circumstances. :wink:

Jim

Donnie Barnes · **Posted:** Tue May 22, 2007 1:05 pm

Reminds me of the story of the guy who was flat towing his Jeep Wrangler behind his motorhome. His rear diff blew up somehow and the axles came out and he drug the thing some number of miles setting small brush fires initially due to the hot diff fluid that dumped and spread. He ground off nearly two inches of the pumpkin. One of the wheels/axle did cross the center line and caused an accident on the other side that was fortunately relatively minor (some reasonable car damage, but no injuries).

He didn't notice the extra power required. He couldn't see the vehicles in his mirrors. He could see it with his rear camera, but his fisheye lense sufficiently distorted the image such that he couldn't see that it was tipped backward. He also couldn't see the sparks, apparently. Someone pulled along side and alerted him. I'm sure it was quite a show from behind.

--Donnie

WalterHouston · **Posted:** Tue May 22, 2007 1:32 pm

I'm surprised nobody tried to tell you that you had a problem. It had to be making a lot of sparks!
Or maybe, you thought they were other "Cowboys" waving because of the sticker somebody put back on your car when you weren't looking!

RobLupella · **Posted:** Tue May 22, 2007 1:40 pm

I had one of my trailer tires blow on the way back from Roebling in March. I didn't feel a thing either but someone passed me pointing and I looked in my mirror and saw tire tread flying. By the time I got slowed up to pull over I heard the wheel rolling around without the quieting effect of the tire.

Richard Casto · **Posted:** Tue May 22, 2007 3:05 pm

WalterHouston wrote:

I'm surprised nobody tried to tell you that you had a problem. It had to be making a lot of sparks!
Or maybe, you thought they were other "Cowboys" waving because of the sticker somebody put back on your car when you weren't looking!

I think that here in NC if you see someone dragging a trailer without a tire, you figure that they are doing it on purpose and you don't need to let them know what is going on!

PS: I respect Ryan for posting this. Many people would have quietly just went and picked up a new hub and tire and fixed it without telling anyone. :toast:

Ryan Holton · **Posted:** Tue May 22, 2007 3:06 pm

DickRasmussen wrote:

the trailer axle broke after a BIG bump just East of Little Rock.

I did hit a HUGE bump just past the Capital Blvd exit on the beltline. The trailer bounced like a basketball. Once everything got settled again, it seemed fine. It wasnt dark at that point so I could see the trailer in my mirrors.

Im gonna check things out real good this weekend and chalk it up to being lucky, rather than good.

Ryan Holton · **Posted:** Tue May 22, 2007 3:08 pm

Richard Casto wrote:

PS: I respect Ryan for posting this. Many people would have quietly just went and picked up a new hub and tire and fixed it without telling anyone. :toast:

Hey, Im quite comfortable with the abuse. I figured this might encourage others to check their trailers out so this doesn't happen to them.

Jason Mauldin · **Posted:** Tue May 22, 2007 3:49 pm

Richard Casto wrote:

PS: I respect Ryan for posting this. Many people would have quietly just went and picked up a new hub and tire and fixed it without telling anyone. :toast:

Yeah but, doesn't that kind of make you wonder about the things that Ryan DOESN'T post about? :twisted:

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