Forest River Recall.........wheel problems!!! - RV-Dreams Community Forum

Lucky Mike · RV-Dreams Family Member

Forest River Recall.........wheel problems!!!

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

That is why with the purchase of our Mobile Suites, I am a proud owner of a good torque wrench for the first time in my life. (Yep, that's 66 years old with experience on farms and commercial truck operations.)

Not only does one need to check wheel torque on occasion, but it is a good idea to learn the proper procedure of tightening the lug nuts when replacing a wheel for any reason.

There was a recall on DRV products some time back that called for the need to remove the wheels and remove the paint that was on the hubs. It seems that the paint was breaking up, causing the lug nuts to loosen a bit, thus losing torque.

Terry

Racerguy · RV-Dreams Family Member

Back in 08 when we bought our Cedar Creek(Forest River product) torquing the wheels was one of the first things I did.I checked them often after that.One gentleman at an RV park in Texas came over and said I was the 1st person he ever saw torquing his wheels.A good habit to get in.By the way mine were spot on from the factory.

Bill and Linda · RV-Dreams Family Member

Wheels should be checked with a torque wrench, set to the proper value for the size lugs, at least once a day. I do mine at least once. “Depending,” it could take many miles (500 is not unusual) for the lugs to finally seat properly and you not get a “click” on the wrench.

Trailers are different than trucks or cars. The wheels are flexed completely differently and hence proper torquing and re-torquing is required for safety. Just tightening the lug nuts as tight as possible is just as dangerous. You just can’t do it properly without a torque wrench. I keep mine under the rear driver's side seat of the truck with a socket already installed so it is easy to grab and go check the lug nuts when we stop.

Bill

Jwar · RV-Dreams Family Member

just a note. Main reason to return the twist type of torque wrench to or below zero, is that the internal calibrated spring can loose some if its resistance (spring height), therby giving a less torqe then its set for, also IMPO is not a tool to save a buck purchasing, cant go wrong with name brands.

John

-- Edited by Jwar on Saturday 15th of December 2012 09:52:51 PM

Dog Folks · RV-Dreams Family Member

30 years of camping- Six trailers- never checked torque.

Bought new trailer in June 2006, and wanted to do eveything "right." After towing it home, about 30 miles, brand new from dealer, I checked the torque. 3-4 lug nuts on every trailer wheel were hand tight only!!!!

I will never travel again without owning and using a torque wrench.

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

For the benefit of those that have never used a torque wrench, please allow me to expand on them a little.

When using a torque wrench, they refer to measurements as "foot-pound" increments. For instance, the lug nuts on our Mobile Suites with 17.5" wheels is 150 foot pounds of pressure. With that in mind, I expected that to be a measure that would really require some "heft" in using the wrench. So, there I am, kneeling on the ground with my back supported by the bottom of the slide and I went to tighten to 150 ft lbs and found that it didn't take much effort at all.

In reality, it made me realize that for all those years where I would use a four-way wrench and strain on each lug nut until it "popped" or "squealed" that I was OVER tightening the lug nuts. In fact, it was likely that I was causing the threads on the lug studs to stretch and perhaps even strip out.

Also, some manufacturers, or maybe even all of them, suggest using two or three settings when putting a tire back on. For instance, DRV Suites recommends to first tighten all lug nuts to 20 ft lbs, then tighten them all to 80 ft lbs, and then finally tighten them to 150 ft lbs. Some torque wrench users have suggested loosening the wrenchback to "0" after each stage before increasing the ft lbs setting for the next set. They also say to make sure that when you are done with tightening, loosen the wrench back to "0" before storing.

Needless to say, I learned a lot when asking about torque wrenches.

Terry

Forest River recalls 2,200 model year 2011 and 2012 trailers