# Nanco Tires Again



## Lmbevard (Mar 18, 2006)

We just got back from 2 weeks of bible camp. The OB had been setup at camp for 4 weeks with my wife using it for 3 weeks and me being there the first week and this last week. I had noticed when I got the camper ready that the passenger side tires were looking bad but the camp was only 70 miles away. I had filled them with air and rechecked them so thought it would be ok. Coming home today things seemed fine until someone passed me on the 4-lane and honked and pointed at the camper so we pulled over and looked over the camper and found the rear passenger tire gone. The rim was bend and in bad shape, the insulation and stuff above the tire was gone up to the OSB, the fender broke and the gas pipe to the stove bent. The only thing left of the tire was the back bead. I then remembered that I had taken the jack out of the truck and had not put it back and did not have a tire iron, so no way to change it. We tried to call my daughter who had left just before us, but she wasn't answering her cell. Since the rim was toast already, we limped into the Mt. Pleasant Walmart tire center and had them change the tire. The front one looked just as bad so ended up having to buy a LT tire to replace it for $80. It's funny in that the tire are all Nanco except the spare was a Deco. I guess I'm in line for at least 3 new tires. What was really strange is that we did not notice or hear any problem, no noise loud enough to over power the sound of the diesel, no pulling or swaying, nothing. It would have been a big surprise to have gotten home and then noticed it. Guess we will take the trailer in to get a estimate on repairs to see if we can turn it into insurance. Well, at least we were safe and hopefully no one got hurt. We have no idea where we lost the tire. The DW wants to pack a picnic and drive back up there to try to see where it ended up at.

DTW we had a great time anyway and this little problem didn't dampen our spirits.


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## Humpty (Apr 20, 2005)

That stinks









We had a blow out on the passenger side front of our 5er in March. Like you, didn't see, hear, or feel anything. A trucker gave us a blast of the air horns and let us know.


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## jdpm (Apr 12, 2007)

Sorry hear of the tire problems. Especially the damage and inconvenience. Despite the fact that we have had 6k trouble free miles at posted highway speeds of usually 70mph, we are upgrading to 16" wheels tires next week. The beautiful new 16" aluminum, 7 spoke, 6 lug, high capacity wheels arrived last week and the new BF Goodrich LT 6" tires will be in at Costco by weeks end. Many, many fiver owners use the BF Goodrich COmmercial TA's with excellant results. We decided that with ALL the common tire problems one reads about these cheap Chinese 15" tires, it was time to upgrade to a better wheel/tire package. Can't wait to get them put on and I will post some pix for those of you interested. We feel we have been lucky AND blessed to have used the Sydney 31frks the last 14 months/6k miles however we do not want to push our luck witht the 15" Marathons. PCM


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## Lmbevard (Mar 18, 2006)

I had started looking online for tires and found some information on why the tires weather check so bad. It is not the exposure or overuse of the tires it is actually the under usage of the tires that did it. the more you drive, the longer the tires will last. It is like an asphalt road as opposed to a driveway, the road will last longer because through use it brings the oils up to the surface and keeps it fresh where as the driveway don't get much use so needs to be recoated each year. I'm not sure what the answer is besides going camping more.

BTW had a funny as I was trying to get the black tank cleaned out after two weeks of use. I had attached the water hose to the hydro-cleaner to back fill the tank and got busy talking inside. suddenly I heard water plopping on the roof and had to run out and shut off the hose. At least I knew the tank was full!


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## Airboss (Jul 14, 2007)

Lmbevard said:


> BTW had a funny as I was trying to get the black tank cleaned out after two weeks of use. I had attached the water hose to the hydro-cleaner to back fill the tank and got busy talking inside. suddenly I heard water plopping on the roof and had to run out and shut off the hose. At least I knew the tank was full!


Ewww


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## tdvffjohn (Mar 10, 2005)

You are sooooo lucky. Most who have overfilled the black tank have had the toilet lift off the floor.


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## Lmbevard (Mar 18, 2006)

tdvffjohn said:


> You are sooooo lucky. Most who have overfilled the black tank have had the toilet lift off the floor.


Thank goodness that the hole going through the hydrocleaner isn't that big so all I heard was some water hitting the roof without it raining so I ran and shut it off. I had back flushed the tank several times so by this time there wasn't much poo left. At least I got the tank well cleaned out







I have to get the time to look at the damage done by the tire. It's suppose to rain tomorrow but get cooler towards the end of the week so maybe I can get some of the honey does done. I did get the cabinet put up in the toilet room so we can store our TP+


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## Lmbevard (Mar 18, 2006)

Well went to the dealer to asked about any recall or warranty help with the tires. They had not heard of anything so they called Keystone and they stated that they hadn't heard of any problems with the Nanco Tires and suggested that I call the tire manifactor. I informed them that according to the web, Nanco had sold their business and had no way to contact them. They were no help.







I did end up buying a magic wand to go down the toilet to clean out the black tank for $21. Got home and tried it out. Still getting gunk out of the tank but this thing helped. Got the tank full of water again and soaking with some other treatment stuff in it and will work on it some more later. At least it smells a LOT better.







BTW we ended up buying a VW Golf for $700 and drove it up to the dealer (120 miles away) the only problem with the car is that they had put a different auto tranny in it a few months before and it will not go into 4th gear. I did get about 30 mpg out of it even going 3500 rpm at 55 mph. This is about twice the mpg that I get with the van or the 1 T duelly.

We do get to go back to camp in a couple of weeks. Instead of camping at the camp, we will be staying a state park a couple of miles away. It will end up costing us a little more, but will be fun.


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## tdvffjohn (Mar 10, 2005)

http://www.outbackers.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=8034

This number is no longer good for Nanco???


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## Lmbevard (Mar 18, 2006)

We are getting ready to head out again for another week of camp so started checking out some of the damage done to the camper when the tire blew. It had bent the gas line going up to the stove/heater and I was wondering if it was leaking or not. Went and turned on the gas and both tanks are empty (had them both filled before our first trip) so I guess the answer is YES the fitting leaks. I won't need the gas this trip so won't worry about getting it fixed till after my trip. I should be able to cut the line, put on a flare fitting and attach a new section of copper tubing to fix it. We leave Thursday and will be staying at Siloam Spring State Park near Jacksonville, IL. The camp doesn't start until Sunday but we are going early to get away from the house. We have our daughter and her family living with us and our son is moving back to town with his girlfriend and her kids. We are even debating about taking the cat this time.


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## jt-mt-21rs (Jun 17, 2006)

Just got back from vacation ourselves and while doing some cleaning and maintenance yesterday, I noticed one of the tires is dry rotted again. This is the set of replacement Nanco's I just put on last year from the original set that was bad when the unit was purchased new in 2006. As much as I hate to do it, I just can't see trying to get another set only to have to pay someone to mount and balance again. Thinking I'll just cut my losses and try another brand. The trouble to repair the trailer when one blows will more that make up for the extra cost.


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## Lmbevard (Mar 18, 2006)

Lmbevard said:


> We are getting ready to head out again for another week of camp so started checking out some of the damage done to the camper when the tire blew. It had bent the gas line going up to the stove/heater and I was wondering if it was leaking or not. Went and turned on the gas and both tanks are empty (had them both filled before our first trip) so I guess the answer is YES the fitting leaks. I won't need the gas this trip so won't worry about getting it fixed till after my trip. I should be able to cut the line, put on a flare fitting and attach a new section of copper tubing to fix it. We leave Thursday and will be staying at Siloam Spring State Park near Jacksonville, IL. The camp doesn't start until Sunday but we are going early to get away from the house. We have our daughter and her family living with us and our son is moving back to town with his girlfriend and her kids. We are even debating about taking the cat this time.


Got some more information on the gas leak. It seemed funny to me that when we went back to camp after the camper sitting for a week while on gas for the refidge. it had failed to start so all of the food was spoiled. This was before the tire blew and bent the gas line. I checked out the gas tanks and they were both empty but the connections were tight. checked out the rest of the gas line and except for the knicked line it looked ok. Then I opened back of the Refridg and there was this small silver clip laying inside. Looked around and the only place it could have came from was the solenoid that opens and closes the gas line as needed. It allowed the gas line to be partially opened and allowed all of the gas to leak out, 60 lbs of it. I hooked up the 20 lb tank from the grill, turned it on and tested connections with soapy water and everything was tight. Did get the stove to light and the furnace to turn on. I will have to eventually cut out the bent part and reflare the fitting but otherwise everything looked ok. I guess I'll have to check the gas connections more often. I haven't checked the connections in the hot water heater yet but will before I refill the tanks. So everyone be warned to check out the small clip on the gas line to make sure it's still there!


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## garyb1st (Dec 6, 2007)

That sounds pretty serious. Could any of the gas have entered the unit? Was the clip broken or did it just fall off? How did you fix it?

Gary


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## OutbackPM (Sep 14, 2005)

Lmbevard said:


> We What was really strange is that we did not notice or hear any problem, no noise loud enough to over power the sound of the diesel, no pulling or swaying, nothing.


 I had the same issue with a rear tire flat that I found when I stopped at a rest stop. It was dark so I don't think other traffic could see it. The only difference from yours was with the 26RS the rear wheel did no touch the ground after blowing so the wheel was OK ( and no sparks to allert others). I was able to change it at the stop with some boards but went out and bought one of those trailer ramps that lift the good wheel enough to change the other.

On my new camper I found that it does not lift enough for the 16 in wheels and susupension it has so I need a jack to finish the job. I found that when trying to adjust the brakes for the first time.

The only good answer to safe guard against this is a tire pressure monitoring kit so you know instantly when you loose pressure in any one tire but these are expensive. If you compare it against loosing a wheel as well it maybe worth it. Other damage to the trailer will probably still happen beacuse its a result of the tire debris hitting the underside. Unless that is if the tire goes flat first then breaks up you have a chance.


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## Lmbevard (Mar 18, 2006)

garyb1st said:


> That sounds pretty serious. Could any of the gas have entered the unit? Was the clip broken or did it just fall off? How did you fix it?
> 
> Gary


I don't think the gas entered the unit since the busness end of the refridge in directly vented outside and no one reported the gas alarm going off (not sure if it works or not, never heard it). The clip wasnt' broken but it was bent flat so it slipped off the selenoid easily. All I did was to rebend it so it acually snapped on the top with some pressure on it to hold the magnet on. It is a pertty cheesy setup, needed to have a washer and a snap ring on it. Will have to keep a watch on it.

As far as the tire situation. I do need to replace the other tires before I take another long trip. Also, I had seen some valve stem covers that indicate when the pressure is low. Found some here; http://www.accupressurecaps.com/High-Press...bNmQaheLe34Oa40
At least they would work if I would look at them before going. One of the problem with the tires was that the other tire on the same side had only 25 psi in it instead of the 60 that it should have. Again, didn't come prepared with any pressure gauge let alone a jack or a tire iron.


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## MJRey (Jan 21, 2005)

OutbackPM said:


> We What was really strange is that we did not notice or hear any problem, no noise loud enough to over power the sound of the diesel, no pulling or swaying, nothing.


 The only good answer to safe guard against this is a tire pressure monitoring kit so you know instantly when you loose pressure in any one tire but these are expensive. If you compare it against loosing a wheel as well it maybe worth it. Other damage to the trailer will probably still happen beacuse its a result of the tire debris hitting the underside. Unless that is if the tire goes flat first then breaks up you have a chance.
[/quote]

Before our last trip I had seriously considered getting a tire pressure monitoring system but I couldn't get past the cost. I had a tire failure on that trip but a pressure monitor would not have done any good and may have even made things worse. The failure I had and that occurs fairly often was a separation of the tread. The tread came completely off and took out a gas line but the tire was still holding air. I felt something odd and decided to pull over and see if anything was wrong. If I had been using the tire pressure monitor I would have looked at the pressures and everything would have looked fine. I probably would have kept going until the tire blew completely potentially causing even more damage. Since then I think it might just be better keep checking pressures at the start of each day and to spend the money on more frequent tire changes.


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## Lmbevard (Mar 18, 2006)

Just and update on the damage done when the tire blew. The gas line to the inside stove got bent nearly at right angles. I pulled it back into shape but it had a nice kink in it. Before the last trip I refilled one of the LP tanks and tested the connections with soapy water and nothing leaked. I tried the stove and it worked, but was a little slow starting. During the camping trip the flame got worse as the time went along, burning yellower and less forceful. I have some experience with boilers and when the flame turns yellow it means that there is too little gas getting to the flame. When I got home I barrowed a pipe cutter and a flaring tool from work and cut off the bent end, moved the fitting to the pipeline and reflared the fitting. I ended up doing it twice to get it right but after checking the seal with the soapy water, nothing leaked. Tried the stove and it worked great. I still have to address tearing out the underlayment above the tire and the bent metal and steps but will slowly get it together. In the mean time I'm putting getting tires on the top of the list for things to do first thing in the spring.


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