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Old 08-06-2021, 04:40 PM   #1
Winnebago Master
 
Join Date: May 2020
Location: Sugar Land, TX
Posts: 673
2021 View Damaged Wheel Replacement

We hit a pothole recently on a 2 lane country highway (no shoulder and a car in the opposite lane at the time - no way to avoid it).

The next day, noticed the outside rear passenger side tire was down a few PSI.

Refilled it and when it was low the next day, took it to a tire place and had the tire replaced.

Next morning, the new tire also lost a few PSI - so we called CoachNet to send someone out to swap the leaking tire for the spare.

After a 4 hour wait, in nearly 100 degree heat, the tech came out and was unable to get the spare tire rack down. One of the handles was stripped and wouldn't loosen. He was concerned that if he got the handle off, he wouldn't be able to secure the rack so we could drive home. He suggested we go to a tire place to have them take care of it.

We decided instead to drive slowly (60 MPH) for 3 hours to get home and have tire place near home look at it. We are able to make the drive - with a stop mid-way to add more air to the tire.

The next day, we took it to a tire place near our house. They determined the Alcoa rim was damaged - and had a hole that was causing the leak.

Then we found out the Alcoa wheels are specialty wheels - and that noone stocked them in our area.

We contacted Lichtsinn who placed an order with Winnebago to send us a replacement wheel. The best they could do was 4 day ground shipping.

When the box arrived, we were unlucky to find that they had sent us the wrong box. The packing list showed the correct item - the wheel - but that wasn't what we got.

We found out that Pioneer Rim and Wheel in Minnesota had the wheel in stock, and they sent it to us overnight.

Since we were scheduled to leave on a 4000 mile trip the next day, once the new wheel arrived, we went directly to the tire store for them to install it.

They were able to get the tire on the new wheel - but the wheel had the valve stem on the inside of the dually - facing the inner wheel. And because of the design of the wheel, it was almost impossible to get our TireMinder TPMS onto the valve - or to connect our tire pump.

The tire place tried to move the 135 degree valve from the original wheel to the new wheel - but due to the way the valve was installed on the new wheel, they weren't able to get the valve on the new wheel off.

We referred to Camping World (50 miles away) - who had a 135 degree extender in stock. But we were unable to get it connected. The valve stem on the new wheel was too long to get the 135 degree extension to work. We also tried a 180 extension - and that didn't work. And we checked, Camping World service wouldn't be able to swap the stem on the new wheel with the 135 stem from the original wheel.

So we went to another tire place nearby - and they somehow were able to swap the stem from the new wheel with the 135 stem from the original wheel - and we were good to go (though we had lost almost two full driving days on our trip from Houston to Yellowstone...).

We had some bad luck - hitting the pothole - and then Winnebago shipping us the wrong box (first time that's happened to us - cost us almost a week in getting the wheel replaced). In the future, if we need a part quickly, we'll look for 3rd party sources who can get us the part faster than relying on ground from Winnebago.

Pioneer Rim & Wheel were fantastic to work with - and we would strongly endorse them, if you need something they carry.

And, if you do get a replacement wheel - find a shop that has experience dealing with the Alcoa wheels - and moving the valve stems.

Lichtsinn and Winnebago continue to be great to work with - but they can't get you parts overnight, if you're on a trip - or getting ready to start one.

Fortunately, we were able to quickly get back on our trip plan - with only one very long driving day... And we appreciate those who tried to get us a solution quickly to what should have been an easy problem to solve...
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Old 08-06-2021, 05:22 PM   #2
Winnie-Wise
 
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 259
That's a lot of hassle and lost time over a wheel. Glad you got it eventually worked out. A couple of things come to mind. Most parts will be faster going directly to the manufacturer or other retailer. For Alcoa wheels, another great source is Southwest wheels. For your valve stem on the outside dual, it is common for it to point in towards the inner dual. You should keep a dual foot air chuck in hand to fill those type of stems. Typically a tire pump that is set up for these higher pressure tires will have a dual foot chuck included (like the Viair brand) It is harder to install the tpms caps when the stem is facing innwards but it is possible. Not sure what type of caps you have but my TST fit with the stem facing inward. Not ideal but doable and not worth changing the stem unless valve stem changes were already planned. I'm guessing you had your factory valve stems replaced when you bought your coach.
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Old 08-06-2021, 09:09 PM   #3
Winnebago Master
 
Join Date: May 2020
Location: Sugar Land, TX
Posts: 673
We purchased the RV with the extenders and TPMS already installed - so we didn't realize the outside tires came with the stems pointing inward.

Since this is our first RV - and first vehicle with dually wheels - this was all new to us.

When we stopped at Camping World to try their extension stems - the Alcoa wheel was already extremely hot from 50 miles of driving. If we did need to fill air after driving and the TPMS was mounted on the inward facing stem, would probably have to wait for the wheel to cool down in order to get the TPMS off and then use the chuck with the tire pump.

We were considering that as a fallback - fortunately just as we were about to give up on getting the 135 degree stem installed - the 3rd tire place surprised us and was able to get the stems swapped.

I posted the note so that anyone else who gets a wheel damaged - would learn from our experience and be prepared for some challenges if they want to get 135 degree stem installed on the outer wheel - not all tire places can do it...
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