Trailering P 7010 to dealer

[Gary Fowler]

My new seat and drawbar assembly came in. because I had a few other issues that I wanted to check also I loaded up the P7010 on my 12K rated trailer and proceeded to take it the 60 miles to the dealer. I got about 20 miles and had a flat which due to it being the back tire, I couldnt see it. A trucker passed me and motioned that I had a problem. It was nothing left but about 3" of side wall on each side. Wouldnt you know that I left my Hi-Lift jack at home. The tire that went flat was on that I had taken to a tire shop to plug a nail hole and I suppose the plug came out or something. Not much left of the tire to tell what happened. I tried to use my Chevy Truck jack but all I ended up doing was stripping the threads on it. Finally I just unchained and unloaded the LS on the side of I-30, lifted up the trailer and put on the spare, reloaded and made it to Sheridan to the dealer. I did manage to get a new tire in Sheridan for $154.50 (ST235/80-16 10PR made by STC I think-never heard of that brand)
Dealer is going to check the hydraulic pressure on the FEL and adjust if needed because lately it seems a bit weak, check the hydraulic coupling leak that just started as I loaded it on the trailer (really weird)check out the strange hydraulic noise that it makes for a few seconds at startup, check out the tachometer / instrument cluster short that occurs sporadically and of course put on the new seat and drawbar attachment bracket. According to the counterman, the bracket couldnt be ordered separately but it looked like all they had was the suspension base. They obviously had enough problems with that suspension that they now furnish just the bracket rather than replace the whole seat as was listed in his old parts book. It has been redesigned and the X on each side with a pin tackwelded at the crossing has been replaced with a single bar with a roller on the end which looks more like a beefed up version of what is on my Kubota B26. I couldnt see really well up behind the rubber skirt around it but for sure that x and pin are history. Barring any needed parts, I guess it will be ready in a couple of days. I will let you guys know what the final outcome is.

 

[Gary Fowler]

OH, by the way, with my 20 foot trailer it was easy to balance the load and pull it with my 1/2 ton truck. It pulled like nothing was back there as long as there wasnt any hill to climb. The gross towing weight was within specs and I had plenty of room to balance the tongue weight on the truck. I did find out that my front tires are spaced wider than the rears for some reason which I intend to take a look at and see if I cant move them in a bit. I had never noticed that when looking at it or driving it. They just barely fit between the fenders on my 84"wide trailer AND the ramps need to be readjusted to a narrower position for the rears to fit safely. It can be loaded with the ramps at the edge of the trailer which I did on the first loading not realizing that the rears were about half off the ramp till after I got it on the trailer. I may need to switch sides on the drum mounting attachment points for the tire. I think is trying to swap sides it would be way too narrow then, but if I just put the clips on the other side of the rim attachments points, I think I will reduce it an inch or so.

 

[Bob77064]

Sorry to hear about the flat, good idea using the tractor to lift the trailer.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I hated to unload it, but after trashing the elcheapo factory POS jack for my truck, I didnt have a choice. Necessity in the mother of invention is true. To bad I didnt think to do that before I trashed my truck jack. It just wasnt made to pick up a 8000+ pound tractor and 2800 pound trailer. It did make it up and down about 3 times while we kept chocking it higher till I finally got the rim under the trailer after removing it from the wheel before it stripped some threads or something.

 

[MrChris]

You need to get one of these Gary. Trailer-aid. I keep one in my horsetrailer. Will handle up to 15,000lbs.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Thats pretty neat. I would not have even thought of running one wheel up like that to get the back one off the ground. Where did you buy the ramp?

 

[DT86]

We always used a 6x6 block of wood tapered on one end. Also you can put it side ways between the wheels as a chock.

 

[KILWERBZZ]

Put some Ultra seal in those tires.
Tire Sealant - Products

 

[MrChris]

Thats pretty neat. I would not have even thought of running one wheel up like that to get the back one off the ground. Where did you buy the ramp?

You can buy them on Amazon now for less than $40.

 

[Guesseral]

When you find out what the noise the hydraulic or power steering pump is making let me know I think mine is making the same noise, of course it's out of warrenty.

 

[KILWERBZZ]

Not all easy jakes will raise all tires off the ground. So do a test on build up 2x4's on how high you need to raise the tire.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I dont know how much lower the back axle would shift on my trailer. The tire had about 2-3 inches of the rubber side walls (could just see a bit of the stamping of the tire size) left but the beads were still seated and the rim wasnt hurt. I dont know how far I had ran it flat but it was up when I left home and only got about 20 miles. I was really surprised that the rim wasnt hurt but the axle did drop at least 6" as that is about the amount of tire that was missing. Maybe for giggles, I will put a jack under the front axle and see how high I have to raise it to clear the rear tire.

 

[vwnotrunning]

If the trailer is loaded to the limit will the easy jake put to much load on the remaining axel and cause damage. Just curious because I have used that method before by I was never really loaded!

 

[MrChris]

If the trailer is loaded to the limit will the easy jake put to much load on the remaining axel and cause damage. Just curious because I have used that method before by I was never really loaded!

I had that thought as well, but I've read many reviews on several sites that sell the Trailer-Aid and no one mentioned an issue. Now I have personally been able to change a flat with 3 horses loaded in our 3 horse trailer with no damage. It only takes about 10 minutes to change a tire though. Now if you look at Gary's situation, which is somewhat normal, you may run a few miles on 3 tires before you realize and then stop and discover the trailer is setting on 3 tires. You essentially are holding the weight on 1 1/2 axles while you figure out what to do or wait for help. So I' m thinking the quicker you can redistribute the weight back on 4 tires the better.

 

[vwnotrunning]

Yes, that sounds reasonable!

 

[Gary Fowler]

The 12K trailer was pretty much at its rated limit, but the one tire seemed to be holding up the load OK. The tire was a bit warm though. I have my hi-lift jack in the truck now & a new spare tire mounted so I am ready. I dont think I will be plugging any more of my trailer tires. If I get another flat, I will have it patched from the inside.
Another question: Does anyone balance their trailer tires. I dont see any lead weights on any of mine including the spare I just bought. I didnt request a balance job when I bought it though.

 

[Morning Wood]

Most trailer tires aren't balanced. I've read online that people who do balance them like it.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I do feel a bit of vibration when on smooth surfaces (they just finished asphalting a section of I30 and it is super smooth) which I thought might be tire mis-balance on the trailer. I just hate to take them off or try to find a shop that will do them. Most of the shops around here have such a cramped entry that you can barely maneuver a long wheel based truck into them much less it and a 20 foot trailer.

 

[Gary Fowler]

UPDATE: Dealer called yesterday and repairs completed except for the tach/instrument cluster shorting out. They couldnt find any thing wrong which didnt surprise me. Sometimes it stops working for several hours, sometimes on a few minutes. Hydraulic pressures were normal so no real repairs other than the new seat bracket and drawbar attachments. I guess they tightened up the coupling that was leaking on the FEL distribution block and my joystick was loose so maybe they found the lock nut to snug that down.
I asked them to keep it and run it a bit to see if they could get the tach to stop working since I dont particularly need it at the moment.