RE: [VAL] Re: flat tire

["Tom" <tmeeker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Alan,

About what I cut out from your post in regards to driving on a flat tire
"indefinitely".  

This -- driving on a flat tire -- is *not a good idea* at all and you should
pull off to the side of the road as far as possible if you just have to
drive on a flat tire.

I knew one time that one of the tires on our 1969 29' Airstream DID have a
FLAT tire.  I drove so slowly on a city highway that I was getting blasted
by people who thought I was just holding up traffic on THEIR road. ;)  I
wasn't, I was trying to do as you wrote above.

However, MY tire began to build up so much heat from doing this slow drive
that it began to SMOKE -- next to come was FIRE -- if I went that long on
the flat tire.

Flat tires WILL smoke, they WILL cause a FIRE, and a FIRE will burn up your
trailer.  

IF you are ever in a position to have one of your tires begin to smoke and
then BURN is to KEEP DRIVING and *TAKE THE TIRE TO WATER*.  If you stop with
a flaming tire it will burn up your trailer.  If you are moving with a
flaming tire it will burn the tire but NOT your trailer -- unless of course
you are slow to get TO the water as I've said above when you finally do
stop.

If you smell rubber burning when driving chances are that someone up in
front of you, most likely a BIG truck with many tires, has a flat tire they
don't even know about.  I've seen sparks literally coming from a flat steel
belted radial tire on an 18-wheeler truck at night as the steel belts
scuffed along on the highway.

My advice is to NOT drive "indefinitely" on a flat tire -- just don't do
that.  Take your trailer and tow vehicle as far off the road as possible and
IF you can't pull over then you must go slowly or else you risk smoke and an
eventual FIRE.

With the dual axles on our Airstreams or even the triple axles on the 34'
Airstreams it's always a good idea to know how to elevate the axle in front
or in back of the flat tire to remove it from the axle.  You can "single"
axle it well IF you are not overloaded to begin with AND you take it easy
with the speed to a safer area to put on the spare or new tire.

Just be very, very careful driving on any flat tire, they will catch on
FIRE.

Tom
WBCCI 5303