wolfe10 Report post Posted January 18, 2019 Richard, Certainly understand your reasoning. Ya, our coaches allowed reasonable under-coach access-- even with safety stands positioned correctly with the coaches at normal ride height. 7" vertical access-- not even on a really skinny day! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tireman9 Report post Posted January 26, 2019 Dug up an old (1977) Tire & Rim standards book. 12-22.5 bias and radial show the same "design" dimensions On a 9.00 rim 11.80 width and 42.70 OD Occasionally old TRA books are found on eBay Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
richard5933 Report post Posted January 26, 2019 21 minutes ago, tireman9 said: Dug up an old (1977) Tire & Rim standards book. 12-22.5 bias and radial show the same "design" dimensions On a 9.00 rim 11.80 width and 42.70 OD Occasionally old TRA books are found on eBay That's specifically what I was looking for. Good to know and thanks for finding that nugget of data. I did look online but didn't see anything for sale at the time. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jleamont Report post Posted January 26, 2019 Roger, great old find! I asked our Michelin rep yesterday to dig into it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rayin Report post Posted January 27, 2019 Last summer when I had Sailun truck tires put on our MH, I had the choice of Sailun or Firestone truck tires for the same price. The Firestones were the same price as the Sailuns because the Firestone was a discontinued model, I forget if the model was FS561 or FS562, one replaced the other. A call to a Firestone truck tire dealer would answer the question. A side note, Bridgestone owns Firestone: https://commercial.firestone.com/en-us/truck-and-bus Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
richard5933 Report post Posted April 23, 2019 It's been a while since this thread was last active, but I wanted to add the final chapter to the story... Today I took the coach to a local commercial tire dealer(Pomp's). I had met with the manager there over the winter and he seems to be on top of his game. He was happy to do the inspection, including un-mounting the tires if necessary, before talking about buying new tires. Bottom line on the inspection, he was really surprised to see the condition of the tires. Same for the tech he called over to confirm. They found no sidewall checking/cracking and no cracking in the tread pattern. No visible problems. He did not feel that un-mounting the tires was necessary at this time. I'm sure that he would have liked to sell me a new set of 7 tires, but couldn't find a reason to recommend replacing what I have. My plan is to use them this summer and bank the money to buy a new set all around when we pull it out after next winter. The only issue remaining is the slight contact between the tires and front air bags on hard turns which will require me to be mindful and avoid hard turns (full to stops). I did look into adjusting the stops on the power steering, but apparently on a system this old it's like opening a can of worms and would likely require some repair work - once seals are moved they don't always reseal easily. I was told that this is best left alone. Based on the information I got when I bought the bus in Oct. 2017, it sounds like the tires were installed sometime around 2014-5. The original owner of the bus was a charter fleet owner, and the guy I bought it from (Tom) is a used/vintage bus dealer. Not sure which installed the FS400 315 tires that are on there now, but it happened around the time the bus was sold to Tom. I'm guessing that these tires were bought in some quantity by one of them, and then sat on the rack for a couple of years until they were installed. Then the bus was stored indoors for most of the time till I got it. That, combined with the fact that these L-rated tires are way more tire than needed to carry the weight of the 35-foot coach probably has helped them stay in good condition. I know that not everyone will agree with my decision to continue with these tires for one more season, but I feel comfortable with it after having two sets of professional eyes confirm what I thought. Had there been any external indication of damage/repairs/previous flat repairs I would have insisted on having the tires un-mounted, but that wasn't the case. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jleamont Report post Posted April 23, 2019 30 minutes ago, richard5933 said: it sounds like the tires were installed sometime around 2014-5. The original owner of the bus was a charter fleet owner, and the guy I bought it from (Tom) is a used/vintage bus dealer. Not sure which installed the FS400 315 tires that are on there now, but it happened around the time the bus was sold to Tom. I'm guessing that these tires were bought in some quantity by one of them, and then sat on the rack for a couple of years Richard, what is the date codes on them? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
richard5933 Report post Posted April 23, 2019 Date code on my current tires is from the end of 2011, making the tires about 7-1/2 years old. Just on the cusp of being too old, but it seems that there are mitigating circumstances. Again, I know that not everyone agrees, but the manager at the tire shop mentioned that years sitting on a rack out of the sun/weather don't contribute to breakdown nearly as much as years holding up a stationary coach in a campground while exposed to the sun. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jleamont Report post Posted April 23, 2019 34 minutes ago, richard5933 said: I know that not everyone agrees, but the manager at the tire shop mentioned that years sitting on a rack out of the sun/weather don't contribute to breakdown nearly as much as years holding up a stationary coach in a campground while exposed to the sun. I agree with him they do not degrade as fast. If it were me I'd replace the steer now and roll the drives for another year and have them rechecked. I have my steer on a 5 year pull and sell plan. Drives 6 depending on how their semi annual inspections go. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jleamont Report post Posted April 23, 2019 My pull and sell works like this because of my common truck tire size 12R22.5. At year 5 they are worth $225.00 each at year 6 they are worth $150.00 year 7 $0. It pays for me to pull them earlier and sell them off, I already have a buyer. At Year 7 they are useless no matter the condition as they will be going onto dump trucks and they will be to old for DOT inspections. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
manholt Report post Posted April 23, 2019 Joe, does that also mean that you bypass the federal mandated disposal fee? I had to pay it at my last change, even though they where loaded into a pick up and went to the Ranch, south of Dallas...hay trailers that never leaves property! Richard. I would have my front tires, pulled & inspected. Have seen too many perfect tires fail from the inside...you don't ever want to experience a front tire blow out at any speed in a coach! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jleamont Report post Posted April 23, 2019 34 minutes ago, manholt said: Joe, does that also mean that you bypass the federal mandated disposal fee? YUP. It actually pays me to pull them at year 5. As long as we can swing it in year 5, it's a good deal. I have a fleet up here that pays for them, they run them off on dump truck tag axles, since they just get scrubbed off fast. They prefer virgin tires (non recap) as the caps fail faster from the scrubbing. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
