Blow out while towing, RL not phased

[keastman]

I was towing my 19' CC fishing boat the other day and one of the trailer tires blew out at about 60mph. I felt an initial lunge in the truck and some noise, then just some drag on the trailer. The handling to pull over and stop was very smooth. Not sure if the VSA helped that out or the truck and momentum is heavy enough to handle it well. I was impressed. Even the much complained about OE jack did a fine job of jacking the trailer up to change the tire. The tires were radials and in great shape. Unfortunately a little too old I guess. Tire place told me today to replace trailer tires every 4-5 years, no matter how good they look. Lesson learned.

Just some other observations on towing. I was actually surprised how well my "trucklette" tows. It's no speed demon taking off but also doesn't seem overburdened by any means. I use to have a Dakota quad 4wd V8 and I'd say the RL has a better over all handling feeling while towing the boat, but not the acceleration, especially at highway speed. One annoying thing that i notice is that once something is being towed. The Honda hitch seems to transmit all of the noise and vibration from the trailer and road to the body of the truck. I'm thinking perhaps because it is a unibody construction. Unlike the Dakota which has a frame with the body attached with isolation washers. Any one else have the same observations or any solutions? I especially noticed it today towing a tandem PWC trailer that has biase ply tires that had been sitting a while and the tires were taking some time to round up again.

[Divotfixer]

There was a thread a while back about some sort of clamp / dampener product you can get to reduce the amount of "play" in the hitch....

[Outfitter]

My experience has been just the opposite. I have hauled a couple different type trailers,including a box, 2 different utility trailers for ATV's and a 19' travel trailer and compared to my old Expedition the Ridgeline feels much better as far as vibrations are concerned and I get far less noise being transmitted into the cabin than before. Mine is the Honda OEM hitch, wonder if that makes any difference?
Have never had a trailer tire blow before and I really should follow the every 4-5 year rule on the new tires.

[shovelhd]

I had a rear tire go flat on my RL towing a 1200 pound tandem axle box trailer. I was in the middle lane in heavy traffic and while it was scary, the RL handled it well getting to the breakdown lane. It never got out of sorts.

[keastman]

Outfitter, mine is the Honda hitch also. RTX model. Got new tires on the PWC trailer today. Will have to see if that helps the problem. They should be a little rounder. (and safer!)

[livefaith]

Yep. Blew one out last year and one went flat this year. RL handles it great.

[TeamRidgeline]

Try getting your trailer wheels balanced, almost every trailer owner overlooks this item. You don't anymore want what you're towing to be vibrating and shaking to pieces anymore than the vehicle you're riding in.

[Webwader]

In the past, I've blown both a trailer tire and tow vehicle tire at different times and I'll take the blown trailer tire over the other any day. The trailer tire was on my open race car trailer and I was doing about 60 mph. When the tire blew, it slammed the fender into the door of my race car but everything stayed straight and manageable. The LR tire on my van also blew while towing my race car at about 65 mph. The sidewall blew out and ripped a hole from the rim to the tread. I managed to keep everything straight while slowing down but it was a lot more of a white-knuckled experience than the trailer tire was. Tires of 30 years ago just weren't as dependable as they are today.

[Beaullieu]

I had a blow out this summer on the trailer while towing my 18' ski boat. I was on the interstate doing about 70 when it blew. The RL was not phased in the least. I just felt additional drag when the radial belt delaminated and the steel belt did a number on my trailer fender.

I towed the same boat with a 96 Tacoma for several years and had a similar blow out on the interstate. The Tacoma handled the trailer without incident but I can tell you that the RL handled the blowout much better and is a much more stable platform in general.

Two blowouts in two years on old radial trailer tires. I learned the hard way and will replace every 4-5 years now. Changing a trailer tire on the side of the road is not my idea of fun.....

[C25A1guy]

I too had a similar experance last year. I was towing my race car up to buttonwillow raceway when one of the trailer tires blew on the downhill of the Tejon pass. I had to drive about a mile to the next exit (no breakdown/shoulder lane) to address the issue and repair the fender before setting off again. The RL was nice and stable the whole way.