RE: [A/S] Tire Pressure ?

["Perry Joe Scudder" <perryjoe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dan,
I have 6 Marathons on my 34' Limited that I figure goes close to 10,000
most of the time I am traveling. I use 65 PSI in them. I monitor the
pressure with the SmarTTire System. It tells me when one of the tires
drops 5PSI or more. I just lost a tire last weekend, but did not do any
damage to the trailer. I pulled into a small country grill along US 421
in North Carolina with 6 tires all above 65 PSI, when I pulled out I got
about a mile down the road and the alarm went off on one of the tires.
It said I had 53 PSI, and it monitors the actual pressure once the alarm
goes off. It wasn't long before the readout said 50 PSI. I pulled over
at the first safe place, which was a small Quick Stop that had an air
hose on the side of the building. I found an old gate latch sticking out
of the edge of the tread very close to the side wall. I pulled the metal
out and put 8 plugs in the hole (all I had in my kit), and reinflated it
to 65 PSI. I only got 2 or 3 miles down the road and the alarm went off
again. I made it about 8 miles to the next town with 48 PSI still in the
tire. It turned out the tire was ruined ( it was only 0ne year old to),
because the puncture was so close to the side wall, it had started
splitting up the sidewall. The small tire store had a "Maxium" brand or
something like that in the ST225/75R15 Load Range D that was made in
January ($94 out the door). It is now riding on the trailer with the 5
Marathons and it to has 65 PSI. My SmarTTire system is happy again, and
so am I. I have a new Marathon on the spare, but don't know if it would
be worth the effort and cost to swap the two tires to end up with the
new Marathon tire on the rim that has the SmarTTire sender strapped
inside the rim and the brand X tire in the spare position. 

Joe Scudder
WBCCI 8624