Cob Jockey

Michelin Defender LTX MS/2 reviews on TireRack.com

Goodyears

Goodyear reviews - a lot less green!

My next truck (same truck I have now, just 15 years newer) is going to come with a factory-installed trailer tire pressure monitoring system, which I'm going to refer to as T-TPMS. 

Someday, someday.

But I'm still 2-4 years away from that truck being in my price range used, so I started looking into aftermarket T-TPMS systems.  Why would you want a T-TPMS system? 

1. It does real-time tire pressure alerting, so no more walking around the trailer with a tire gauge checking them all before you leave (although you should still double-check the accuracy of the T-TPMS every once in a while)
2. It does real-time temperature alerting.  Because tires tend to heat up before they blow, in theory you should be able to pull over before it blows your fender off (not that I have any experience with that...)
3. You can catch a slow leak early by watching it as you drive down the road.

I ended up buying this from Amazon, which comes with the main unit, four valve stem sensors, and two extra button batteries for those sensors, for $40. 


Installation was stupid easy.  Turn off the main unit.  Unscrew and remove your valve stem caps, screw the sensor caps on (paying attention to the front/rear left/right markings on them).  Turn on main unit.  Done.


If you're worried about theft they include four locking rings, but if you use those you have to have a specialized wrench with you at all times (to get the sensors off to air up your tires), and that seemed more risky than someone stealing sensors that are useless without the main unit so...I didn't.

It also says to check for leaks by spraying soapy water over the valve stems after installation.  I didn't.  Living on the edge.  No leaks so far.

The main unit is both solar powered and also charges via micro USB.  They include adhesive because it's designed to be mounted to your dashboard where the sun can charge it.  Because my truck already has a TPMS and I'm only going to use this when the trailer is hooked up, I chose to stash it in a storage compartment and not mount it.


The screen is customizable, and when I said this thing alerts you to low temp/high pressure, it ALERTS you.  It is LOUD.  Even if you're jamming out in the truck cab, you won't miss it if there's a problem with the trailer's tires.

Blue is PSI, green is temperature.  For those of you in metric countries, both are customizable.

Bottom line: $40 for mitigating tire problems while hauling?  Everyone should have one of these things!  There's no excuse not to.

Ever since my tire delamination incident, I've had a hard time trusting those tires.  I spent the rest of the several trips I took that weekend with my eyes glued to the rearview mirror, going slower that I needed to.

The only situation in which you're grateful to see a police car pull up behind you with his lights on.

I had originally planned on trying to make my tires last until the end of the show season, but I did bring my spare in this week to get it replaced (Trailer King Load Range E ST's, 10-ply, to replace my Hi-Run Load Range C ST's, 8-ply).  When the bill only came to $100, I was like, "You know...I'm making two more trips than I thought I was before the blowout, and it really sucks not to trust your tires with your horse on board, what's $300 more to ensure I won't have a blowout on I-465 this weekend, really?"

Answer: we're never doing this again.

So that's how I ended up hauling my trailer 45 minutes home with me last night after my lesson to get three more Trailer Kings installed before the show this weekend, and demoting the Carlisle spare back to being a spare.  Now both the truck and trailer will have new tires within two months of each other (RIP my checkbook) but I'll feel a lot better on the road.

Horse did not come home with me.  Note the height of the chest bar on Connor and the distance to the hay bag.  Poor guy hasn't eaten a shred in this trailer.  I don't think he can't eat, it looks like he could stretch and reach it, but it must not be comfortable or something.  Luckily all of our trips are short and I plan on fixing this in two months.

There's still a lot of work that needs done to this trailer, which is why I got such a good deal on it which is the only reason I could afford it in the first place, thanks JenJ!  With the tires taken care of, though, the rest of the work can absolutely wait until my show season ends the first week of October.  Happy birthday to me!  This is my list:

"Must do" List:
- Rebuild upper back doors - currently off the trailer
- Replace fender and steps - mine is somewhere on IN-37 South
- Check integrity of ramp - It's held Connor's weight so far, but I'm feeling/seeing some movement where there shouldn't be movement.
- Add lots of rings on the inside.  This trailer has exactly one ring on each stall, and it holds the hay bag so far away Connor can't really eat, poor guy.  I want to add rings and a hay manger bag for him.
- Overall inspection
- Fiberglass work (DIY): scrub the oxidizing fiberglass smooth, paint with RV paint?  If anyone has had to do this process before, leave me a comment, I'm going off what I've read on the internet.
- Mount license plate.  The old one is riveted on, underneath my brake lights, and must be swapped out by a pro.  Luckily my two year old Texas plates in Indiana haven't gotten me pulled over so far, and I have the trailer plate in the truck cab.
- Fix/replace weatherstripping
- Wash it.  I have avoided taking it through truck washes since it doesn't have back doors, that seemed like a bad idea, but I also don't really have room for it at my house, so I haven't had the opportunity to hand wash it either.  Needs to happen one way or another.

"Will check the cost on and possibly do" List:
- Removing all hooks and bars from one tack room wall - current hooks are spaced out really far, and I'd like to install organizers on that wall (Paige from L. Williams' barn inspired me!  She needs to do a guest post!)
- Mount spare on outside? - currently taking up valuable floor space in the tack room
- Removing rust from/repainting hitch - I do cover it, at least.
- Adding a weight distributing hitch to the truck - This really needs to happen if I ever haul two horses. It's honestly not a bad idea just for Connor, based on tongue weight.

Anyone else ever had to do a trailer overhaul before? Tips?

Our trip on Friday started out - literally - with a bang.


We had gone about 30 miles on country roads before we turned onto IN-37, a four lane divided highway with a speed limit of 55.  About two minutes after getting it up to 55, I heard a bang, and looked into my side mirror in time to see my driver's side trailer fender flying down the highway, knocked loose by a trailer tire whose tread flew off.

Still aired up but minus tread - I checked them all before I left.

I won't lie, I had a moment of panic.  Cars were not getting over on this busy stretch of road, and every time one passed I had to flatten myself against the trailer.  But I got to work loosening lug nuts in preparation for backing onto my TrailerAid with the good tire...and just could.not.get the last nut loose.  I'm pretty strong, and that sucker wasn't going anywhere.

Luckily at just that moment, a police officer pulled up behind me.  He walked up, saying, "I think I scared your horse when I walked up, I'm sorry," and I laughed and said, "Don't take it personally, everyone scares him."

He struggled with it for a while, and finally got it loosened.  At that point, a 20 year old kid pulled up in an F350 with farm plates, and good thing too, because the tread was wrapped around the axle.  They tried cutting it, they tried pulling it, and it was not budging.  Finally the kid went back to his truck to look for sidecuts and came back with...sticky rubber mechanics gloves.  He put two hands on the tread, sat down, pulled and it was out.  Thank goodness for corn fed Indiana farm boys.

I inspected it, and realized the tread had severely damaged the electrical components under there, and a wire would be rubbing against the tire if I didn't do something.  I asked the cop his opinion, and he asked if I had zip ties.  I said no, and he said, "I got something for this."  He left and came back with...


 Yes, that's a set of handcuff zip ties!  He used my knife to cut half of them off, and looped the other half over my electrical box with the wires back where they were supposed to be. With that, we were back on our way to our lesson.

Handcuffs visible between the tires