Not the sound you want to hear, while towing.
We were towing our way along US101 on the Oregon Coast – minding our own business. I did a little gentle braking for a construction area, then began to accelerate away.
Something felt weird. I looked in my mirror and there was a cloud of white smoke near the rear of the trailer. At that moment – Bam! The blowout.
Apparently, one brake failed to release after I released the brakes. It locked up and blew the tire within a second or so.
Luckily, with the tandem axle – we were able to slowly tow a half mile or so to a dairy with a big, flat parking area. We pulled in and changed the tire with little fanfare.
However, the brake continued to intermittently lock up. I was driving with kid gloves. I backed the brake controller WAY down so we were relying mainly on the truck brakes.
We made it about 20 miles to a Les Schwab Tire Company – where they were able to change our tire and verify, but not fix, the brake lockup problem.
I called the Airstream warranty line. Immediately, they said "well, sounds like we need to get you a new brake." They called Dexter Axle company who air-freighted out a complete replacement brake assembly by next-day air. They also called a local repair shop who scheduled an appointment for the next morning to do the work. In about an hour, they had us on our way with a whole new brake.
The only downside – they could find NOTHING wrong with the old brake that might have caused it to lock up. Everything tested out AOK on that unit.
Glad we have a new one!
(Posted by Kevin)
