RE: Need new tires ALREADY!
I would have to agree with you that we hit something with reference on the rub IF it were only on one tire. I was shocked to find the same rub patterns on the tire on the opposite side of the axle. It looks like it a couple of plastic strap patterns. There are no slits on the opposite tire. At least not yet. Puzzling, uh. I do agree.... I will probably have a fight that we hit something.
Good luck, I would take the same position, just bizarre and hard to explain, but let us know if you do figure it out.
RE: Need new tires ALREADY!
You can figure out if the tires are adjusted correctly, get 2 people, and take a tape to the top and bottom of the hubs (brake assembly), and see if they are the same.
What you show there appears to be some sort of damage from hitting something, or at least that's what I'd guess the tire guys will say. It looks like you hit something. The cheap tires may have a propensity towards splitting vs. creating a bubble like a radial would do. It just seems it would be almost impossible to get a single location rub like that any other way, but I'd be interested to know.
RE: Need new tires ALREADY!
14" "C" rated tires on a trailer with an approx GVWR of 7000lbs? Are they serious?!!!
My wife and I were considering this exact model. Shadow Cruiser 280QBS... UNTIL I found this wonderful website rv.net. I read that a lot of people were having issues with their Shadow Cruiser's being fitted at the factory with under rated axles and tires. I went back to the RV dealer that night after closing and looked at the axles. Not so much to my surprise they were both 3500lb axles! The GVWR for the trailer was approx 7500 and they have were using these little twig axles.
I contacted the salesman the next day to address my concerns with his model. I really kind of liked the look to the Shadow Cruiser and the outdoor kitchen was kind of "neat" but I was extremely concerned about the axles and tires. Well the salesman said that had no idea this was an issue and that "I should be fine with this setup." Well he offered to call the Shadow Cruiser rep for our region and he said the rep said the same thing. That the 280QBS was supposed to come with 3500lb axles and C rated tires. I laughed at walked away. You know.. don't feed me that line of BS. Easy to say I was extremely disgusted with CruiserRV at that point.
We finally decided on a trailer made by Outdoors RV. It actually came with 15" Goodyear D rated tires and 5200lb axles and a ton of other features that are extremely nice like heated underbelly and brakes on all 4 wheels.
FWIW, even after all of the issues I had on the axles and tires, I would not hesitate for a second to recommend Cruiser trailers. The bang for your buck, especially in size and features is still good, and for me, the measure of a good company isn't what issues they do or don't have, but their willingness to actually take care of the customer.
I had an issue with billing for warranty work here locally, and Cruiser was 10x more responsive than our local deal (Big Sky RV) in getting it addressed. It was Big Sky RV's problem with their billing and they showed a complete lack of customer service, where as Cruiser actually supplied a lot of help and documentation to assist me. Not often do you get a manufacturer that will provide better service than you get locally (heck, most of the time, there's no way to even get to the manufacturer.)
So, anyone reading these issues, don't let them scare you off of these trailers. I'm assuming that the batches have all been sold any way at this point, and it's been addressed.
RE: Need new tires ALREADY!
Cruiser took care of the tires, and I'm not sure if they sent the bill to Lippert or not. Lippert took care of the axles (I dealt with them directly and Cruiser.)
Cruiser has been really good to me about service, and even with the axle issue, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them.
RE: Need new tires ALREADY!
I had the exact thing happen on my 280, lippert and cruiser took care of it, including new tires. One thing I noticed on that trailer is I think they're over rating the cargo on it.
The axles were defective, or the hub/axle connection. If you look at some of my posts, you can see some of what I went through. We did a 4800 mile trip and that was the first set of tires. Once the new axles were one, I was more or less good to go.
RE: how much can I tow ??
I had an 03 Suburban z71 with that same setup exactly, and I'll tell ya, you want to stay with something that's under 6000lbs LOADED with all of your stuff. We towed a 23' trailer that was a heavy weight, and we had it loaded and towed at about 5800lbs, and it did great, we did more than 15000 miles no problems. We also towed a light weight that was about 5200lbs and it was so much better.
There is nothing more miserable (and pushing the safety envelope) than towing something that's at or very near your max. We live in MT, so we lose HP at altitude, and after 120000 miles, you lose it anyway, so it also depends on where you plan to tow.
There are so many really good feature packed (Cruiser for example) light weight trailers, to me, no reason to really push it.
Also worth noting, I replaced my tubular hitch with a Class IV aftermarket one, as those did have a tendency to break off (at least for our 03.)
