I enjoy watching you add gadgets to your RV. I can see that you get a certain amount of fun buying and installing them. The tire covers and X brake are good choices. We used both on our RV and drag racing trailers back in the day. As always thanks for taking the time to show us what you guys are up to. Walt
Good investment Adam. In the 15 years that I have been RVing, I have never worn out a trailer tire. I have had 3 trailer tire blow outs in 15 years. One was a Carlisle at one year old (crap to begin with) and two BF Goodridge at about 3 to 5 years old. Age kills tires before wear does. Trailer on Adam.
I got four of those off of Amazon for like $11 and they've been decent for protecting my new utility trailer tires. I had hooks on mine to loop around the back of the tires. I didn't go with black though as it collects heat.
Adam you did the right thing covering your winch up front. I know of 4 people that has replaced there winch dew to water and weather. including me. Lesson learned. I will get my spare tire cover.
Hey Adam, my buddy has a race car trailer... He said that the trailer tires rot if they are constantly on dirt... or even cement. He said that the tires last years longer if you put a rubber mat under the tires. Since he is a ProStock racer, he has worn out racing slicks. He cut off the sidewall and voila: he has mats for his tires! One racing slick will cover the ground/cement for one side of his trailer (two axle trailer). All you have to do is ask the racers (around Pensacola) for their old slicks. ...Your tires will last longer.
Here in So Cal, these types of tire covers usually last about a year under the blazing sun. Our remedy was to make custom covers out of an old Sunbrella boat cover. These tire covers are over 7 years old and still looking good. Yes, I replaced my old boat cover with a brand new Sunbrella custom fit cover which was well worth the money.
I have my Rockwood Mini lite sitting on pads to keep the tires off the ground surface. if they keep your rims looking nice they are definitely worth the investment. I see several RVs in campgrounds with tire covers on them.
Adam, as a preventative measure, sacrifice an old neoprene mouse pad, or some of that left over non-slip drawer liner you have, as an abrasion protector on the pads (feet) of the X-chock. The neoprene shouldn't slip, and it'll conform to the contour of the tire helping to add grip on the tire.
Where I live there is rain and snow so check your spare tire cover for water and debris , you may not have rain that often but sand leaves bugs make it messy mine had both plus rust !
Maybe you could epoxy some rubber onto the 4 pads of each X-Chock. That might save any wear on the tire covers Edit: that spare tire cover is begging for a big Abom79 logo! Have a fun and safe trip 👍
Not sure these are needed while camping (unless you are staying in the same spot for many months). I can seem them as being useful when the camper is parked in the driveway during non-campinig season (especially if it isn't moved for 6 months or more), but I'm skeptical of their usefulness otherwise. I guess they are cheap enough, so as long as you don't mind the effort of putting them on and taking them off while camping it can't hurt anything. I can definitely see their usefulness for the spare since it is always sitting out in the sun (which is why every jeep has a spare tire cover). Thanks for the vid.
I'd like to recommend you label/mark all the covers so that the x-chock always goes on the same side of each one. That way if there is a problem, you will see it sooner, because it won't be halfway through the other side before you can be certain. In the long run if there was just enough hole in each cover for the chocks to work, and those holes had seamed edges, you'd probably still get a few more years out of them.
Hi Adam....I think the best way to protect your new tires is to lift her from the ground.....if you stop the caravan for a long period of time....Even if this seems not your case, when the new Abom adventure ?
With respect to that bike hitch... since you have a "modest" machine shop at your disposal, work up some brackets to reinforce the bumper square tube to the chassis rails, and note that the square tube is really light gauge. What this all translates to is that the torque on the tube from the loaded rack, and the spare all will cause fatigue failures of the tube where it mounts to the chassis rails - all they did was take a piece of equally light gauge angle and weld it all up...add a little rust ( check the inside of your square tube bumper, bet it's already rusty, mine wasn't (still isn't) painted and you have all that salt air.....) Anyway, I'm sure that you could make some very elegant brackets up ... maybe even put some structure across the back ( unless you have already put in a hitch receiver and such and avoided the problem entirely ) Hope you enjoy your trailer as much as we have ours - it's got its quirks, but overall it's pretty nice WATCH YOUR SLIDE ROOM CABLE ADJUSTMENTS...or it will start digging into the floor :(
Maybe stick some some self-adhesive felt (like those for furniture legs) on those "wheel spreaders", if you're worried about them tearing up the covers. Just a thought.
Hi Adam, interesting video, I appreciate the idea of the wheel covers for long term parking (let's say over a week) but I think if you rolled up to your weekend parking spot in the rain at night that all the miriad of tasks to set up camp in the dark or even daytime, just to get settled that getting saturated putting 4 tire covers on the caravan wouldn't be on the high priority list. and if it was only a weekend setup to basically put them on for just over a day that you could justify not doing it. I think when travelling on your short (Less than a week) adventures the novelty will soon wear off. My more practical concern is (it would be relatively costly but worth it) looking at you towards the end of the video standing in front of the back of the van, you have a LOT of money invested in it why isn't it completely under cover from the sun, and other elements? If you ran an extension off your enclosed carport, using the existing tin on the wall translated to the then side of the van carport you could save a bit of money, keeping the complete unit under cover would preserve it longer or for access to the the shop without the hindererense of a carport there, maybe finding a covered lockup Elsewhere and only bring it home when setting up for another adventure etc. Tony from Western Australia
Tire covers, the BIGGEST scam from the R/V world. Do you ever cover your car or truck wheels ??? Do they rot? I had tires on my 5th wheel trailer for 18years never covered them, the trailer sat in place the whole time, on wood, and the never rotted. Tires over time will dry out but it takes a long time. So when camping on the move is simply silly in my opinion.
@Matt Really??? 18 years??? Hope you did not start out on a high speed trip near the end of this! ANY tire beyond about 5 years is a blow out waiting to happen on the highway! Ken
they help prevent the UV damage " dry rot" of the tire - not worth putting on for a camp site stay, but sitting in the yard, and the spare... yeah, they do help ( especially if you are still running cheap(er) "China Bomb" OEM ST tires......on your car or truck you usually ware out the tires before this damage becomes an issue ... trailers don't usually get the kind of mileage that wares them out before they start to show the signs of UV damage.
I enjoy watching you add gadgets to your RV. I can see that you get a certain amount of fun buying and installing them. The tire covers and X brake are good choices. We used both on our RV and drag racing trailers back in the day. As always thanks for taking the time to show us what you guys are up to. Walt
Good investment Adam. In the 15 years that I have been RVing, I have never worn out a trailer tire. I have had 3 trailer tire blow outs in 15 years. One was a Carlisle at one year old (crap to begin with) and two BF Goodridge at about 3 to 5 years old. Age kills tires before wear does. Trailer on Adam.
@Mark Lockwood
As I stated elsewhere in a comment, ANY tire over 5 years old is a blowout waiting to happen!
Cheers!
Ken
@@kejay74 Ken, I absolutely agree with you. I have never worn out a trailer tire because I replace them long before they reach 5 years old.
I got four of those off of Amazon for like $11 and they've been decent for protecting my new utility trailer tires. I had hooks on mine to loop around the back of the tires. I didn't go with black though as it collects heat.
Good idea Adam👍. UV is hard on almost everything. Doesn't take long.
Adam you did the right thing covering your winch up front. I know of 4 people that has replaced there winch dew to water and weather. including me. Lesson learned. I will get my spare tire cover.
Hey Adam, my buddy has a race car trailer... He said that the trailer tires rot if they are constantly on dirt... or even cement. He said that the tires last years longer if you put a rubber mat under the tires. Since he is a ProStock racer, he has worn out racing slicks. He cut off the sidewall and voila: he has mats for his tires! One racing slick will cover the ground/cement for one side of his trailer (two axle trailer). All you have to do is ask the racers (around Pensacola) for their old slicks. ...Your tires will last longer.
My knees hurt just watching
My wife wants to see your vids from DW and so do i thanks! great channel!
Here in So Cal, these types of tire covers usually last about a year under the blazing sun. Our remedy was to make custom covers out of an old Sunbrella boat cover. These tire covers are over 7 years old and still looking good. Yes, I replaced my old boat cover with a brand new Sunbrella custom fit cover which was well worth the money.
My dad and stepmom has 2 travel trailers , a larger 1 they live in all year long at RV park and 1 they can pull with their 1/2 ton for weekend trip
I have my Rockwood Mini lite sitting on pads to keep the tires off the ground surface. if they keep your rims looking nice they are definitely worth the investment. I see several RVs in campgrounds with tire covers on them.
Black cover gets too hot. I like the option of the X chalk.
Adam, as a preventative measure, sacrifice an old neoprene mouse pad, or some of that left over non-slip drawer liner you have, as an abrasion protector on the pads (feet) of the X-chock. The neoprene shouldn't slip, and it'll conform to the contour of the tire helping to add grip on the tire.
Where I live there is rain and snow so check your spare tire cover for water and debris , you may not have rain that often but sand leaves bugs make it messy mine had both plus rust !
Maybe you could epoxy some rubber onto the 4 pads of each X-Chock. That might save any wear on the tire covers
Edit: that spare tire cover is begging for a big Abom79 logo! Have a fun and safe trip 👍
When ppl say you can find anything on RUclips... this video is proof thats true lol.
Keep up the good work!
Not sure these are needed while camping (unless you are staying in the same spot for many months). I can seem them as being useful when the camper is parked in the driveway during non-campinig season (especially if it isn't moved for 6 months or more), but I'm skeptical of their usefulness otherwise. I guess they are cheap enough, so as long as you don't mind the effort of putting them on and taking them off while camping it can't hurt anything. I can definitely see their usefulness for the spare since it is always sitting out in the sun (which is why every jeep has a spare tire cover). Thanks for the vid.
Get some Tandem Axle Tire covers. Will protect the X chock from the weather.
I'd like to recommend you label/mark all the covers so that the x-chock always goes on the same side of each one. That way if there is a problem, you will see it sooner, because it won't be halfway through the other side before you can be certain.
In the long run if there was just enough hole in each cover for the chocks to work, and those holes had seamed edges, you'd probably still get a few more years out of them.
Hi Adam....I think the best way to protect your new tires is to lift her from the ground.....if you stop the caravan for a long period of time....Even if this seems not your case, when the new Abom adventure ?
Thanks for the video A&A.
Might want to think about getting white covers as the black one will draw more heat verses the white. Great video though!!
Nice!!
Do you have a battery disconnect? They save the battery from draining when not in use.
how do you keep them on when going down the road?
Duhhhh the velcro keeps them on no worries.
Centrifugal force
With respect to that bike hitch... since you have a "modest" machine shop at your disposal, work up some brackets to reinforce the bumper square tube to the chassis rails, and note that the square tube is really light gauge. What this all translates to is that the torque on the tube from the loaded rack, and the spare all will cause fatigue failures of the tube where it mounts to the chassis rails - all they did was take a piece of equally light gauge angle and weld it all up...add a little rust ( check the inside of your square tube bumper, bet it's already rusty, mine wasn't (still isn't) painted and you have all that salt air.....) Anyway, I'm sure that you could make some very elegant brackets up ... maybe even put some structure across the back ( unless you have already put in a hitch receiver and such and avoided the problem entirely )
Hope you enjoy your trailer as much as we have ours - it's got its quirks, but overall it's pretty nice
WATCH YOUR SLIDE ROOM CABLE ADJUSTMENTS...or it will start digging into the floor :(
Adam, just park in the shade! :)
Smart and thrifty have a wonderful experience
Maybe stick some some self-adhesive felt (like those for furniture legs) on those "wheel spreaders", if you're worried about them tearing up the covers. Just a thought.
Hi Adam, whats wrong with sticking some rubber on the pads of the X chocks
You still need to put in a vise
Hi Adam, interesting video, I appreciate the idea of the wheel covers for long term parking (let's say over a week) but I think if you rolled up to your weekend parking spot in the rain at night that all the miriad of tasks to set up camp in the dark or even daytime, just to get settled that getting saturated putting 4 tire covers on the caravan wouldn't be on the high priority list.
and if it was only a weekend setup to basically put them on for just over a day that you could justify not doing it.
I think when travelling on your short (Less than a week) adventures the novelty will soon wear off.
My more practical concern is (it would be relatively costly but worth it) looking at you towards the end of the video standing in front of the back of the van, you have a LOT of money invested in it why isn't it completely under cover from the sun, and other elements? If you ran an extension off your enclosed carport, using the existing tin on the wall translated to the then side of the van carport you could save a bit of money, keeping the complete unit under cover would preserve it longer or for access to the the shop without the hindererense of a carport there, maybe finding a covered lockup
Elsewhere and only bring it home when setting up for another adventure etc.
Tony from Western Australia
Abom79-> abombing the world one day at a time! Lol
Hey Adam,
What was the name of that knee rest?
www.amazon.com/GOLDBLATT-INDUSTRIES-G06966-Kneeler-Board/dp/B01NAN9UHX
Paul Patrick Goldblatt
I thought the spare tire cover was for the spare
Tire covers, the BIGGEST scam from the R/V world. Do you ever cover your car or truck wheels ??? Do they rot? I had tires on my 5th wheel trailer for 18years never covered them, the trailer sat in place the whole time, on wood, and the never rotted. Tires over time will dry out but it takes a long time. So when camping on the move is simply silly in my opinion.
@Matt
Really??? 18 years??? Hope you did not start out on a high speed trip near the end of this! ANY tire beyond about 5 years is a blow out waiting to happen on the highway!
Ken
LOL! Ok man, to each their own!
Pure bull. Tire covers will not extend their life
they help prevent the UV damage " dry rot" of the tire - not worth putting on for a camp site stay, but sitting in the yard, and the spare... yeah, they do help ( especially if you are still running cheap(er) "China Bomb" OEM ST tires......on your car or truck you usually ware out the tires before this damage becomes an issue ... trailers don't usually get the kind of mileage that wares them out before they start to show the signs of UV damage.