Drive on a Flat outer tire?

[computertommy]

I have a flat tire on the outer wheel.  The tire looks like its even off the rim.  There's a shop a mile or less down the road but I'm poor and would rather drive there if I can make it. 

Should I try to drive to the shop or should I call them and have them come get it?

Your advice is appreciated!

[Oz]

If it's only a mile and you can drive it very slowly... I mean, real slowly like 5mph, you should be okay.  You just don't want to get that outer tire flinging around to where it comes off in pieces, or one piece, and have it hit someone else and tear up your rig in the process.

But, if you have any doubts whatsoever... "better safe than sorry".

[DaveVA78Chieftain]

2 tires are used in the rear in order to support the weight of the rig.  Running on only 1 can be very dangerous (excessivly overloaded).

Dave

[LJ-TJ]

NO!NO!NO! if it's off the rim a bit already you'll rip the tire to shreds.

If you were on the highway with no other options then maybe if you were careful. Is there no way you can jack it up and take the rim off. Gosh. D:oH!

[Oz]

It is not, in any way advised or suggested that you drive your RV on a flat tire unless it is absolutely necessary to prevent a hazardous situation to other vehicles.

[HandyDan]

This is probably not ethical, but I am going to post an answer from an authority on another website:

I have read a few posts both here at FMCA as well as on other RV forum sites when the topic of what to do when a tire fails and you don't have a spare. Many times it has been suggested that the person plans on "limping" home or to the tire service center with just one tire in the dual position of their RV.

While on the surface this might seem to be a reasonable approach, there are a few things that need to be considered.

First, unless you have a TPMS that warned you that one of your duals was loosing air, in all probability you have no idea how long you drove with one dual underinflated. If you don't know when the tire started to loose you also have no idea at what speed you drove on one underinflated tire and also on one overloaded tire.

If a tire looses more than 20% of its air it is considered to be "Run- Flat" by tire industry

If you have driven on a "flat" tire it is considered to have been damaged and should not be considered for future safe usage.

What is not obvious when you read the above is that is one tire of a dual goes flat the mate has now been overloaded. I covered some of the info in a post on the Special Considerations for Duals, but there is more that needs to be considered.

If you have one tire punctured and loosing air the mate is "taking up" the load for both tires until it is 100% overloaded. Driving at highway speed will do serious internal structural damage. Most of which cannot be seen with out special equipment like X-Ray so it is simply considered scrap so now you need to replace two tires.

Trying to "limp" means that you need to reduce your speed and according to the special tables in Tire & Rim Association for adjustments for speed, inflation and load your limp speed is not 30mph or 20 mph or even 10 mph but it is limited to 2 mph. That is TWO miles per hour Maximum. Any more and you are damaging your tire beyond repair.

The solution would be to call for service. I would only drive on a single tire for a hundred yards at most to get to a location where I could safely pull off the roadway.

[cosmic]

Maybe these people just saved your life, better yet maybe someone else as well. think about that.

[eddie]

I think people gave sound cautious advise.  Good luck down the road-John

[ibdilbert01]

These guys are just being firm for you and any other readers safety.   If I lost a dully, I would limp it to a safe spot then change, or have the tire changed.    The weight shift when even changing lanes can be extreme and I just wouldn't be comfortable knowing I lost one of the duels.