Wheel failures and "Silent Recall"

I have been seeing a number of posts on an RV Forum about cracked and leaking cast aluminum wheels on one brand of RV trailer. Some owners are reporting more than one failure.
There appears to have been a manufacturing defect in the casting process which results in stress/fatigue cracks that eventually may lead to air leaking from the tires.

Some folks are "lucky"(?) and are discovering the leak before there is a tire failure or the wheel fails and damages the RV. Others have reported damage.

It appears that the wheel provider is aware of the problem, as many are reporting that replacement wheels are being provided and the cost of dismount and mount of tires is being paid for with no argument from the supplier.

I have advised the readers of that forum of a few important things:

1. They should be filing complaints with NHTSA as IMO multiple failures of this type should be investigated with the potential for a federally mandated recall and free replacement.

2. If the wheel supplier is quickly replacing these failed wheels, it appears they are fully aware of the problem and should have reported it to NHTSA per federal regulation.

3. I am concerned that tires on these wheels may be suffering internal structural damage from being run under-inflated. This damage may result in tire failure at some later date. It is entirely possible that owners may not connect the loss of air due to the wheel problem with the tire failures.

4. If the supplier is aware of the problem but has not initiated a recall or made public the facts but are simply replacing the wheels if or when someone reports the failure, this is what is known as a "silent recall," which is operating against federal regulations.

##RVT812

Wheel failure

I recently read some comments about early (1970's)  wheels flexing enough to eject wheel covers (full hub caps) when radial tires were first used to replace the original bias tires. This is an example of why it is important to know if your steel wheels are rated (designed) for radial tire use if you have an older RV that came originally with bias tires and are considering changing to radials.

I think this is more likely to be an issue on old "classic" trailers but it is possible that there are some older (60's vintage and earlier) motorhomes that might have originally come with bias tires also, so this info applies.

Excess flexing can result in steel fatigue which can result in wheel failure. A quick search of the internet found a number of examples:

Note the crack between the two red dots. This is early sign of fatigue crack of the wheel disk.




 If the wheel is not replaced this type of crack can grow till the wheel comes apart like this:

Here is a trailer wheel with a complete failure of one spoke:

Fatigue can also occur in the flange area of the rim as seen in this example:

As far as I know most cast aluminum wheels made since the 80's are probably OK for use with radial tires but with the extra side loading seen with multi-axle trailers failure of aluminum wheels is possible too.

I found an excellent video that shows the results of these forces at Keystone RV. Watch the section from time 0:46 to 1:07 and note that the tires on one axle bend inboard while the others are forced outward. This puts tremendous strain on both the tire and the wheel and may lead to failure of either or both parts.
This type of failure may occur after the third or fourth set of tires.

A side note on wheel failure. I have experienced wheel failure on my race car after about 3,000 miles usage but these were light weight multi 3 piece wheels with cast center and spun flanges that bolted together. Application on a relatively heavy car (Camaro) resulted in fatigue failure. Luckily we were doing magnaflux dye penetrant inspection and discovered the cracks when doing off-season re-build and not during a race.

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