4 RV Repairs in Two Weeks: Lessons Every Travel Trailer Owner Should Know
RV travel looks wonderful in photographs.
Beautiful campsites. Open roads. Lakes, mountains, desert sunsets and the freedom to pick up and move whenever you’re ready for someplace new.
And most of the time, it really is wonderful.
But then there are weeks when it seems like everything on the RV has decided to break at once.
We had one of those weeks—or, more accurately, two of them.
After Ed finished working the sugar beet harvest, we began making our way south. On this part of the journey, we traveled through Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico, trying to stay ahead of a cold front bringing freezing temperatures.
Along the way, we dealt with tire trouble, an overheating wheel, a failed bearing, a bent spindle and a trailer jack that decided it had had enough.
Four problems in about two weeks.
Somehow, we kept going.
Heading South Through the Nebraska Sandhills
We began this leg of the trip in Nebraska, traveling through an area known as the Sandhills.
The name is surprisingly literal.
Those rolling, vegetation-covered hills really are made of sand. We had just stayed at a campground where the ground wasn’t simply sandy—it was sand.
It was a beautiful and unusual landscape, but we didn’t have much time to linger.
Cold weather was coming.
After driving more than seven hours, we pulled into our next campground in Kansas around dusk. We were back on the road the following morning, watching the forecast and hoping to reach New Mexico before the freezing temperatures caught us.
Then we found our first problem.
RV Problem #1: A Bad Trailer Tire
Ed had been keeping an eye on one of the trailer tires.
We already knew we needed new tires and had actually purchased four replacements while we were in Fargo. Unfortunately, the store wasn’t able to install them, so we eventually got our money back and continued traveling.
Now that decision was catching up with us.
During a fuel stop, Ed checked the questionable tire again.
It was time for it to come off.
Fortunately, we were prepared.
We had a spare tire.
We had an air compressor.
We had a four-way lug wrench.
And we had a hydraulic jack.
Just as importantly, we had a safe place to pull over and deal with the problem.
It could have been a very bad day.
Instead, we put on the spare, Sandy found lunch, and we counted ourselves fortunate that we’d caught the problem before the tire failed on the highway.
RV Problem #2: Our Spare Tire Was Ten Years Old
Of course, changing the bad tire didn’t completely solve our problem.
Our spare had plenty of tread.
It was also about ten years old.
That’s not something we wanted to depend on for hundreds of miles of travel.
Sandy found a Walmart about half an hour out of our way, so we headed there and bought another tire.
By this point, our original travel plans for the day were shot.
We had intended to reach a campground another couple of hours down the road, but sometimes you have to know when to call it a day.
We stopped instead at Sanford-Yake Campground at Lake Meredith in Texas.
An Overnight Stop at Lake Meredith
Lake Meredith was beautiful, and under different circumstances we would have enjoyed spending more time there.
But the cold front was still following us.
We spent one night at the campground and got moving again the next morning.
Our next destination was Rocky Point Campground at Santa Rosa Lake State Park in New Mexico.
Once again, it was a beautiful place.
Once again, we stayed only one night.
At this point we were focused on getting far enough south to escape the freezing weather.
Then came problem number three.
And this one was considerably more serious.
RV Problem #3: Our Trailer Wheel Was Overheating
We noticed something was wrong with one of the trailer wheels.
The hub was extremely hot.
In fact, it had become hot enough to melt the plastic dust cover.
That’s not something you ignore.
We stopped, cooled things down and started trying to figure out what was happening.
Possibilities included a brake problem or a wheel bearing problem. We had replaced and packed the bearings about two and a half years earlier when we bought the trailer, so at first we weren’t sure exactly what we were dealing with.
Fortunately, we found a highly rated repair shop about 17 miles away.
We called, explained the situation and were told they could help us when we arrived.
Now we just had to get there.
Limping 17 Miles to the Repair Shop
We didn’t want to push the trailer any harder than necessary.
We planned to take it slowly, minimize braking and keep an eye on the troublesome wheel.
We also moved the fire extinguisher from the trailer into the truck cab so we could get to it immediately if the wheel began smoking or caught fire.
We weren’t trying to be dramatic.
We were trying to be prepared.
We drove with our flashers on at around 45 mph and carefully made our way toward the repair shop.
By the time we arrived, we could smell rubber.
And the tire was flat.
That was when we discovered the problem was worse than we’d hoped.
The Wheel Bearing Had Failed
The bearing had failed.
But that wasn’t the entire story.
Ever since we’d owned this used travel trailer, Ed had noticed that this particular wheel seemed to sit at a slightly different angle from the others.
Our tire wear had reflected that too.
We’d already replaced multiple tires on that position.
Once the repair shop took everything apart, we finally had an explanation.
The spindle was bent.
We had no idea how it had happened. It would have taken a considerable amount of force at some point in the trailer’s life.
But now we knew why that wheel had been giving us trouble.
We were eventually going to need to address the axle itself.
At the time, we estimated that replacing it might cost around $800.
Not exactly the kind of souvenir you want to pick up on an RV trip.
What Our Tire Pressure Monitor Didn’t Tell Us
There was another lesson in this breakdown.
We had a tire pressure monitoring system on the trailer, and we had put quite a bit of faith in it.
It didn’t warn us about the overheating hub.
More concerning, by the time we reached the repair shop and the tire was flat, we hadn’t received the warning we expected from the system.
That experience changed the way we thought about relying on electronic monitoring alone.
A tire pressure monitoring system can be a useful tool, but it doesn’t replace physically checking your RV.
Walk around it.
Look at the tires.
Pay attention to unusual wear.
Check for anything that looks, smells or sounds different.
And if something doesn’t seem right, investigate it.
In our case, physically noticing the overheated wheel caught a problem our monitor hadn’t warned us about.
Finally, We Could Slow Down
Once we were far enough south to escape the immediate threat of freezing temperatures and snow, we could finally stop racing the weather.
We spent about six days in the Elephant Butte area of New Mexico.
After everything that had happened, staying put for nearly a week felt wonderful.
We had visited this general area during our first year of RV travel, but we’d spent most of that trip around Truth or Consequences.
This time, we explored Elephant Butte.
Camping Around Elephant Butte Lake
Elephant Butte Lake State Park is a fascinating place.
During our visit, the lake level was extremely low.
We could stand with our truck on an old boat launch in an area that had once been underwater. It gave us an entirely different perspective on the landscape.
Even with the low water levels, we thought the area was beautiful.
And after several days of rushing south and dealing with repairs, we were more than happy to simply slow down and explore.
One of the things we appreciated about New Mexico State Park campgrounds during this trip was the price. At the time of our visit, we paid only about $14 per night for water and electric.
For full-time RV travelers, affordable stops like that can make a big difference.
Exploring Around Truth or Consequences and Elephant Butte
There’s more to this part of New Mexico than the lake.
We explored around Truth or Consequences and Elephant Butte and drove past Elephant Butte Dam.
Following the roads south also brought us to a historical marker for El Camino Real.
Then there was something completely different:
Spaceport America.
We couldn’t simply drive through the gate, but tours were available from the visitor center in Truth or Consequences during our visit.
It was one of those unexpected attractions that makes road travel interesting.
You start the day exploring a lake and end up looking at a spaceport in the New Mexico desert.
RV Problem #4: The Electric Trailer Jack Quit
We had escaped the freezing temperatures.
The bearing problem had been dealt with enough to keep us moving.
We were enjoying a few relaxing days in New Mexico.
Naturally, something else broke.
This time it was our motorized tongue jack.
The electric jack on the front of the trailer had been sounding increasingly unhappy, and finally it gave up.
That presented a fairly obvious problem.
If you can’t raise and lower the front of a travel trailer, hitching and unhitching becomes considerably more difficult.
Ed tried to find information about repairing our existing unit, but couldn’t locate the instructions or diagrams he needed.
So we went looking for an RV supply store.
Replacing the Electric Jack With a Manual One
Fortunately, we found a local RV shop in Elephant Butte with exactly what we needed.
Instead of replacing the failed electric unit with another electric jack, we bought a manual crank jack.
The jack cost about $85, plus another $18 for the foot.
It wasn’t fancy.
But it worked.
And after the trouble we’d been having, working sounded pretty wonderful.
Ed installed the new jack himself.
There were a few little complications, including a pin that went missing during the process, but eventually we had a functional trailer jack again.
At that point, we looked at the time.
It was already early afternoon.
Rather than pack everything up and immediately get back on the road, we rented our campsite for another night.
The repair was finished.
Now we could go play.
Four Problems in Two Weeks
By this point, even Ed admitted that the constant repairs were starting to wear on him.
Four problems in roughly two weeks is a lot.
RV life is wonderful.
It’s educational.
It’s an adventure.
It gives you experiences you would never have while staying home.
But it’s not without problems.
Things break.
Plans change.
A two-hour drive becomes an overnight stop because you’re replacing a tire.
A beautiful campsite becomes a repair station.
A relaxing afternoon turns into a search for an RV parts store.
That’s part of the reality of traveling with your home behind you.
What We Learned About RV Preparedness
If there was one lesson running through all of these breakdowns, it was the importance of being prepared.
When we discovered the bad tire, we already had a spare, jack, air compressor and lug wrench.
When the wheel began overheating, we had a fire extinguisher and moved it where we could reach it quickly.
When the electric jack failed, we were able to find another solution and install it ourselves.
You can’t carry a replacement for every single thing that might fail on an RV.
But you can carry enough tools and emergency equipment to give yourself options.
A good basic RV emergency kit might include a properly rated jack, lug wrench, air compressor, tire gauge, fire extinguisher, work light, wheel chocks and a selection of basic hand tools.
And don’t forget the spare tire.
Also check the age and condition of that spare periodically.
Having a spare isn’t terribly helpful if it’s too old to trust when you finally need it.
Don’t Ignore Unusual Tire Wear
The bent spindle was perhaps the biggest lesson of this trip.
That wheel had been giving us clues for quite some time.
It sat differently.
It wore tires differently.
We knew something wasn’t quite right, but until the bearing failed we didn’t know why.
If one tire on your travel trailer repeatedly wears differently from the others, there’s probably a reason.
Replacing the tire fixes the symptom.
It doesn’t necessarily fix the underlying problem.
Alignment, brakes, bearings, suspension components, the spindle or the axle itself may need to be inspected.
That’s something we certainly understood better after this trip.
RV Life Isn’t About Everything Going Perfectly
Someone watching our adventures might look at four breakdowns in two weeks and think we had terrible luck.
We didn’t see it that way.
We felt fortunate.
We caught the bad tire before it blew.
We had the equipment to change it.
We found another tire nearby.
We noticed the overheating wheel and found a repair shop willing to help us.
We made it there safely.
When the trailer jack failed, we found an RV shop with a reasonably priced replacement.
And because Ed had just finished the sugar beet harvest, we had money available to pay for the repairs.
The problems were frustrating.
But every time something went wrong, we also found a way forward.
That’s the part of RV life that doesn’t always make it into the beautiful campground pictures.
Full-time travel isn’t about having a trip where nothing ever goes wrong.
It’s about learning how to deal with what happens when it does.
We still saw beautiful places.
We still explored.
We still laughed.
And we were still heading toward Quartzsite.
One repair at a time.
We’ll see you down the road…and Over the Hills!
Continue the Journey
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