2001 Hi-Lo Tow Lite - Has this Year Model Been Recalled? Dangerous Camper
 

I have question & hoping someone could answer it re: this model/year of camper. I had a flat tire (I have 2 single tires) recently on mine & had to drop the axle on it. It took 2 hours to change the flat tire. I had to remove 2 bolts from the frame to drop the axle & this is a hazard, knowing this is a 3000 LB camper that could crush a person immediately & kill them. I now have to have a jack with me when I go camping. Has anyone experienced this before? If not, I wanted to let you know. The company is out of business & I am wanting to know if there is a recall on these campers. I am reluctant to sell my camper to someone else because of this problem with the torsion axle. I am stuck with this camper. Thank you for your help!
I can also leave a number if someone wants to call me. Frank

Welcome to the Forum!

You have me baffled as to why you had to drop the axle to change a tire. If you jack up the trailer with a jack placed in a proper position you should be able to lift the wheel off the ground. Is it because you couldn't get the wheel out from under the fender well?

As RichR said you must jack on the frame and let the axle hang down.
No there wasn't a recall.

setup
 

Well the way that they setup the tire and fender well leaves makes me think that they could have done a better job on this. I use a jack just in front of the leaf springs to lift ours. If you lift the axle then it's a real pain to get the tire out. Might want to note a few years after our hilo came out they changed and got away from leaf springs.

Well in my case I just had the tire off and had the bearings checked out and now I must go and put the hub and tire and such back on. So I know what an interesting job it is.

Later 42rocker

Frankf
You will always have to bring along a jack to remove the trlr tires!!
Jack goes on the trlr frame not the axle. You are jacking up the trailer DO NOT JACK up using the axle, it will bend.

I have removed all of my tires at some time or another and for the life of me cannot figure why you would have to remove the axle bolts and drop the axle to change tires.

Not trying to be a smart a$%, but you are doing something wrong and from your post I have no idea what it is.
You are correct HI-LO is out of business. This group of owners is the BEST info you can get. And we always try our best to help another hi-lo owner that is having troubles.
steve

I have road service on my vehicles ...
 

I wonder if that includes changing a flat tire on the camper?

Thank you all for your advice! There is no clearance in the wheel well to take the tire off the axle. The floor jack was underneath the frame on the camper not the axle. It does not have a skirt that folds down so you can get the tire out like what some cars have. There is no way around this - One has to remove 2 bolts on each side of the axle to drop the axle to change a tire. The axle is bolted to the frame. The axle is a torsion axle.

I can't fathom this is the way it's supposed to be
 

makes me wonder if perhaps you need a taller (higher lifting) jack.

Frank f

What model do you have? I'm wondering if somebody tried putting a larger wheel on it. 2001 models came with13 inch tires. I've heard of people having to wiggle the wheel to get it off but they are able to do it without dropping the axle.

Rick

If you had one flat jack up the good axle, it will lift both tires,

on
 

When I put the tire on tonight it was a tight fit but got it done. 1969 hilo and 14inch wheels.

Later Tim

Frank,

We had that problem on our 1997 21ft towlite. The tire had to be flat to clear the wheel well for putting on or taking off the axle. We made sure that we always had an air compressor with us to reinflate the good tire after getting it on the axle. The wheels were 13inch.

We dont have this problem with our 2006.

It's a single axle trailer.

I also had to let the air out of my tires before I could get them off. I had new tires put on and I had to put them on flat and then pump them up.

hilo
 

To me it's interesting that one of the items that the hilo company did not talk about in several of the manuals that I've read is jack lifting points and how to change a tire. Could it be that they wanted to skip this area due to folks not being happy about this. One of the weak points on early hilo's

Later Tim

Model Picture of my camper
 

It is a 2001 Hi-Lo Tow Lite; thank you everyone for the replies!Attachment 2680

Attachment 2681

So it was the width of the wheels that made it so you could not pull them from the axle? How did they get mounted in the first place? I can only imagine that those are not the wheels that the factory put on the trailer and someone put wider rims on it. No manufacturer would build something like that. Can I ask what size tires they are?

The wheels were mounted on the frame before the trailer walls are added. I took a tour of the factory where they were building them.

What size tires are on it now?

nice
 

Frankf
Your hilo looks great.

Later Tim

My first RV was a 1972 mini motorhome that I bought in 1986. It was built on a 1972 Chevy van chassis. It had single rear wheels that were half covered by the motorhome's body. In order to change tires I had to take two scissors jacks along. I first would jack up the chassis as far as the jack would go. Then I would use the second jack to raise the axle until the tire barely cleared ground. After removing the lug nuts I would have to spend a few minutes pushing and pulling on the wheel until it cleared the body.

After having to do this on the side of the freeway I decided to modify the body. I made the wheel opening larger by cutting back the body about 4" all around. I sealed the exposed plywood edges with thickened epoxy and made a trim piece to finish the outside edge of the aluminum body. After I was done it looked great and the tire was much easier to remove.

Some photos would be appreciated. Besides a larger wheel and tire than the originals the wheels could have been changed for ones with a deeper dish (more offset) which would push the tire closer to the trim panels. It's one of the great adventure of buying used. Someone's modification becomes the next owner's headache.

All, I have 15 inch tires on my camper. Thanks for the advice!

WOW-

Thats impressive that somebody got them on there- unless they came that way but I doubt it. As I said- the standard in 2001 was 13 in. unless your single axle ( 17 foot I am assuming from photo ) was different.

Like I said- I had spacers welded on to lower my axles to raise my clearances and , hopefully, install larger wheels when I get the money to do so or these tires wear out. I had a shop do the work but there are those who have done it themselves. I'm surprised the 15" tires don't rub in the tire wells.

Rick

The 2001 brochure lists the 17' with 15" tires. Our 1705T had 15".

So it does. I can't open the TL brochure but the classic certainly lists 15 inch wheels on the larger models- so I stand corrected. I know in a post from a couple years ago there were others who had my model with 13 inch tires- so maybe they went to fifteen on the 17ft. Clearly they went there on the classics which only show 22ft and up.

Well- you got me. :)

Rick

They have done a number of tire switches over the years. Probably weight dictated it.

Found my brochure. All tow lights larger than 17 feet had13 inch wheels. The 17 had15 inch wheels as did all the classics. Go figure.

Rick

I think it all had to to do with axle weight ratings and what tires matched them. The 17 foot had a 3500 pound axle and probably required 15" tires to handle that weight. The double axles didn't need 3500 pound axles to carry the load, thus smaller tires as well. I'm glad they went to all 15" tires finally.

Tire sizes
 

Our former HiLo owner owned a tire store and he installed new tires that were a little too wide. Our dealer noticed they were rubbing on the wheel well. This had to be repaired. Tire size doesn't always mean they are the correct width.

1996 Hi-Lo TowLite tandem axles
 

I am currently having this same problem. Is there any other solution other than dropping the axles or deflating the tires? I am putting new tires on. I did have to deflate the old tires to get them off. My TowLite does not have springs, so the axle/hubs are "fixed" in place and do not drop when I lift the trailer by the frame and there is not enough room to wiggle the top of the inflated tire up into the wheel well to install. The tires are ST175/80R13.

Hey Wrascal, I don't know which road service you have. We have AAA with an RV rider and yes they will come out and change trailer tires.

Bear :D

Like a Good Neighborrrrrrr ...
guess I should call and ask them, huh?