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

[Frankf]

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

 

[RichR]

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?

 

[PopRichie77]

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

 

[69hilo2]

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

 

[renoites]

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

 

[Wrascal]

I have road service on my vehicles ...

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

 

[Frankf]

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.

 

[Wrascal]

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.

 

[hilltool]

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

 

[Castbulletman]

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

 

[69hilo2]

on

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

Later Tim

 

[campthewestcoast]

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.

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.

 

[RichR]

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

It's a single axle trailer.

 

[camper16-HILO]

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.

 

[69hilo2]

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

 

[Frankf]

Model Picture of my camper

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

 

[Rolff]

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.

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?

 

[RichR]

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?

 

[69hilo2]

nice

Frankf
Your hilo looks great.

Later Tim

 

[C317414]

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.