Original message
| Pat Andersen
|  "Ellis Wide Wheels"
, posted Thu 4 May 09:42 
Would like to hear from anyone out there who has replaced their front wheels/tires with the Ellis Wide Wheels. We have a 1990 Airex 30' Class A and are considering this for more front end stability but are hesitant to spend this large amount of money without talking to others who have them and what they think of them.
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Replies:
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| Don Findlay, C.F. Iowa
| "Re(1):Ellis Wide Wheels" , posted Mon 29 Oct 05:50
I have had a pair on my 88 Winnebago Super Chief, 32' with the chevvy P-30. for over 5 years! Love 'em!! The wheels themeselves are great but the Taiwanese hub caps will spot rust on you after a couple of years,, but they replaced them upon complaint, so no big deal. I have no problems locating tires and am running Dunlops now. 33 /12.5/16.5 D range. They wear evenly and are the quietest tread pattern available, As per the instruction label provided with the rims, I run about 46 PSI for the measured weight of the front end. The improvement in ride in handling is worth the cost in my opinion,, which tells you how bad it was before we changed dfrom the 8R 19.5 at 70 PSI Michelins
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| Jimbo
| "Re(1):Ellis Wide Wheels" , posted Tue 7 Aug 08:28
My father was also cosidering going to the wide wheel on his 1985 24 foot Honey RV (Chevy frame). I have the same vehicle (1983) which has a 4 wheele drive conversion,as such, wide front tires are not necessary for beach travel on Cape Cod.My father does not have 4 wheel drive which makes it necessary for the upgrade. I have spoken to two people on the beach with Elis tires. They are very happy with the beach performance and indicated that the highway ride was much somewhat better on a trip to Florida. Unless it is necessary (as in my dad's case), I think that the $700 or so can be better spent on fron end upgrades such as heavy duty sway bars, spring upgrades, better shocks, etc. A simple steering stabilizer on my truck made a noticible difference at a reasonable price (go with the double shock stabilizer if available.
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| | JOCAPECOD
| "Re(2):Ellis Wide Wheels" , posted Fri 22 Mar 05:46
Jimbo, I put the Ellis wheels on my 32' Southwind to run Race Point Beach. They work great for that purpose but also improved handling and ride due to the lower air pressure. i still run 55 lbs for safety. I mounted the Dunlops for their less aggresive tread design and they ride fine.
John
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| Hank
| "Re(1):Ellis Wide Wheels" , posted Sat 14 Jul 11:24
has anyone heard of any front wheel bearing failure due to the offset in the ellis wheels?
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| Pete
| "Re(1):Ellis Wide Wheels" , posted Tue 23 May 21:48
Pat,I know of one guy that had these type of tires. He said after he ruined one he found it too hard to find a replacement on the road. He changed back to the stock type.
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| | Pat Andersen
| "Re(2):Ellis Wide Wheels" , posted Sat 27 May 14:17
You have a good point there about having difficulty finding a replacement tire on the road. Food for thought. We still haven't made up our minds to change over. Keep looking for rigs in the campgrounds that have the wide tires and will talk to the owners. Thanks. Pat
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| | anonymous
| "Re(3):Ellis Wide Wheels" , posted Sun 11 Jun 10:16
I was a user for two years.
I believe there is a benefit to the Ellis system depending what your starting with.
I have a 35 ft,class A on a Ford chassis that comes with 235/85/16 Michelins. These tires have a 7-8 in footprint and run 80 psi max. I went to Ellis with two objectives, soften the ride with 50 psi tires and to cut down on road wander.(aways correcting)
I missed both objectives but had a little better sense of being safer. I truely believe these were initially designed for the Chevy chassis that had a 5" footprint and ran 100+ psi, I didn't see them advertised for Fords when I first saw them advertised. I suggested them to by boss who did a lot of complaining about his harsh P-30 chassis ride. He bought a set and was satisfied. Know what your front axel weighs, I never found any load range E tires. I knew my front axel was grossed out at 6000 lbs but chose to go with BF Goodrich load range D that doesn't quite make that without a 10% fudge factor that most people say is there. So, I ran 18000 miles at the limit before I had my first problem.(flat)I didn't have any where to get off the OK country road soon enough to keep from ruining the wheel too. I wasn,t about re-invest in another wheel due to lack of improvement in handling, besides, they're hard to find in Oklahoma. I put the spare on and drove the 1400 miles home. It actually drove better with the two different size tires! I bought a stabilizer bar for the front end wandering, it helped.
I discovered that the lugs were tearing off both the BFG's. I took them back to Costco and got a 50% pro-rated refund.Tom Ake
Lancaster, CA
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