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Posts: 49
| After driving back from the northwoods last week seeing at least 20 trailers on the highway with blowouts got me thinking. My treads are not worn out but I'm wondering how often do you all replace tires on your trailers? I have a single axle trailer. |
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Posts: 499
Location: Northern Illinois | Check the date code on your tires. It will be a 4-digit number with the first 2 numbers indicating the week of the year (00-52) and last 2 indicating the year. Rule of thumb: 5 years old max, usually less. I replace mine after 4 years usually. |
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Posts: 1753
Location: Mt. Zion, IL | Loaded question. Do you balance the tires? Do you check them for wear every 200 or so miles? Do you check the hubs for endplay every 1000 miles? Do you check and adjust the air pressure based on temp? Have you chalked your tires to know the pressure you need for your load? Have you measured between the tires front and back to make sure they don’t scrub? Measured from the ball to the center of each hub to ensure square? Is the load rating for your tires capable of carrying your load, and what is the speed rating for the tires and bearings? Age above is a good suggestion, but much more comes into play.
IMO people maintain tires and trailers about like most do batteries. Trailer axles are not made in ways they can be aligned easily. |
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Posts: 49
| Honestly I don't think I've done any of these things other than check pressure, visually inspect for wear or any signs of rubbing. Thanks, lots to think about there. |
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Posts: 49
| I'm coming up on 5 years which is what got me thinking might be time, I'd rather be safe than sorry. |
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Posts: 1785
| ponylou - 8/2/2021 7:15 PM
After driving back from the northwoods last week seeing at least 20 trailers on the highway with blowouts got me thinking. My treads are not worn out but I'm wondering how often do you all replace tires on your trailers? I have a single axle trailer.
20? That must have been one hell of a trip. I deliver campers around the country occasionally and don't see 20 in a 1000 mile loop out & back.
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| When I had a tire blow on my utility trailer, empty, I talked to the shop manager at Pomp's. He acknowledged there are a number of factors but said the overwhelming cause of blowouts in tires with plenty of tread is age. My tire looked like new but was 6 years old. |
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Posts: 49
| Had to go north and back twice (long story) but around 1300 miles, lots of people traveling maybe, also a lot of boats that looked like they came out of mothballs, guessing the trailers tires didn't get much thought. |
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Posts: 1392
| Where does your trailer spend most of it's time? One of the biggest factors in premature aging of tires, is UV light. If stored outside where the sun can effect them, they will age much faster. |
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Location: Athens, Ohio | My suggestion (from experience is, if they say 'Carlisle' on them, replace them. m |
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Posts: 1039
| I see a lot of boat trailers with blown tires and campers will blow out on the highway on the way to Door County. More this year. Maybe a lot of these boats and campers were in storage all last year and people just didn't maintain them correctly?
I've not had my tires blow out, yet. But I've been really, really close.
I have 4 tires and a spare on my trailer. I buy two new ones every two years. They go on the back. The two on the back move to the front and the best one becomes my spare.
I pay a little more to make sure that the tires are good, just for peace of mind. |
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Posts: 3508
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | One other aspect with trailers is the lack of load carrying capacity to make a price point. Many times the trailer is close to being maxed out which usually also means tires close to their max as well.
In all trailer applications, going to max psi is recommended. It promotes the most load carrying capacity, with the least amount of tread in the pavement which keeps heat lower. The bigger the contact patch, the more friction. Low pressure is a killer on tires as the tire heats up more. Saw this twice on trip down to Texas on Friday…. The second trailer was probably under 5 miles from blowing another on the same side .
Age, quality of tire and maintenance as Ryan mentions arethe keys to no on-road failures.
Steve |
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Posts: 49
| Always stored indoors. Like that idea of rotating tires front to back, wishing I had a double axle trailer! |
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Posts: 499
Location: Northern Illinois | VMS - 8/3/2021 8:55 AM
One other aspect with trailers is the lack of load carrying capacity to make a price point. Many times the trailer is close to being maxed out which usually also means tires close to their max as well.
In all trailer applications, going to max psi is recommended. It promotes the most load carrying capacity, with the least amount of tread in the pavement which keeps heat lower. The bigger the contact patch, the more friction. Low pressure is a killer on tires as the tire heats up more. Saw this twice on trip down to Texas on Friday…. The second trailer was probably under 5 miles from blowing another on the same side .
Age, quality of tire and maintenance as Ryan mentions arethe keys to no on-road failures.
Steve
Agreed. I learned this the hard way. The tires on my camper were borderline for capacity, and bad experiences made me do the measurements and math to upgrade wheels and tires. It doesn't matter what brand of camper or boat you have, or even if it's brand new. In order to give you some margin for safety, see what your full load weighs, and check the capacity of your tires. And, has been mentioned, keep your tires inflated properly for max load. |
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Posts: 427
| Also check the speed rating your tires can tolerate. Unless you have upgraded tires most tires are rated for a max speed (65 is pretty much the standard) so trailering above the max speed causes tires to over heat and fail. Pulling a boat at 70mph+ can cause failure. |
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Posts: 20255
Location: oswego, il | Anytime you stop for gas put your hand on the trailer tire and bub to check for heat. Anyone running 75-80 on an 8" rim.isn't bright. |
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| The number of trailers with blow outs the OP mentions reminds me of a business trip I made back in the late 90s. Traveling from Marquette, MI to Kalamazoo in late November, it was incredible how many trucks, make shift campers, old school buses, etc. I saw on the shoulder, in the ditch. It was a few days after the opening of the 15 day deer season and the 'trolls' from lower Michigan were going home from hunting in the U.P. They drove trucks and other vehicles you and I wouldn't drive across a WalMart parking lot hundreds of miles. At least half a dozen on their side in the ditches, assuming major tire failure or suspension, some just vehicle, others with trailer/camper attached. Maybe 30 on the shoulder, many with tires that looked like they blew up. The carnage started 50 miles west of the bridge in the U.P. and continued down I-75 for at least 40 miles. Two of the vehicles, including one in the ditch on its side, were old bread trucks, designed to haul bread and other stuff around town.
Looked like something out of a Mad Max movie. |
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Posts: 3508
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | Yah Der...
We run dem tires till they don't hold anymore air in dem. Den we put da inner tube inside of da tire and keep on goin eh?! Dose tires will last ya a lifetime doncha know... |
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Posts: 22
| This year I started carrying a cheap infrared temp gauge to check hub and tire temp on long trips. It gives a little piece of mind after I smoked a bearing last fall |
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| VMS - 8/26/2021 12:53 PM
Yah Der...
We run dem tires till they don't hold anymore air in dem. Den we put da inner tube inside of da tire and keep on goin eh?! Dose tires will last ya a lifetime doncha know...
Well, you have the dialect OK, but these vehicles belonged to trolls, i.e., those that live below the bridge, not Yoopers. Deer season is too important to Yoopers to use an unreliable vehicle. If your truck has bad tires, you go with a buddy who has good tires. Besides this was only 5 days into the 15 day season, and a true Yooper doesn't leave the woods that early, unless maybe camp is out of bacon or beer. |
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