looking to buy utility trailer

[David Devuono]

Interesting comment about tires. That trailer sits in the yard for weeks at a time empty. All looks fine, you go out and put a load on it and after an hour of towing you have a blow out. Check the tire pressure often. I was shocked when I discovered trailer tires are only rated for 65 MPH. Trailer tires pack maximum carrying in a small tire. I am a member of the, put on a larger car\truck tire with the same rating. I run car tires on on my trailers. Basic Car tire has 75 MPH rating and while you need a bigger tire for the same weight carrying I can live with that. I know trailer tires on tandem trailers are subject to scuffing on turns and so trailer tires are supposed to have stiffer side walls. Here is my process. Old tires, no matter how much tread are bad. I mount and balance (static) my own tires. At least every couple of years I am changing tires on one of my vehicles, so I put the old ones on my trailers. This way I always have newer tires on my trailers. You need to respect the tire ratings. Currently I have a trailer with two 3500 lb axles. I like to run snow tires year round on my van so I put the factory new tires on my trailer. I happen to know the 4 tires are only rated for 6,600 lbs. I would rather have 4 new tires rated at 6600 lbs then four trailer tires (which would look new but be 8 years old now) rated for 7000 lbs on my trailer.

Now for the big problem, my new truck has 17 inch tires and my SUV has 16 inch. Guess I will be buying (15inch) trailer tires next. Wonder what my trailer would look like with the 4 LT235 75R15 Mud Terrain tires I have no use for now. They are rated for 8800lbs

 

[Diamondpilot]

Well all my friends carry 90% the weight 90% of the time. Boat trialers and travel trailers are a great example. My car haul trailer is a 7,000# unit and the lightest load it caries other than the occasional trip to Home Depot for some lumber is my 5,600# tractor and a implement.

All my trailers I have had have the tire size and air pressure data on the Vin Plate at the front. This just so happens to match the max air pressure. For example my Car Hauler has 4 205/75/15 load range C so the pressure is 50psi. My boats both have 225/75/15 load range D so the pressure on both trailers is 65psi and no issues when running quality tires. Running the Goodyear Marathons and the Carlisle's was like playing with a time bomb.

Just got a text from a customer Friday. They put 4 new Carlisle's on the boat trailer this year. They had the second failure this summer on the way to Lake Cumberland Friday evening. I told him the day after he got them tires he made a mistake. He was wanting to know some brands to buy. He was putting on the spare and his wife was texting me so they could stop at the next big town to buy 4 new tires. He did not trust these tires that were less than 5 months old. He said he would be taking back the 3 that were still good first thing Monday when he gets back home.

They found some Greenball Tow Masters Saturday morning at the town by the marina. What a way to start a min vacation.:confused2:


Chris