Another vote to replace trailer tires every 6 years. And get TPMS.

[jmc]

Plowhog, I tipped a good recovery guy $5 or 10 for a tractor retrieval. He seemed surprised, said it wasn稚 necessary, but didn稚 argue.

 

[timswi]

I bought an 8 sensor Bellacorp TPMS from Amazon after having a very similar experience as you had except it was my 32' TT...So far I love it, gives accurate readings and it gives the tire temp which is good enough to tell whether a bearing is overheating. I'll never be without one again.

 

[David_Kb7uns]

Get one with pressure and temp run a TST system and they will go up to well over 120PSI and report temp. Had one tire that kept on running 10-15 higher on temp and took it in and was starting to come apart. System also gave quick alert of blowout and twice on nails in the tires.

Truck System Technologies - Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems – TST Web Sales

David

 

[Gary Fowler]

I air my trailer tires to the max pressure. That way, the tire does not flex as much and stays cooler. My trailers that are parked for any length of time are placed on jack stands so the tires don't sit in the same position with weight on them. Tires need to be used to last longer.

I agree completely. That is the way to do it, even an old tire, especially an old tires. Never under-inflate one because you think it is old and weak. This only causes the rubber to flex more and blow out when a tire with maximum pressure would still be rolling.

 

[plowhog]

^^ What he said.

 

[1stDeuce]

I think if we could go back in time and actually watch, a very high percentage of trailer blowouts NOT caused by an impact with road debris are caused by the pressure getting low first... You simply don't notice when a trailer tire picks up a nail and starts losing pressure, you only notice when it comes apart...

I lost one on a snowmobile trailer I bought last fall. I never heard it go, and since it has two torsion axles, it didn't drop onto the rim. A nice gentleman let me know the tire was "flat" (Shredded, actually...) as I came into town... I had looked at that tire in the mirror during a turn not 20 minutes before that and it looked fine... My guess is that it was already low, but I just couldn't tell because the rear axle was carrying the weight. Yet another reason I don't care for torsion axles when used in pairs or triples...

IMO, TPMS is a necessity if you want to avoid changing tires on the side of the road, and the damage that goes along with a tire that comes apart... There are several "solar" tpms setups on Amazon for ~$50 that I keep being tempted to try... Several have more than 50 reviews, with little negative feedback, and good results when used on trailers. Sure seems like cheap insurance, and catching a tire that's starting to get low before it comes apart is so much easier than dealing with one after it's shredded.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Almost all (premature) tire failures are the result of under inflation.

Ever try and get the attention of someone to let them know they have a low tire, and they either don't notice or try and ignore you because maybe you appear threatening? And all you can do is say, oh well!

 

[coobie]

And don"t forget to have your trailer tires balanced.

 

[Redbug]

My large trailer will never have the tires balanced ever again for the life of the trailer. That's because I have automatic balancers installed on each wheel. I have the 300-318's installed on my 14K trailer. Whole Assembly Balance for Light-Duty from Centramatic

 

[vvanders]

I air my trailer tires to the max pressure. That way, the tire does not flex as much and stays cooler. My trailers that are parked for any length of time are placed on jack stands so the tires don't sit in the same position with weight on them. Tires need to be used to last longer.

That's a great idea, I'll have to remember that. Just came back from the tire shop with our trailer that was starting to intermittently vibrate. Turns out two of the tires were separating from the treads. Stored it about a year and things were just too crazy to run it on a regular basis.

Still better to find out now than on the road with a couple thousand pounds of tractor on it.