Lifespan of Trailer Tires

[texasjohn]

You haul what you gotta haul. Cattle trailer, 24 ft, 12 mother cows at 1250 lbs each = 18000 lbs/4 tires= 4500 lbs/tire.
Round hay bale buggy, 5 bales, 1500 lbs each= 9000 lbs/4 tires = 2250lbs/tire
Yes, some weight transferred to pickup via goose neck, but you get the idea...you load a trailer with what needs hauled, air tires to near Max pressure, keep truckin'....At today's fuel costs, an intentionally lightly loaded trailer and extra hauls is both time and money expensive.

I may be lucky. My 4 tires are rated at 2540 lbs for a max of >10,000 lbs. I try to limit my gross trailer wt to 5000 lbs because that's my truck tow limit. Sounds like loading tires to the max is an expensive way to haul. What do you think?
Bob

 

[texasjohn]

My friend hunted HARD for USA made trailer tires couple years ago...couldn't find any.

Saw a Michilen car tire advertising 90,000 mile warranty today. My collection of trailers are seriously under tired. The best trailer I have needed four tires a year ago. I will run LT as I was told all tire molds for trailers went off shore a couple of years ago.

 

[J F]

Interesting reading guys, not sure if I missed it, but are there any studies on "tire life" (let's say "zero miles", just sitting). Obviously environment would come into play (probably a huge factor).

So far, in this thread, I've read that you should replace tires at roughly the six-year point, to be safe, no matter if the wear is negligible. Correct? (and I realize this is "being safe")

 

[texasjohn]

Yes, 6 years would be a prudent replacement time. My friends do it earlier.
.
Regarding a sitting tire, I have twice had a never used spare tire have tred separation soon after hitting the ground

Tires were carried under vehicle next to exhaust system from time vehicle was bought for 40000 miles or so then put into service. So each was several years old but one side had radiant heat from exhaust. Can't say if age, lack of use or exhaust proximity caused the tred air bubble. Therefore, I now consider my spare as emergency/temporary until I can get a Good tire back on the ground and put spare back in spare holder.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=138

above is a site with comments and links to tire studies and info.

 

[J F]

Thanks, John. :thumbsup:

 

[aczlan]

Don't get me started on the numerous egregious errors I have found in work of lawyers and real estate agents I was paying good money to represent me. I'm not really a complete perfectionist, just expect people to know their profession and add more value than I can, personally and avoid careless and expensive errors.

Ayep. If I am paying you (as a professional and an "expert" in your field) to do a job, you had BETTER know more about what you are doing than I do...

That is how I settled on the guy I use for heating. We have an odd heating system (hot water heat with a tankless and an indirect hot water heater in series for DHW, 2 boilers (oil and wood) in parallel for heating the house) and he was the first one who looked at it and was able to tell me something I didn't already know about it..

Aaron Z

 

[ultrarunner]

Saw a Michelin car tire advertising 90,000 mile warranty today. My collection of trailers are seriously under tired. The best trailer I have needed four tires a year ago. I will run LT as I was told all tire molds for trailers went off shore a couple of years ago.

Just bought a set for Mom's car... I think the mileage warranty does have a time limit.

So, if you drive lots of miles over 5 or 6 years the warranty could come into play.

 

[ultrarunner]

John... that military tire would have me beat.

Still seems to me we didn't have the tire problems in the past unless a person ran re-caps.

Radials kind of killed the re-cap business for car sizes... across the street from where I worked was a tire recapper... they had a very good reputation and then is went south as Radials become popular.

 

[Turbys_1700]

Everything said on here based on my experience is spot on...
My fifth wheel camper tires are ST's and in my experience the heat and speed are what kills them in addition to sun degradation...
If I would get a newer camper I would install LT's if possible but that would require a trailer with 16 " rims...

 

[Diamondpilot]

Interesting reading guys, not sure if I missed it, but are there any studies on "tire life" (let's say "zero miles", just sitting). Obviously environment would come into play (probably a huge factor).

So far, in this thread, I've read that you should replace tires at roughly the six-year point, to be safe, no matter if the wear is negligible. Correct? (and I realize this is "being safe")

My study I quoted earlier. I have had two spares that never touched the pavement fail.

Miles has nothing to do with it.

Chris