Shawn T. W.
Silver Member
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2025
- Messages
- 134
- Location
- SW Missouri Ozarks
- Tractor
- Massey Ferguson GC 1725 MB - Kubota L5030 - John Deere Z960M
Last edited:
Tires look brand new, but are 11 years old. Keep or discard?
Hay Dude
Super Star Member
- Joined
- Aug 28, 2012
- Messages
- 18,868
- Location
- A Hay Field along the PA/DE border
- Tractor
- Challenger MT655E, Massey Ferguson 7495, Challenger MT535B, Krone 4x4 XC baler, (2) Kubota ZD331’s, 2020 Ram 5500 Cummins 4x4, IH 7500 4x4 dump truck, Kaufman 35’ tandem 19 ton trailer, Deere CX-15, Pottinger Hay mowers
No worriesYeah, oops ... Wrong twice in one day!
Corrected, sorry - long day!
Always great to have a fellow CDL holder & trucker around.
sandman2234
Super Member
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2005
- Messages
- 6,082
- Location
- Jacksonville, Florida
- Tractor
- JD2555 and a few Allis Chalmers and now one Kubota
I am of the opinion that passenger vehicles, light trucks and trailers (yes Hay Dude that includes your 5500) should change out their tires after they pass the six year mark, although I would stretch that to seven if you aren't pushing their limits.
I made a trip out to Arkansas and only made it a couple hundred miles when a hub started getting warm. When the shop took the hub off, the brake lining fell apart. So bearings and now a brake job! While waiting on the brake job to get done, I looked over the 14 ply tires (16 inch) and that is when I noticed the DOT date code was past my comfort zone. The shop didn't have 4 matching tires so I went down the street to find four matching ones. The nearby trailer shop had plenty and he was showing me a set when I spied some that were rated at 16 ply. They were 17.5 tires already mounted with a familiar 8 lug hole pattern. I bought those and they put them on when they finished the brakes. Now my tires have more capacity than my trailer!
I really hate tire issues on the road. I went down to Trenton to pick up a FEL for my little Ford and blew one tire, which I singled out, then I blew the other one on same side 7 miles from home. So I had to pull the front one off the other side and mount it on the rear. The tires on that trailer still had the labels on them from where they were installed and had not been driven. They sat for what I guessed at to be more than 7 years, but can't be sure because the date codes don't match any I have seen. I stopped by the tire store that sold them, and they only had records for five years, but the owner remembered sending someone up there to install them. They had to stop by the Post Office to pick up a check for payment since nobody was at the farm when they installed them.
I knew better than to run those tires but figured I might get lucky since I was only hauling a few hundred pounds. The trailer had just been moved all the way to TN weighing 4400 pounds gross, so I hoped a 200 mile round trip wouldn't be an issue. I was wrong. Before it leaves here again, it will have 4 new tires but I am contemplating an axle or two change as the trailer has no brakes on either axle. I might go with 7k axles so I can run 16" tires with 8 lugs. That might be a little bit too much for that trailer, lol.
David from jax
I made a trip out to Arkansas and only made it a couple hundred miles when a hub started getting warm. When the shop took the hub off, the brake lining fell apart. So bearings and now a brake job! While waiting on the brake job to get done, I looked over the 14 ply tires (16 inch) and that is when I noticed the DOT date code was past my comfort zone. The shop didn't have 4 matching tires so I went down the street to find four matching ones. The nearby trailer shop had plenty and he was showing me a set when I spied some that were rated at 16 ply. They were 17.5 tires already mounted with a familiar 8 lug hole pattern. I bought those and they put them on when they finished the brakes. Now my tires have more capacity than my trailer!
I really hate tire issues on the road. I went down to Trenton to pick up a FEL for my little Ford and blew one tire, which I singled out, then I blew the other one on same side 7 miles from home. So I had to pull the front one off the other side and mount it on the rear. The tires on that trailer still had the labels on them from where they were installed and had not been driven. They sat for what I guessed at to be more than 7 years, but can't be sure because the date codes don't match any I have seen. I stopped by the tire store that sold them, and they only had records for five years, but the owner remembered sending someone up there to install them. They had to stop by the Post Office to pick up a check for payment since nobody was at the farm when they installed them.
I knew better than to run those tires but figured I might get lucky since I was only hauling a few hundred pounds. The trailer had just been moved all the way to TN weighing 4400 pounds gross, so I hoped a 200 mile round trip wouldn't be an issue. I was wrong. Before it leaves here again, it will have 4 new tires but I am contemplating an axle or two change as the trailer has no brakes on either axle. I might go with 7k axles so I can run 16" tires with 8 lugs. That might be a little bit too much for that trailer, lol.
David from jax
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2004
- Messages
- 24,403
- Tractor
- Cat D3, Deere 110 TLB, Kubota BX23 and L3800 and RTV900 with restored 1948 Deere M, 1949 Farmall Cub, 1953 Ford Jubliee and 1957 Ford 740 Row Crop, Craftsman Mower, Deere 350C Dozer 50 assorted vehicles from 1905 to 2006
Are some regions more prone to blowouts than others?
I’ve never had a blowout and don’t know anyone personally that has in the last 50 years… other than stories from OldTimers driving their Rocket88 across the desert in the 50’s with bias ply tires.
My luck is I pick up a nail or screw and notice a soft tire before it’s flat.
I’m always spotting soft tires at the work parking lot and send folks to the tire shop across the street when I do.
It’s not particularly hot or cold here but I do make 12 hour runs from Bay Area to Washington…
When running through Arizona and New Mexico did notice tire carcasses along the road and most looked like recapped semi tires that lost the tread.
I’ve never had a blowout and don’t know anyone personally that has in the last 50 years… other than stories from OldTimers driving their Rocket88 across the desert in the 50’s with bias ply tires.
My luck is I pick up a nail or screw and notice a soft tire before it’s flat.
I’m always spotting soft tires at the work parking lot and send folks to the tire shop across the street when I do.
It’s not particularly hot or cold here but I do make 12 hour runs from Bay Area to Washington…
When running through Arizona and New Mexico did notice tire carcasses along the road and most looked like recapped semi tires that lost the tread.
Shawn T. W.
Silver Member
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2025
- Messages
- 134
- Location
- SW Missouri Ozarks
- Tractor
- Massey Ferguson GC 1725 MB - Kubota L5030 - John Deere Z960M
Yes, the SW has lots of tire failures ... I experience mostly trailer tires, which usually are recaps, and usually in the summer ... We run a system on our trailers that maintain 110 psi, and will keep up with a leak from nail/screw puncture, with a light on the front corner of trailer indicating a leak ...
While someone, probably a Mexican driver ... Ran this through the mud .. it's a "new" tire and trailer built in February of this year ... Since we drop our trailers at customers or they cross the border, we install the system to monitor and maintain the air pressure ... We always wash our trucks and trailers before coming to California where I got this trailer from in Saturday.
Blacktop roads ... 100+ degrees air temperature ... Tires get hot just from driving ... Under inflated is also problem if they are not monitored ...
While someone, probably a Mexican driver ... Ran this through the mud .. it's a "new" tire and trailer built in February of this year ... Since we drop our trailers at customers or they cross the border, we install the system to monitor and maintain the air pressure ... We always wash our trucks and trailers before coming to California where I got this trailer from in Saturday.
Blacktop roads ... 100+ degrees air temperature ... Tires get hot just from driving ... Under inflated is also problem if they are not monitored ...
