Trailer tire question

NTG · Nov 8, 2018

Both my trailer tires were worn out, so I replaced both of them. Old tires were bias ply tires. One of them was really bad and I had put my spare on which was a brand new tire/rim combo I had bought several years ago. The new tires I bought were radials. This is a 6x10 single axle utility trailer. My question is, can you run a radial on one side and a bias ply on the other and it ride ok? I figured I'd leave the spare on since it was an older tire. Even though I don't see any dry-rotting, I only recently became aware of tires supposedly needing to be replaced due not just to tread wear, but age. I figured I'd just run that one on there, but then wondered if both tires needed to be the same in which case I'll go ahead and put both radials on and just keep that older one as my spare. I'm probably worrying about nothing, but figured I'd ask just in case.

Thanks.

Oh yeah, trailer doesn't get *too* much use, but it's my tool trailer that I pull back and forth to my farm about 27 miles away. Not interstate, but mostly 55mph driving, so it's not just "around town" driving.

gimmodog · Nov 8, 2018

I remember when you would first see radials the theory was not to mix. I would use the old one as a spare just to be safe

TractorNH · Nov 8, 2018

I agree, I'd just use the old one for a spare and put the two new ones on the trailer.

NTG · Nov 8, 2018

That's what I was thinking, but couldn't remember. I didn't know if it'd matter on a two tire trailer or not. I'll swap 'em out. Thank y'all.

Texasmark · Nov 10, 2018

Considering numeric listed 2 and 4 ply popular auto and light truck tires today, the radial squirms, the bias doesn't all things being equal unless you are talking about something like a heavy duty, like 10 ply, truck tire pumped up to 60#. The rolling circumference of the radial is less than the rolling resistance of the bias, all things being equal....with separate bearings and no differential, this rolling difference isn't really of any concern. May have a slight tilt to the radial side but so what.......

I just bought a new 6 ply bias tire and wheel, free shipping, for my similar trailer (spare) for $61 off ebay. If you buy a wheel check the lug slot spacing. Mine was 5 lug on a 4.5" bolt circle and yours is probably the same. The 5" bolt circle is used on the 3500ish axle single and tandems of larger trailers.

Beltzington · Nov 11, 2018

I had a blowout on a newer 12" radial trailer tire and my spare was an old bias ply. It was on a Double PWC trailer which ways close to 2000lbs loaded and I ran it like that for a couple hundred miles at highway speeds before I bought a new radial and I couldn't tell the difference in handling. I have five different single axle trailers and have found under inflation, over loading, hot days and high speeds, aka heat, cause 95% of tire failures.

AWSubie · Nov 11, 2018

Bias ply and radial tires have different spring rates. Meaning that when riding over a bump the tires will rebound at different rates. In theory, if a trailer was loaded such that the center of gravity was increased (such as with a tractor or a hay bailer) the tires rebounding at different rates could exacerbate trailer sway. Given that you are using a smaller trailer you probably don’t need to be concerned about the effect on sway. But a test drive will tell for sure.

NTG · Nov 15, 2018

I've never had anything happen like that with all the different trailers I've pulled, but I've seen some youtube movies of trailers getting crazy.

That's a scary situation! I took the spare back off and put the other new one on there. I bought these off Walmart.com for $41 each and they charged me 6 bucks and change to install them on my old rims. A lot of reviews said Walmart mounted tires for free if they were purchased from Walmart, but I didn't complain, I was just happy to have new tires at a decent price.

I also have a 6x12 landscaping trailer that uses the same tires and I carry that spare with me when pulling either trailer any distance or where it might be a pain to get a spare in a situation. I'll check the tires out on that trailer and see if it would benefit from putting the spare on there and using one of those as my spare. I hardly ever pull that trailer off the farm, but at least that would put that tire in the rotation. Thanks everyone for the additional info, I'm learning, and I'll try to keep a closer eye on my trailer tires in the future!