We bought a 2012 horse trailer this spring and last week had a blowout. Got it back on the road pretty quickly. The date code on the tires were all 2011 manufacturer so I replaced them all. The name plate data on the trailer lists E load range at 80 psig. The tires I purchased are F load range, which has a higher load rating at 95 psig. I intended to run them at 75-80 psig when loaded but my co-workers said I should keep them at 95 psig since that is the tire rating. What pressure would you recommend?
I'd compare your new tires load rating @ 95psi with your old ones @80psi. As long as the new tire's # capacity is higher, then I'd consider running 80psi, vs. 95psi.
I understand what pms is doing. I do something similar with a light utility trailer that mostly only sees duty these days near home. However, with my 23' travel trailer, I
always run those tire within 2psi of maximum.
For long hauls, even a low-cost IR gun is good for keeping an eye on tire temperatures (and bearings, differentials....) - higher load range tires tend to sag less compared to paper thin sidewalls on P tires, so one quick way to catch under-inflation early on a walk-around is rising tire temperatures.
With original tires, most utility trailers are designed to ride the best with roughly 1/4 to 3/4(ish) load. Running at max tire pressure long distance with an empty trailer transmits more shock loads to the trailer, and
may lead to balding the centre of the tire. (Think personal use 1 ton trucks, that never see much/any load - run E's on those at 80psi, and the rears often centre-bald).
Stepping up LR, if you run those new tires at max PSI, IMO you will be transmitting
even more shock loads into an empty trailer. Well, at least if your roads are anything like the falling apart roads around here..... but even good roads have RR crossings.....
If you regularly check and adjust tire pressure (vs load), then there can be benefits to doing so. If you are more the set once and check "whenever" (most people), then I'd tend to set OE tires at 90 to 100% of Max.
Rgds, D.
