How many of the guys that have car trailers run radial tires? The reason I ask is, on the way to Mokan, with fairly new tires on the trailer, one of them broke a belt and shook a lot of the bolts in my dragster loose. I had to pull around a 100 miles to get a new tire. On the way home at the Florida line, another tire broke a belt and broke the radiator core in the dragster. I am now looking for bias ply tires to run as I have never had one of them do this. I don't know if it because the trailers sit for a long period of time before use and they develope flat spots or what. Any input from anyone on this? Robert
Goodyear makes radial tires designed for trailers. They have " Trailer use only " on the sidewalls. Most of the name brand enclosed trailer manufacturers use them ... Not cheap but they run cool and last a long, long time. Go here for more info ... http://www.goodyear.com/rv/products/marathon.html I run them on all three of my trailers. I have a 16 foot open, a 24 foot enclosed and a 5X10 motorcyle hauler.
You should only be using 2 kinds of tires. Best choice are actual trailer tires, like deuce roadster says. Several brands to choose from. Second best choice would be heavy truck tires that are load rated, like a firestone steeltex. Not a cheapie truck tire, the kind you're looking for are going to be premium tires and priced as such. And they'll probably be 16" or 16.5" rim. Using car tires or light truck tires is asking for trouble. Good luck
It's because trailers sit for long periods of time and the tires become underinflated. Every time I hear of this I ask if they checked the tire pressure before they left. I get a blank stare back. Not to slam you more, but how about some lockwashers or loc***e on the dragster?
I neglected to mention that these tires are Goodyear "special trailer tires" and they are radials. I paid $80.00 a piece for them and they are less than a year old. I have several of my friends with the same tires that have had the same problem. The tires look brand new and and belts break in them. They were aired up to the max at 50psi. The bolts that loosened up were body panel bolts and the bolts holding the carb on. All the bolts that are"important" are loc***ed or have nylock nuts on them. Now here is question for you, how do I prevent the radiator core from breaking??
Those "Trailer tires" aren't rated for the loads our trailers are built to haul. I guess I could move my fenders and make the 225's fit. I've been running LT 205/75-15's with the only problems being road hazards.(Lots of road hazards. Screws, road gators) Why is the LT wrong? Seriously, I bought the LT's because they had the load rating I needed. If I need to rethink my tire strategy, tell my now. I'm getting ready to upgrade the axles and new tires are on the list.
Sorry if I made ***umptions, sounds like you had everything in order. Still, underinflation and the resultant overheating is what I see most often. As for the radiator core, just make sure the rad is on some sort of vibration absorbing mount. My stuff takes more of a pounding on the trailer than on the track. Perhaps leave the water out and fill at the track?
I've always used the good 'ol bias ply on the car trailer.... why - because that's what was on there and I never replaced more than a pair at a time... However on the boat trailer it came with those goodyear trailer tires pictured - haven't put that many miles on it but haven't blown one out yet (single axle too) A couple questions... How much weight are you hauling? (have you weighed the trailer/car/parts/spares/etc. that's loaded on it? Are you sure the weight is loaded evenly (i.e. not loading up one axle over the other)? Is the trailer dead level when it's loaded and attached to the tow vehicle? Lastly - have you checked for bent springs, brokenor rotted spring bushings, tweaked axles, etc? Having a single spindle or complete axle out of alignment will cause the tire to scrub instead of rolling and would build up a ton of heat (which could lead to failure) - if it was on the same axle that's where I'd start looking... You said you had to pull it over 100 miles to get another tire - what happened to the spare Seriously - this is for all those pulling trailers long distances - get a spare - even if it's the "non ideal" car tire as a spare - at least it would get you somewhere in the event a trailer tire went out.... I'd check with the tire dealers that do a lot of trailers - they may have an OK used one for a spare from someone blowing one out and buying a pair....
hell I've always ran car/truck radial tires on my trailers & never had a problem w/them other then a flat because I ran over something. I always just look at the load rating on the tire & go from there. I've ran the cheapest tires I could buy to the 6/8 ply truck tires on them. I'm sure the trailer was over loaded at least a few times & never had a tire come apart. Maybe you just got some bad tires, seen it happen before....joe
Check your load as mentioned. Lots of folks are surprised when they find out how much they REALLY have on a trailer. If the belts are breaking/turning that would be my first check. I've pulled a lot of trailers a lot of miles and only had trouble when the tires got low or I'd overloaded it. Yep, forgot the spare too
I read in a recreational vehicle magazine, that if a trailer - especially multi-axle - is going to sit for long periods; it should be put on stands to take the load off the tires. (to prevent "flat spotting") Would this method help?? The same article ALSO said; "Invest in a GOOD tire pressure gauge; AND USE IT!!" (before ANY trip!)
A few more details, the car and trailer weigh 3100 lbs. I had it weighed at a set of scales locally as I was curious about the weight. This was a borrowed trailer, and we had a spare that I did not look at until it was needed. It was dry rotted. The tire never came apart, it developed a knot on it and that was what was shaking the trailer for the 100 miles. The trailer tires that were on at the time have a load rating of 1870 at 50 psi. They are Goodyear Marathon special trailer tires. On both of my boat trailers I have bias plies. That is what came on them and they are over seven years old and I have never had a problem. I replaced all the shackles and equalizers on the trailer before we left for the drags. The reason I am questioning these tires is I am in the process of building a car trailer and and before I buy tires for it, I want to know if bias plies that are rated for trailers and the weight I'm pulling would be better than radials of the same type. My cousin has a car trailer with the same tires on it and in the last year he has replaced all of them for the same thing, belt separation. I am beginning to make up my mind as I type that I am going with bias plies. Tractor Supply carries them and also the infamous Wal-Mart. At least you should be able to replace them anywhere in the country if you do have a problem with them.
I took something like 5000 lbs (57 Dodge wagon full of parts) about 20 miles on mismatched truck tires on a car trailer and it was okay. I wouldn't go like to Los Angeles that way, but it wasn't breaking belts. I was more worried about the transmission in my truck. I don't know how you'd break a radiator core from vibration in the first place. I do think though that bias-plies are a better option for a trailer. A trailer sits a lot of the time, and that's not good for radial tires.
Rustynewyorker, it was more of a shaking than a vibration. I could see the trailer and car shaking badly while we were moving.
I blew the cap off one trailer tire on the way to Mokan, and cut one while I was there. I carry two spares. I did buy a couple used tires at Joplin to carry as spares on the way home, didn't need them. The two tires that went bad had been from coast to coast three times prior to this. I use 215 60 15 performance car tires inflated to 45 psi. All of them used. I have carried as much as 12,000 lbs on this trailer, but not for long distances.
I think waht causes the belt problem is on dual (or more) axle trailers when you turn sharp. It causes the tires to distort real bad twisting them. Try looking sometime and see. My belief is the twisting eventually causes the belts inside to break loose and then you get the spearation problem and the bulge. Or worse and the tread flies off, tearing up your fender or more. Is a bias tie better for this than a radial? I do not know. Both my old car trailer fenders are beat to **** from treads flying off, so I have the same problem you do. I did finally get real trailer tires and stopped using old car tires. have not had a tire failure from the real trailer tires yet.
I've drug a enclosed 24'trailer around for yrs. and hear you on tire issues. Came to me with a fresh set of radial trailer tires 205/75-15 Carlilse or something. Those things were time bombs! Seems like I could haul anything for about 2 hrs. drive time,anything farther than that and I was changing at least one. But,I never had a problem towing to Orlando or Bradenton,about 90 mi.either way. Rotated through till they were all Goodyear Marathons and it was better but still had problems cross country. Stepped up to the 225 Marathons and thats what I run now,much better than the 205's for me. I hauled my 49 Hudson to Tulsa and back last yr. with no tire changes.(I still carry 2 spares though.)
My enclosed Pace trailer has the Torsion Flex axles under it. They have a 5200 lbs rating. I have a dual axle so the rating would be 10,400 lbs. I also have two spares ... The tires are the Goodyear Marathon 225X75X15 size ... I check them for pressure before every trip and every thousand miles or so while towing. On my previous Pace ( bought new in 1995 ) with approximately 50 thousand miles towed ... I never had a tire problem ... other than a road hazard type of problem. I did install 4 new ones before heading cross country to California ... this past January 2007. I have 10,000 miles on my new trailer ( since May the 1st 2007 ) and it's tires ... so no issues so far but ... I am no where near the weight rating. Trailer and load is 6,800 lbs. --- way under the 10,400 load rating.
I ran 235/75R15 tires on my trailer for two decades without any problems that I didn't create. I then started hauling old trucks around that weighed 5-7,000lbs, and so I changed load range D radials (if I could find them) and range C also. the C's carry 50 lbs and the D's 65. I always checked my pressure before leaving and never had any problems. I now have some trailer-only radials with a 3,000lb rating and they have been doing well so far. Be sure to check the alignment of the axles to the frame-they bend more than you think and then eat tires quickly. With only a 3100lb total weight, though, I'd suspect something other than tire construction. that's less than most cars weigh by 1000 lbs today.
Sounds to me more like a problem with those tires. I ran my 16 ft car trailer for years with 225/70X15 p***enger tires. The I graduated to 235/75X15 6ply truck tires. I never had a problem with either of those tires and I put as many as 1000 mi on it in one day. When I extended it to 24 ft I went to 245/75X16 10 ply same as I run on the truck so all 10 tires will interchange when I'm on the road.
I'm beginning to believe that it is the tires. Both trailers that I have had experience with are running the 205-75-15 ST tires. From the previous post, everyone that is running the 215 series has not had a problem. Thanks for all the responses, Robert.
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