trailer special junk tires

ericlb

Well-known Member
why is it these tires are such junk? ive had 5 go bad with plenty of tread left, broken chords, tonite i just did 250 miles with a tandem axle trailer that has less than 1000 miles on it and ive only had the trailer 5 months you guessed it, another broken chord, shook so bad cab doors are loose on the truck now
 
Are you talking about the tires (and axles) used on mobile homes, then sold to put under utility trailers? They're junk because thats good enough to accomplish their original intended purpose. They are designed to move a mobile home to the buyer's place, usually less than 50 miles. Not to be put on an equipment trailer and used for years and years.

Jerk those crummy axles out, put in a couple of Dexters, with decent tires, and that should solve the problem. Not cheap, but a solution.
 
Lot cheaper way to go. buy hubs to change out the hubs/drums. Go online to a trailer parts business like Redneck; buy hubs to get an automotive bolt pattern. I use 8 lug so the packups for our pickups will work. Used 16 inch tires are EVERYWHERE and cheap.
 
these tires are on regular rims, steel, modular looking ones same bolt pattern as a 1/2 ton chevy, i usually work at getting 'trailer special' tires off of the trailers, i just haven't had this trailer long enough to do it, its almost new, and still the tires just fall apart, you look at the price of them, you would think there good, but ive never had any luck with them, i also, have a 3 axle trailer with dayton rims, have lowboy tires on that, i wouldnt haul anything on mobile home tires, their junk too, but we all know that
 
I've got a pair of mobile-home axles under my trailer. 14.5" tires. I put them on 15 years ago. Greased the wheel bearings and put new DOT rated trailer tires on it. Never had a single issue with it since with 15 years of use. Granted I never carry more then 7000 lbs. Trailer weighs 2000 lbs. empty so it's hauled 9000 lbs. all over of the place with zero problems. I just came back from a 1200 mile haul (2400 mile round trip).

There is nothing wrong with those trailer axles. They just have smaller bearings then usual since they are built to carry a heavy load for short time and not the converse. When not loaded to the max they last a long time.

The doughnut 14.5" rims are rated 3500 lbs. each and each axle is rated for 7000 lbs. Axles have # 2580 Timken bearings.

Trailer axles have the same size axle stubs as regular trailers with 6 or 8 lug hubs and can be upgraded if wanted.
 
thats the way my 14'5's are that trailer is pushing 40 years old made special to haul a d-4 back inthe day its been a good hauler, the lowboy rated tires are trouble free- unless you loan the thing to your bil, who wont check the air pressure in the tires and blows them out, as long as they have around 80 psi, ive never had a blow out with them
 
I am on an RV forum. Lots of trailer tire problems there, too.

Does the trailer pull smoothly when empty, or does it hop? If it hops, there's your problem. One or both axles are out of alignment and the tires are pulling sideways against each other until they lose traction and "pop" up in the air.

Trailer tires are generally garbage, but it doesn't help that they're usually not balanced and the axle alignment is usually ignored. We don't ride in the trailer so ride quality isn't a concern.
 
I bought 4 brand new 14 ply Hi Run tires, 3 years ago, for my 26 foot tandem axle stock trailer. Every one of them broke a belt. I am back to running 10 ply pickup tires. My tire guy says, that trailer tires aren't made to the same specs, and he won't sell a "cheap trailer" tire. If you want to buy the good ones, they will cost you about twice what a vehicle tire will, but they work great on trailers.
 
My 30ft flat bed has 9X14.5 lowboy tires. I might be able to go 500 miles on a tire. They throw the tread off. Still hold air, and if I am loaded they ride ok, but empty, vibrate like crazy. I am looking at putting 8 bolt hubs on it, but they are kinda hard to find.
 
the bucking happened after i unloaded my pickup from it, it pulled smooth loaded, but i may have not noticed anything as it was being pulled by my peterbilt which weighed 22000 lbs dropped that off at a cummins engine shop and used the pickup and trailer to come home, [ 250 miles] going to look this morning closer, the sun is up now, sort of this was the first road trip for this trailer from new,
 
I had a problem with the tires on a new fifth wheel camper a few years ago. Come to find out the tires on it were not rated for the weight of the camper. I called the tire company and they sent me a new set of four tires two sizes bigger at no charge. I have not had a problem since.
 
Buy a good made in USA tire. If you've tried american tires and you're still having chord issues, then put LT tires on it. Just get a minimum of a 10 ply tire that is rated for the same weight as the old tire.
 
I have found that radial tires go bad with age not millage. Have a bale trailer that had radial tires and new when I bought it. They all blew with the trailer just setting. The tires were getting about 7 years old when they just started popping. Check the date on sidewall. I have started putting on bias tires on all my trailers and had better luck.
 
A few years back I bought an older Motor home and one of the reasons I was attracted to it was because the tires had like new thread on them.
Within about 500 miles I had three blowouts. Not fun in a motor home with your grandkids with you. One camping trip I had two. Luckily I was close to home when the final one let go. After researching I found that tires can age and dry out. After further researching I found how to read the DOT number stamped onto the tire and found out the tires were all very old. Over 10 years old you are taking a chance and some of these were 18 years old. All heavy duty 10 ply 16.5" tires.
 
Those 14.5 trailer tires have got to be maxed out on air pressure or you will throw the tread every time. All trailer tires are designed to be pulled with the max amount of air pressure listed on the sidewall. Anything less and you are asking for trouble.
 

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