Trailer tire failures

I'm currently on a 4000 mile plus cross country trip pulling my 33 ft rv, so I have a lot of time to think while driving. I was wondering if one of the contributing factors to trailer tire failures (beside the crappy chicom tires we have to buy today) could be the fact that our race trailers and rv trailers spend a most of their time parked, causing the tires to develope flat spots. I know during the Cold War the Air Force would rotate the tires on their B-52 and tanker aircraft while setting on extended alert duty to keep the tires from developing at spots.

Could be a combo of dry rot as well.
I'm taking a 600 mile trek to Detroit shortly, so my friends trailer got new tires all around.

the old bias ply tires would flat spot . the old truck bais ply tires would throw you out of your seat un-till they warmed up. the modern radial does not. the modern tire of today has an added component to cause breakdown/dry rot more rapidly in the sunlight .. the usual problems with trailer tires are that they sit in one spot for long periods and sun/weather usually affects the sidewalls causing dry rot and sidewall strength loss in a small section.[ tire covers] another biggie with trailer tires is overloading. running them at or near maximum load then, rolling hard thru- curves or bumps which can load one side of the trailer [although briefly] with the -total weight on just two of the tires. if there is any loss of strength in the pair of tires on that side . you will find it quickly.

Meh, you can bring spare tires, what about all the people who lose wheel bearings? How many trailers do you see on the side of the hwy with a bare axle flange up on a jack? S/F....Ken M

I find if I chit can trailer tires every two years I won't have a failure. BTW the road temp was 189 degrees as I left town pulling to Vegas for a race.

I have a pair of pre-packed bearings and seal, in my trailer. Gregsdart has the real deal idea, a COMPLETE drum assembly ready to slide on.

I have at last count approx 78? semi tires on our fleet. We have replaced approx 24? in the past 12? years, only one was worn out. We don't put a lot of miles on them. I believe the worst thing a tire can suffer beyond overloading, underinflation and/or two high of operating speed is, lack of use. I think the solution is, use allows and promotes the natural oils in the tire to migrate to the surface, replacing what evaporates and the sun extracts, albeit, very slowly, but occurring none the less. Lack of tire flexing causes the tires natural oils to be non uniform thru the sidewall cross section, leading to cracking, separation, seepage of water, promoting steel reinforcement webbing to rust, then expand, causing more separation, etc Just my opinion.

Bingo! What I was thinking. Both of my trailers are stored inside, no sun lite. I always keep the tires properly inflated, never run them over 60 mph, replace them every four years and still have failures. Why I was thinking setting idle for long periods is part of the problem.

On anything other than a 22.5 tire, a trailer tire, at maximum air pressure should not exceed 65mph. And at that speed only for 2 hours.Tires should be allowed to cool down. A simple practice is to pull over every 2 hours( when driving constantly 60-65 mph) and pull out your hand help portable heat gun and check the tire temps. Gives you and idea what temp might be normal for your set up and may also indicate that a wheel bearing might be failing. Unless you have a tractor trailer, the 14, 15 and 16" tires we use are not built for high speed or the long haul.

I run E load rated 225x15 trailer tires on my 24 ft Pace car trailer that weighs 8700 lb going down the road loaded. I pull it for 4 to 6 hrs at a time across many local roads and into southern Nevada from here at or above 75 MPH. I believe all the new tires sold here in the U.S. have a speed rating don't they. I probally exceed the speed rating on all my tires, maybe not. I do run them at 85 lbs cold, they have 80 lbs recommended on them. One of the tire suppliers that the company I use to work for recommeded running any tire that was weighing near it's max limit to be ran 5 lbs cold above the max rating on any of the tires he sold, commercial or passenger application He did say that any radial tires that is not worn out in three yeasr to replace it regardless of how much tread was on the tire I haven't had any tire failures, cars, trucks or trailers in the last 5 years , knock on wood I do carry three trailer spares inside

Heats the big killer. Had a blow out coming back from Vegas in 2013. Tires had less than a year on them. The other 3 suffered from ply separation's ( was able to catch them before they blew ). All were well within the rated load range. I don't leave my trailer loaded, but flat spots were much more prevalent with biased ply tires - as compared to radials.

Turning your trailer........especially a triple axle is also hard on the tires. Not out on the highway, but moving the trailer around in close quarters at track or anywhere else. It is constantly "skidding" the tires and trying to rip the tread off

I always run my 16" E rated tires at the 80 lb max. Trailer/axles are below their 12,000 lb rating with around 10,000 on the axles + tongue weight. But my tires often go before being worn out. A friend who has tire store says that it's getting harder to find reliable tires anymore with the offshore manufacturing. They replace them after a few years, but that's not as easy for most of us.

* Age - I had a "brand new" trailer tire stored inside for about 6-7 years. When I finally used it, it peeled like a banana after a couple of thousand miles. It held air and I ran on the steel belts for a mile or two until I found a good spot to pull off.

* I'm lucky in one respect in that I live where there are a lot of trees and that keeps the trailer and, more importantly, the tires in the shade. Otherwise I would definitely keep them covered any way I could, even if it's with cardboard or plywood.
The downside to all the trees is the leaves, birds, dust, etc. on the trailer from them.

* Dual failures - When one tire goes, it can overload and blow the other one on the same side.

* Tire/weight ratings - I like to have stuff rated a good margin above what I actually need for extra insurance. Unfortunately, E-rated tires are expensive enough. Anything more costs quite a bit more.

* Make sure the weight is properly distributed inside the trailer and it is level so one axle/tires don't get overloaded that way.

* Wheel bearings - I saw an obvious difference in bearing life when I switched from good, conventional wheel bearing grease to synthetics. I use Amsoil Synthetic Racing Grease but they have a variety to choose from. I also check the bearing preload several times a year and retighten them if I feel any more than a faint looseness. But be careful not to over-grease. (Don't use a "heat" gun on your tires & hubs. Use a temperature gun. There are a lot to choose from - One of the cheaper temp. guns.)

* Brakes - I manually adjust the brakes several times a year. It seems that if clearances are allowed increase much, it's harder on them when they do engage.

* While we're at it, don't forget to check the lug nuts too! I found a brand new tire on a trailer wheel on the side of the road once. Wheel had its stud holes wallowed out!

I have found that I need to replace my trailers tires (E rated) every 3 years no matter what the mileage. I have had some spans of very little travel to quite a bit of travel all in these 3 year spans and it does not make a difference - 3 years and they come apart no matter how many miles are on them.



Russ

From my experience I have to disagree. We have trailer-ed 6742 miles so far this year with more trips planned.

I have run 3 enclosed trailers on 16" wheels for over 150K miles with no tire failures.

I have run a fourth 49' gold rush trailer on 16" wheels with no failures in 125K miles on that trailer.

Then I got a used open trailer in 2007 with 205-15" tires on it. I just put my third set of tires on it few weeks ago. I have put over 80K miles on that open trailer since 2007 with no tire failures. The last set of tires went 44K miles before I replaced them. They were marathon goodyears made in USA tires. Link to old tire trailer thread of mine

The 4 I put on last week were goodyear marathon tires made in china. I have run marathon tires on all my past trailers, I like them still even though they are made in china now.

I saw your tire thread a couple days ago but didn't want to post until we got home safely, which we did last night. We drove 4000 miles in 10 days and we went to Colorado, Arizona and Utah where it was 95-100° everyday. I trailer/drive the speed limit everywhere and it was 80MPH in Utah and 75 everywhere else. I usually drive for 4-6 hours at a time in the heat of the day.

Yesterday we drove straight through without stopping for 14 hours to get home. It was a great time to travel, the roads were empty and the sky was full of fireworks after dark. I have traveled many years on the 4th, kind of a tradition.

The trailer tires ran for 14 hours yesterday along with everything else. My wife and I take turns driving and can change going down the road in our RV. We switched 3 times yesterday driving.

We drove exactly 3993.6 miles and it took exactly 70.8 hours to do it which means we averaged 56.+ mph over the whole course of the trip in our RV. The trailer tires didn't get much "rest" or time to cool down. I have temp heat gun, really don't use it much any more. It will tell me if a brake is not working by heat.

And this past trip we hauled out our durango, first time for us. It is 1300lbs heavier than the 300 car or old challengers that we usually haul. The trailer was at max capacity weight wise and the tires were at max weight capacity. I was nervous big time because it was the first time on china tires for me. First time with a max capacity trailer and it was really hot out, plus Utah/Colorado raised the speed limit to 80 and everywhere else went from 70 to 75 since last year. So we ran the higher speed limit and made better time and no tire failures from my new china made goodyear trailer tires and I put them through hell the last 12 days. We trailer-ed 1200 miles on the back roads seeing Monument Valley, 4 corners, Moab, Sedona, Grand Canyon and much more. Back road driving is hard on the curb side tires, got to keep them on the road. So I feel much better about my china made goodyears after this trip in the heat.

That's my story.

FWIW, IMO tires that continually blow out are from having your trailer overloaded. Like there should be NO WOOD in a race trailer or any kind of trailer added after it's built. Wood is heavy and belongs in a house not a trailer. Go weigh your trailer if your blowing tires, I bet it's over weight.

Lastly I run my tires 10lbs over what the sidewall says. My little 205-15 tires says 50lbs on the sidewall, I run 60lbs now on 3 sets of tires for over 80K miles with no failures since 2007. Same with my enclosed trailers, ran 10lbs over what the sidewall said, no blow outs in 250K miles of trailering.

I have been over inflating my trailer tires since 1989 from the advise I got from a tire store owner right next door to my business. I think he knew what he was talking about. Then I saw this a few years ago from Goodyear, now it is a Tire rack tech note/link, originally put out by Goodyear. Backs up what the tire store owner told me 25 years ago. Link

My tow rig, we are serious road warriors and can haul azz speed wise, long wheelbase/stable smooth ride. It has a 505 hp Cat motor with a double over drive full auto trans. It's geared for 124 mph and I have had it going 105 mph so far, 80 is a leisurely cruise for this truck. hope this helps some one.

Raise your air pressure in your trailer tires is my message. It cut's down on the heat generated. My trailer sits outside not used from Oct/Nov till April/May every year with the tires covered. Same with the RV.

We drove this 50'long rig down 89A out of Flagstaff into Sedona, if you know 89A out of Flagstaff. Don't think I will do that again.

I personally have never had any problems with wheel bearings, not since I owned a boat and boat trailer.

All the bearings are original on my trailer and I grease them when I replace the brakes, by hand. I do not use the "bearing buddys" to much risk of killing your brakes.

I replaced the backing plates with magnet and shoes and springs with new drums just a little over 2 years ago for the second time since 2007.

I checked them and adjusted them a few weeks ago before this last big trip. They were over half wore out at 38K miles. They sure worked better this past trip after being adjusted but will need to be replaced before the end of the year after 2.5 years of use.

I really burned them up in Az and Utah on those long azz down hills, even with a 2 stage jake brake on the truck. I can go up and down the rocky mountains on I 70 with no brakes coming down, just a jake brake, but I could not stay off the brakes on those long down hills on the back roads out there, very tough on equipment.

Road debris

With state budgets shrinking and with maintenance schedules shrinking on semi tractors & trailers ...

There is more debris on the road

A shredded chunk of steel belted tire will take out a trailer tire
just as readily as a bolt or screw

The last few trailer tires I have lost - the tread peeled like an orange after impact damage & rapid deflation

An aftermarket TPMS (tire pressure monitoring system) can save your rim - spindle - axle in the event of a blowout


Jim