Trailer tires

I need five 235/16 tires for my trailer. It has tandem axles. It will be carrying about 5,000# max on two 3500# axles. I will get trailer rated tires. What ply should I go with? Do I need 10 ply sidewalls? If they aren't a lot more, I'm a fan of overkill, but was just wondering about how much tire to put on there. Not a lot of freeway driving, 50 miles max at a time, and I'd be running 60-65 depending on how this acts once I get it all together. It does have the big hitch with the stabilizer bars.

Steve

Reply to
SteveB
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You don't give the full size info, but the only 235/16 trailer tires that tirerack.com lists are 235/80-16 so I'll assume those. For Goodyears the D rated, 8 ply is rated at 3000 lbs at 65 psi and the E rated 10 ply is rated at 3400 lbs at 80 psi. Your axles are rated at 3500 lbs each so at a bare minimum you need tires rated at 3500/2=1750 lbs each so both tires are overkill for you. In other tire sizes you can get C rated tires that would be cheaper yet. In their tech info they say that if you use a car tire you have to derate the load rating by 9% when you use it on a trailer, so maybe you could also look at car tires in the 2000+ lb rating. Staying with trailer tires and going to a rating higher than you need gets you a stiffer sidewall which can be good if you have sway issues. Me, I'd go with trailer tires D rated on 3500 lb axles and E rated on 5000 lb axles. I would probably never need that capacity but I believe in insurance :-).

----- Regards, Carl Ijames

I need five 235/16 tires for my trailer. It has tandem axles. It will be carrying about 5,000# max on two 3500# axles. I will get trailer rated tires. What ply should I go with? Do I need 10 ply sidewalls? If they aren't a lot more, I'm a fan of overkill, but was just wondering about how much tire to put on there. Not a lot of freeway driving, 50 miles max at a time, and I'd be running 60-65 depending on how this acts once I get it all together. It does have the big hitch with the stabilizer bars.

Steve

Reply to
Carl Ijames

"Carl Ijames" fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@news1.newsguy.com:

Me, I'd go with the greater rating on the 3500lb axle. A chuck-hole can put an _amazing_ amount of stress on a tire. Better safe than sorry, and you're not talking a lot of money for the difference.

Lloyd

Reply to
Lloyd E. Sponenburgh

Goodyear might be agreeing with you - that D rated tire I got the load spec for was marked as "closeout" by tirerack :-). (Also I want to be clear that I'm not disagreeing with you; your choice has a larger safety margin than mine, it's just what we each might feel comfortable with under some given set of circumstances.)

----- Regards, Carl Ijames

"Carl Ijames" fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@news1.newsguy.com:

Me, I'd go with the greater rating on the 3500lb axle. A chuck-hole can put an _amazing_ amount of stress on a tire. Better safe than sorry, and you're not talking a lot of money for the difference.

Lloyd

Reply to
Carl Ijames

It's that same chuck-hole that has my teeth chattering when I think of a sub-80 series tire on the trailer. I'd prefer a taller profile. I've run over mufflers which just fell off the truck in front of me, and that's pants-browning scary when you're hauling a trailer, lemme tell ya.

My scariest freeway story is when the driveshaft from the truck in front of me came loose and the cross of the U-joint hit my windshield at head level, directly in line with my nose. I had 1/10th of a second to even attempt ducking. Thankfully, it just chipped the glass instead of bursting through the windshield at me. When it hit, it sounded like an M-80 going off.

Reply to
Larry Jaques

Put Michelin LTX-MS2 tires on and forget about them.

Reply to
Tom Gardner

Try a herd of antelope with a "pete"

Reply to
clare

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