"Good Afternoon Roger; I have kind of a critical need for your expertise. I've been a "Hardtopper" since 1970, and have always made every attempt to take good care of my travel trailers. My latest and last, is a 2013 Flagstaff with of course dual axles. I brought it home new after trading with a dealer, on August 31st, 2012. Then the fun started !! The tires are covered and are on wood planks, never having touched ground. Rather than being able to realize a life-long dream of just once getting out of this horrible Winter climate, say to Florida for a season's stay, I was hit with the need for surgery and lengthy PT. Each year since, I have been stricken with yet another number of surgery's for different reasons, and this past December fell on the ice at my home, breaking 3 ribs, thus cancelling once again, any hopes and dreams. Now, after all that drama, I wonder if you might offer some "practical" advice on my tires. I am a long ways from a rich man, barely getting by on my Social Security, so I'd really hate to have to replace the tires sitting unused as they have been after five years BUT, I would defer to your advisory. I have read posts on RVTRavel.com and others have posted any number of articles in the past on tires, so I am a bit apprehensive, and sure to heck would appreciate your input. Many Thanks in advance, Grant M."
My reply:
"Sorry to hear about your situation, Grant. Your tires may be
2012 or even 2011 vintage (you can check the last 4 numbers of the DOT
serial to confirm) but either way that's pretty old. How often did you
check the air pressure? It should have been every month. While they are covered and
on boards, which is good, they were still under load without ever moving,
which is bad, especially if they ever lost more than 5 to 10 psi.
If
they are Radials there is a chance the steel belts may have lost some
adhesion to the rubber due to moisture never being driven out of the
tires with the warmth of being run down the road.Good luck.
##RVT804
I come from a large farming family. We have a lot of trailers for camping and for a variety of hauling uses. We keep our tires as long as possible. Some of the tires are at least 20 years old. My grandfather has kept careful track of the failures of tires, and his experience has been that tires do not fail due to age until they get really old and have deep cracks in them. Some of our trucks, farm equipment, and trailers have tires that have shallow cracks in them but they still haul heavy loads at freeway speeds. We even repair old tires that go flat from a nail. If we bought new tires every 5 years we would probably go broke!
ReplyDeleteSidewall cracking is not an indication the tire has failed. It is a symptom of a loss of rubber strength due to heat and age.
DeleteI have a single axle w/ 2 Carrier Star ST tires, 4.80 x 12". The sidewall says max. 990lbs at 90 psi. The trailer is rated for 2000lbs max., however fully loaded, it weighs 1200lbs. What pressure should I run as 90psi is a very firm ride. Thanks, Bob
ReplyDeleteYou should not exceed 990# on either tire. If you have confirmed only 600# max load on either tire then your minimum inflation pressure is 40 psi. But I would strongly suggest you run at least 70.
DeleteIn our travels our trailer may sit for up to 3 months sometimes. I keep pressures checked and tires covered. We keep track of Corner weights and our CIP is based on actual weight +10%. Sometimes we are parked on concrete, sometimes grass, sometimes dirt. Does it help with tire wear if during the time we are parked the tire is rased via jack and rotated so a different section of the tire is on the bottom and then sit back on the ground? I’ve been following your advice since we started Fulltiming in 2013. Thanks
ReplyDeleteGreat articles and great layout. Your blog post deserves all of the positive feedback it’s been getting. Yokohama Tyres
ReplyDeleteI am jovial you take pride in what you write. It makes you stand way out from many other writers that can not push high-quality content like you. waste hauling Cedar Park
ReplyDelete