Trailer Tires

[Papa_J]

Not sure if this belongs here or where, but I figured that with so many of us haulin campers and ATVs on trailers, I was hopin that maybe somebody had some good insight.
I frequently haul a large pop-up camper back and forth to my lease in the panhandle during hunting season. The problem I've been dealing with for several years is tires. The camper only has room for 13" tires, but the overall weight of the camper is 2950#; too much for load range C tires. I have only been able to find Carlisle tires in the 185/80D13 size, and they SUCK! I put brand new tires on it again last year, and with less than 2500 miles on the set, the tread separated off of the pax side tire on I-10 2 weeks ago. Well, I checked, and the driver's side tire (Carlisle) is noticeably hotter than the spare (stock Duro tire that came with the camper 8 years ago), that I had to put down due to the tire problem.

What I have seen while looking on the net is that just about every trailer tire out there that is available in the size I need has all kinds of problems. In fact, the load range D tires in 13" are harder and harder to come by, and have to be special ordered. Goodyear Marathon 2 tires aren't available in D range in that size anymore, and Continental quit making them too. I found a couple on fleabay, but not sure of the quality or anything. They are TowMaster II tires. Discount Tire lent me a Hi-Run (POS Chinese) tire to get me back here, and Carlisle is gonna stand up and warranty the bad tire for manufacturer defect. BUT... That little voice in my head (one of the many) keeps tossin some serious doubts into play.

@Gunboy - Since you've owned and hauled all kinds of trailers, what tires lasted best for you?

[frankwt]

wow that is alot of weight on a 13" tire...can you contact the manufacturer and see what they are doing now about tires?

[strunes]

Are you putting the right PSI in your tires? I had a problem to with tires on my travel trailer and know I check the tires before every tripe and have not had a problem since. My tires are 14" and I keep then at 50 PSI plus at all times.

[Papa_J]

Those are the manufacturer's specs for tire size and trailer weight. I keep them at 65psi (the max PSI on the tire) since the trailer weight (GVWR 2950) is so close to the max load for the tires. (The camper has a dinette slideout and king beds front and rear.) Some of the load range D tires are rated up to 1760# and others are down as far as 1460# (like the Carlisle tires). The higher weight rated load D tires are the Chinese Hi-Run tires that fall apart due to poor quality check standards - go figure.

I considered going up to 14" tire, but there isn't enough room to accommodate any wider size than the 185, because there is barely enough room to get the current 13" tires on and off. Driver side is easier than pax side, because of the slideout on driver side. As far as height clearance, I think I could make that work by installing a taller spring, or just adding a spacer block between the axle and spring and add some type of shock/stabilizer to limit wheel travel and prevent bottoming out in the wheel wells.

One other thing I'm going to check is axle alignment. Some things I have heard are that the axle may not have been mounted correctly at the factory, which would cause a heat build up in the tire due to the increased friction (which could also be the reason why my fuel mileage drops so much from towing the 3000# back and forth, considering the low profile of the camper).

This has been an active topic on some of the Coleman camper websites, and nobody has a solution. Coleman (now Fleetwood) has since made the 14" standard on all but the smallest pop-up campers, but that does nothing to solve my problem. And, since it's not my trailer, even though I use it 10x as much as the owners, so I don't mind spending a couple hundred every year or so, since it didn't cost me a thing for the camper and I'm not paying for tags or insurance either.

[DONY1]

Quickest fix I would think would be to block it up and it should give you the clearance you need.

[HeneryHawk]

Does it have a drop axle or straight axle?

[nachogrande]

T-bone, this thread is off and running, but I think my record of 6 pages on such a dull subject is safe. do you use regular air to inflate your tires or the new nitrogen?

[frankwt]

this is a much better topic..just sayin'

[GoodOyster]

Nitrogen ain't new. Been around several billion years or so!

[Papa_J]

Straight axle, but it does have a slight camber (upward bend in the middle of the axle) built in to compensate for the weight on the axle. I use straight air from my compressor, and I always make sure that there is a full 65# cold PSI in the tires. I think the blocking lift method would be best, but I was open to ideas. I can't raise it too much, or else it will be too high and pull nose down behind the owner's Suburban. Even raising it 2" would probably buy me the room I need to put 14" tires on, maybe even 15".

[frankwt]

The owner can use a modified receiver hitch to keep te nose straight.

[Papa_J]

That would mean buying a new hitch with a "rise" and the add-on for the sway bar ball mount. I wouldn't have thought a sway bar would have made a difference on smaller trailers like that (>20'), but it helps a lot on the highway around big rigs and when it's windy.

[frankwt]

ouch, yeah too much $$, will the 2" be ok for the owner?

[Papa_J]

I passed on the info. Not sure if he'll take me up on it or not. I will bring up the 2" block option to him. He may go for it, especially if we can figure out a way to create some type of shock mount and a way to attach the mount and shock to the trailer. He had brought that up last year, but being that there isn't much room between the axle and frame, I couldn't figure out a way to mount a shock. It would have to be a short shock. it would do wonders for tire wear too.