tire pressures for ez loader boat trailer
folks,
what is the pressure for boat trailer tires? |
The tire pressure should be on the wall of the tire.
It is the tire and not the trailer that determines your pressure. I have a Karavan trailer similiar to ez loaders I believe. I have a 20' Bayliner. I also have the recommended PSI for all sizes of both bias ply and radial tires. If you give me the tire size, ply rating and max load I can tell you the PSI you should have in your tires. Having said all that, if you can give me the above info off of your tire, the recommended PSI will be right beside it on your tire. |
Carlisle Sport Trailer Tire 4.80X12
Quote:
|
Quote:
Checking tire pressure, wear and bearings is something that more people towing trailers should do. |
Quote:
|
Quote:
Mack |
Quote:
|
Quote:
Height of hitch (angle of trailer itself), weight distribution, and axle distance, tongue weight and speed are all factors which impact sway on trailers. In almost every trailer I've owned there has been some subtle adjustments made (easiest is the height of hitch using different drops from truck) and weight distribution of "stuff" inside boat or trailer. My last boat trailer I had to slide the axle back just a touch to eliminate the squirleyness at higher speeds towing with my F150 which didn't seem to happen with my GMC 1500. |
Would it make any sense that if you had a much lighter load than what the trailer and tires were rated for that you would decrease the PSI in the tires? As an example, trailer and tires both rated for 3000 lbs, but total weight of boat/motor/gear, etc. is only 1,500 lbs. The recommended tire pressure on the side of the tires is 50 psi. Should I be filling them up to 50 psi (or based on EZM's post, fill to 40 psi on a cold tire)? I've been getting some terrible wear on my tires without a significant amount of miles on them. They are bias ply tires if that makes any difference. I'm thinking of switching to radials.
|
Quote:
Terrible wear with low miles is likely not caused by tire pressure though. |
Quote:
|
Quote:
I'm not a tire expert, but do have quite a bit of experience with trailers/towing/etc.. - so take what I say based on that .... From my perspective - I'm not sure I would under inflate any tire. It would add excessive wear. For a light load, I guess a little under inflated is better compared to a little over inflated - but you don't ever want to go to low or too high on pressure - at least that's my take on it. A tire inflated to max (like a pumped up bouncy balloon) on light load (or an empty utility trailer) bounces all over the place - and, it's not great for the tires. It's probably not great for the trailer either. But generally you are not going a long ways or driving too fast. If I dropped off a load, and knew I had a long ways to go back with an empty trailer, I'd likely ensure the pressure wasn't too high and would consider letting a little out - that would make sense. But in my mind it might be like another 5 lbs maybe 10lbs on a 50 psi tire. That might be like 35lbs cold or 40-42lbs cold. (just based on what I typically see for pressure changes) but there is no way I'd go down the highway (or on a long trip) with a light bouncy trailer with the tired pumped up to the max. Just my thoughts .... |
Quote:
|
PSI cold is also listed on your trailer. Should be inside one of the beams on the front of the trailer. Most likely it will match up with the tire.
|
Tfng - I've experienced different types of wear as I've been experimenting with different PSI. I've experienced exactly that where the centre is worn, but outside good which was obviously over inflation. But I've also experienced wearing down the centre, so I assume that's under inflation. I've experienced different wear on each tire and not sure if that's caused from more weight distributed on one side of the boat or not. Maybe my problem is more than just the tires ... however the trailer was new when I bought it 5 years ago and I had this problem from the beginning so I'd hope the axle would be good.
EZM - Radials definitely might be my next purchase. cube - I just threw out those numbers - those aren't actuals. I don't have the boat here at home to check the actual numbers ... but I'd be willing to bet that the total load is quite light compared to capacity. My boat is a large tinner weighing in at around 500 lbs and the motor is under 300 lbs. I have no trolling motor, no batteries, so am fairly certain that I'm well under the weight limit. How many miles/km should a guy be getting out of tires? I'm on my 5th year with this setup and I've replaced the tires twice. My typical km in a year would probably be around 3,000 and even that may be high. I do run on some gravel too if that makes a difference. |
Quote:
My boat/trailer is a 2013 and I just replaced my first set of tires last year - but I'm doing double the km's (easy) and doing lots of gravel. I know radials will wear better - but not 5 times better ...... I'd maybe check the axles, alignment or something there to see what's going on. Maybe also scale up your trailer and see what it weighs compared to your tire/trailer. It just doesn't sound right to me. How are they wearing? even, inboard, outboard, the same on both sides? Maybe that might be a good place to try and research what might be going on. |
Quote:
|
what does the loaded (boat, fuel, stuff etc..) trailer weigh? What are the tires / axles rated for both speed and load? Hoes the alignment and tire wear across the face of the trailer tire?? That's where I would start, as other have said Carlise is not the premium brand, and to me it's relatively inexpensive to switch to a premium tire, and carry the max. air pressure in it.
But that's just me and an experience on the side of the road with an exploded trailer tire, not good!! |
Quote:
In both cases changing tires to radials and different inflations etc. did nothing until things were lined up again. Now your problems might be different but Like EZM says it would be a good place to start because your tire wear certainly does not sound typical. |
My previous boat (2008 model) had a matching trailer with 13" bias ply tires. Reading the trailer specs and side wall info, the load was maxed out as per the tires. I ran the max pressure (around 50) and wore out 2 sets of bias ply in the first couple seasons. Dealer replaced first set under warranty. After a highway run, the tires would be too hot to touch. The final straw was when the outer rubber peeled off at highway speeds, ruining the fender. Lucky boat was not touched. After that went to radials (same weight spec, highest possible for 13") and never had a problem again, tires ran cool at hwy speeds. Just because it came from the factory as a package, doesn't mean it's perfect.
Jump ahead a few years, I just bought a new boat c/w trailer. As per weight, the trailer has a stronger axle and running 15" radials. There's a good 25% buffer there which is a nice safety factor. |
I think I will check out the alignment and axle as best as I can. If everything seems fine, I think I will just upgrade the tires. I was doing some reading on some other forums and many people have reported the same problem with cheap bias ply tires and said once they upgraded to radials, they had no issue.
|
All times are GMT -6. The time now is 06:09 AM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.5
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.