Tire Wear

[Legacy Posts]

Once upon a time, with a previous trailer (16' Jayco) I had need to change tires out on the road as they were worn and the only tires available were P's. What a difference! That sucker wallowed like a pregnant duck going down the road, and I could even tell the difference just stepping into it. Got some ST's quick as I could and all was stable again!

Pete and Rats

[Legacy Posts]

I didn't like the idea of a tire mounted on the fibreglass so I made a bracket ( L shaped with a flat plate on the end) and drilled two bolt holes in it to match up with the wheel bolt pattern. Then I welded the ass'y to the inside of the rear bumper, and voila- it fits any size tire and no worries about the body. I made the bracket out of 1"x1" Square tubing 1/8" thick, and a 6x6 inch flat plate. There are also store made tire carriers of all different shapes and sizes- try JC Whitney, or Cabelas marine section under boat trailers.

[Legacy Posts]

Joe, you might consider running a stabilizer bolt or two to the fiberglass just to keep the tire and mount from torquing the bumper and setting up vibrations -- no weight on the fiberglass, just some horizontal bracing.

Pete and Rats

[Legacy Posts]

Hi Pete
Good point on the brace.On my old MH I had I lost my spare due to fibration.It must have been swaying or what ever, but end result was that it broke off at weld.Lost both tire and Tire holder.

[Legacy Posts]

I'll have to check my welds, but if they're bad I'll hang up my shield:sad , I won't say I've never seen a weld fail, but the way mine is done, I don't think it'll be a problem:shg . I have to get my own digital camera so I can put up some pics. I'm cheap, and kind of handy so I get myself in a few pickles:bh .Fortunately I have access to a shop and all the tools I could ever use, which is nice. I also get all my smaller bits of steel free as scrap from a friends shop.

[Legacy Posts]

YOUR welds may be just fine, but the bumper itself may not have been designed with a swinging weight in mind, esp if you like to get off the main highways. Just a thought.

Pete and Rats who are not allowed to ride on the bumper

[Legacy Posts]

You're right Pete--- I never thought about that. I guess I'll beef up the bumper too, because I want to put a bicycle carrier on it.
(Not that I will use the bikes, It's taken me twenty years to achieve my finely rounded figure) but it looks impressive going down the road.

Hoping my parts stay where they belong

[Legacy Posts]

I ended up having to put Sears LT tires on my Bigfoot tandem axle when I need tires while up in Alaska. Sears said these were the only tire that was built to take the loads of a comparable trailer tire which they didn't have available. Between an rock and a hard place with one blown out after traveling a "construction stretch" (gravel the size of rodents) and the others showing belts I took their advice and put on four.

These tires are starting to show inside shoulder wear like the others did but not to the point of replacement. You mention "dividing by 1.1 " to get proper loads and inflation. I'm not experienced using these tables. Would you kind enough to explain a bit more or give an example?

Don