Winter storage--- Cover the tires?

[Yves Pelchat]

Hello guys;

I will be storing the Bigfoot, for the first time, this winter. Do you recommend covering the tires, or would it be better to simply remove the wheels, and put some plastic bag, to protect the wheel hubs, from filling with snow?



Yves.

[Donna D.]

Tires should be covered anytime the trailer is not in use. The main destroyer of tires is UV rays. You can use anything from made-for tires vinyl covers to a piece of plywood placed up inside the wheel well. As long as the sun can't get to the tire, it's protected from UVs.

Someone from snow country should probably address the plastic bag issue. Here in Oregon a plastic bag would fill with rain water

[Brian B-P]

Removing the wheels would allow placing them in a shed or garage, which seems like a very effective way to protect them from UV light. I don't bother, but then I'm due for new tires anyway and have no need to protect the old ones; also, my car tires don't fall apart over a year or two sitting outside (holding up the car), so it doesn't seem like a big concern to me.

Removing the wheels suggests that the trailer would not be supported on the suspension, but instead on the frame. I think this is fine, as long as the supporting jacks hold the frame reasonably close to the axle (and presumably behind the axle, rather than in front, since the other point of support will be at the tongue).

I wouldn't worry about the exposed hubs (either plain hubs or brake drums): I don't think the wheels provide meaningful protection for them anyway. I would rather leave them open to get wet and dry with the weather than to enclose them in plastic and risk trapping water.

[John & Sandy M]

Hello guys;

I will be storing the Bigfoot, for the first time, this winter. Do you recommend covering the tires, or would it be better to simply remove the wheels, and put some plastic bag, to protect the wheel hubs, from filling with snow?



Yves.

I don't think I would bother. The recommendations I have from Scamp is to support the trailer under the frame and let some of the pressure out of the tires. The tires arn't going to be any different than your car's... you probably don't take the wheels off and jack them up.

If I were you I would take the trailer and head South!

[Roger H]

Yves, I'm with Donna on this one. Cover the tires. UV radiation is what kills trailer tires. Although they have UV protectant in the rubber, it seems that the sidewalls rot out long before the tread is gone on trailer tires. Anything you can do to help keep them from UV will help their longevity.

Scamp's recommendation intuitively makes sense; but in the real world, it doesn't seem to make much difference whether or not stress is removed from a properly sized rubber torsion axle when it's not being used. Most of them make it 20 years regardless of how they're stored.

The Bigfoot has leaf springs and a solid axle, so the point is moot for us "Bigfooters".

Roger