Trailer Tires

[sacramentia]

I have an 07 220 and had 2 blowouts this season. It has 215/75r14 bias ply tires and I run them at 50psi, trailer level, and I'm wondering if they are just overloaded for the size of the boat. I'm within the limits but have never gone through tires this fast on anything.

Has anyone else tried load range D tires, or have similar problems? I typically tow the boat 200 miles from Sac to Shasta (HOT) about 5 times a year, and other than that tow a few short trips that are less than 50 miles.

In about 3000 miles I've had 2 blowouts. I'm thinking about going to a 225/75r15 to get a little more carrying capacity.

[coulseyd]

RE: Trailer Tires

You might check the stems. I just bought an 04 and had a blowout bringing it home. All of the tires looked fine. I stopped by the tire shop to replace the tire and he found that the stem was trashed. They checked all the tires and all of the stems were toast. Replaced them with new for about $10ea...
Is your trailer a tandem? You might also check your bearings to make sure the grease is still good an that's not heating them up. Start with the stems, quick and cheap!

[wake_fun]

RE: Trailer Tires

Goodyear Marathons.

[j2nh]

What is up with trailer tires? You can put thousands of miles on car and LT tires and never have a problem, trailer tires a thousand and they blow out.

sacramentia, were the tires Goodyear Marathons?
Did they blow out on the inside sidewall?
There is a pretty good thread on Mastercraft TeamTalk about the problem. Worth the read. Goodyear had a service bulletin on some Marathons recommending a 10 PSI increase on some of them. I've attached it for reference. Personally I think it is a question of axle alignment. If it's not perfect then the tires are going to build up heat and fail.

[sacramentia]

The tires are Hiway Master Bias ply 215/75d14. Both times it looked like the tread separated and by the time I stopped the there was not a lot left of the tire - just shreds of rubber and tread that was barely attached. Front tire of the tandem on each side. I drive ~60 and after an hour of driving in the 100 degree heat the tires are so hot it burns my hand in 2-3 seconds. About as hot as I cook steak on the grill.

My last boat was a Ski Nautique and I never had a blowout - replaced the tires after 6 years just because they were old. But that boat was about 1800lbs less than this one and on the same size tandem trailer.

[jmo]

Might want to check that your trailer is set up correctly in terms of load, some trailers are adjustable to accommodate more than one model or length boat, maybe the engine isn't sitting over the axles and hence either the front or rear trailer tires are being overloaded. Which trailer tires failed: both rear, both front, one front one back?

In general trailer tires do take considerably more abuse than car tires given the tire on a trailer absorb much more of the impact from bumps - watch your rig in the rear view mirror when you go over a bump, you will be surprised how much flexing the tires do, though maybe thats just single axle trailers like mine...

jmo

[Nautiqueman]

I only had one blowout on a tire and that was after towing about 500 miles at 75-80 mph. I don't tow that fast any more.

[shag]

Nothing but Goodyear Marathons.