Trailer sizes

[NashvilleTJ]

Are you selling your old trailer...

Yes - reluctantly so...

...and what did you use to make your drive over wheel covers?

Lots of tubing and diamond plate:

Where did you get the bolt down wheel chock?

Northern Tool. It's just a heavy rubber wheel chock which I drilled and counterbored to accept four big screws. Works great - and makes positioning the rig perfectly a snap.

https://www.northerntool.com/products/ironton-nylon-reinforced-rubber-wheel-chock-with-handle-29374

 

[Apparition]

18’

 

[TheBoogieman]

36'.
I bring my trailer everywhere I go. Oops, wrong forum.

 

[BC Moto]

Alot of nice trucks towing these trailers lol, I will tow with my silverado 6.2L had it regeared also

 

[Abendage]

And despite running 14 ply / G rated Carlyse tires, it blows tires with regularity - usually when making the trip to Moab at 80. It's simply overloaded.

This sounds like an axle alignment issue not an overloaded issue, especially by just 400lbs if you’re already running G rated tires. You’re already running the tires that your 15k trailer will run. We have a 16k equipment trailer at work that we’ve put well over 100k miles on with G rated tires and we’re constantly at max weight with skid steers and what not. We rarely blow tires on that trailer. We wear them out 99% of the time before we have a blow out.

 

[NashvilleTJ]

This sounds like an axle alignment issue not an overloaded issue, especially by just 400lbs if you’re already running G rated tires. You’re already running the tires that your 15k trailer will run. We have a 16k equipment trailer at work that we’ve put well over 100k miles on with G rated tires and we’re constantly at max weight with skid steers and what not. We rarely blow tires on that trailer. We wear them out 99% of the time before we have a blow out.

Good thoughts. An alignment issue would likely cause bad tire wear prior to a blowout, correct? No such wear was occurring - and I pay close attention given my history. I think I've now blown 6 tires. And given my experience I've checked the alignment of the axles, and they are true. I also thought it could be a rubbing issue, but no wear or contact marks at all on the inner fenders or the running gear.

I misspoke in my post above. The tires I run on the current trailer are not G's, they are F's (damned memory...), 12 ply. They are 15" tires at 95 psi, and the capacity is only 3k - the largest I could find for a 15" rim. The tires on the new trailer will be G's / 14 ply - 16" at 110psi, with something like 4400 pound capacity.

And one other item, I run over 1,500 miles one way when I head out to Moab. Every blow-out I've had has been deep into one of these trips. Never had a problem on shorter trips.

Hopefully better luck with the new setup.

 

[mjonesjr84]

Good thoughts. An alignment issue would likely cause bad tire wear prior to a blowout, correct? No such wear was occurring - and I pay close attention given my history. I think I've now blown 6 tires. And given my experience I've checked the alignment of the axles, and they are true. I also thought it could be a rubbing issue, but no wear or contact marks at all on the inner fenders or the running gear.

I misspoke in my post above. The tires I run on the current trailer are not G's, they are F's (damned memory...), 12 ply. They are 15" tires at 95 psi, and the capacity is only 3k - the largest I could find for a 15" rim. The tires on the new trailer will be G's / 14 ply - 16" at 110psi, with something like 4400 pound capacity.

And one other item, I run over 1,500 miles one way when I head out to Moab. Every blow-out I've had has been deep into one of these trips. Never had a problem on shorter trips.

Hopefully better luck with the new setup.

View attachment 652272

You'll like the wear on the 16" G-rated tires compared to the 15" tires. Even with my tri-axle set up, I have zero scruff wear from the tires dragging when turning.

 

[Abendage]

Good thoughts. An alignment issue would likely cause bad tire wear prior to a blowout, correct? No such wear was occurring - and I pay close attention given my history. I think I've now blown 6 tires. And given my experience I've checked the alignment of the axles, and they are true. I also thought it could be a rubbing issue, but no wear or contact marks at all on the inner fenders or the running gear.

I misspoke in my post above. The tires I run on the current trailer are not G's, they are F's (damned memory...), 12 ply. They are 15" tires at 95 psi, and the capacity is only 3k - the largest I could find for a 15" rim. The tires on the new trailer will be G's / 14 ply - 16" at 110psi, with something like 4400 pound capacity.

And one other item, I run over 1,500 miles one way when I head out to Moab. Every blow-out I've had has been deep into one of these trips. Never had a problem on shorter trips.

Hopefully better luck with the new setup.

View attachment 652272

Yeah, usually you’d notice tire wear before a blowout, unless it was so bad that they got hot enough for a blowout before you noticed wear. Still pretty crazy, I don’t have any 1,500 mile non-stop trips that I can think of but I have lots of 500-1,000 and once I switched to G’s blowouts became far and few between.

For future reference, Transeagle makes a G rated 14ply in 225/75/15 with around a 3,400lb load rating. I’ve had good luck with them on my 5’er.

 

[BlueC]

I think I've now blown 6 tires

I run over 1,500 miles one way when I head out to Moab. Every blow-out I've had has been deep into one of these trips. Never had a problem on shorter trips

It can't help you with the past, but maybe some Info for the future. Back when I had a job as a tractor and trailer mechanic (really just an underpaid parts changer) I was taught by a Michelin commercial tire rep that blowouts are cause by heat build up, almost always from being under pressure, I think overloading also builds heat, but it's significantly less frequent. He taught us that a property inflated tire should gain around 5% PSI cold-to-run temp, and no more than 10% in PSI. You say you run at 95 PSI, which is the max on the tire you posted, have you kept check on pressures while on the trip?

 

[NashvilleTJ]

It can't help you with the past, but maybe some Info for the future. Back when I had a job as a tractor and trailer mechanic (really just an underpaid parts changer) I was taught by a Michelin commercial tire rep that blowouts are cause by heat build up, almost always from being under pressure, I think overloading also builds heat, but it's significantly less frequent. He taught us that a property inflated tire should gain around 5% PSI cold-to-run temp, and no more than 10% in PSI. You say you run at 95 PSI, which is the max on the tire you posted, have you kept check on pressures while on the trip?

I've never checked to see how much the pressure increases during a trip. I'm certain they heat up, but no idea how much. My main concern has always been low pressure, which I check quickly with a billy-club at each stop. The stated max psi on any tire is the cold pressure, which I always verify prior to a trip.

I guess the irony is that is you start with a lower pressure, to compensate for the increase in pressure, you decrease the carrying capacity of the tire. Catch-22.

 

[BlueC]

I guess the irony is that is you start with a lower pressure, to compensate for the increase in pressure

I'm not sure if I'm following correctly, but are you under the impression that the stated cold PSI max is to not be exceed while moving? If so that's not quite accurate. You're 95 PSI should run up to 100-105 PSI, but not get much beyond that range. Getting beyond that indicated issues. Try checking your tire pressures before and again 30 minutes into your next trip and see where you're at.

Also, I'd assume significant elevation and/or ambient temp changes can have an effect, but to what extent IDK.

 

[NashvilleTJ]

I'm not sure if I'm following correctly, but are you under the impression that the stated cold PSI max is to not be exceed while moving? If so that's not quite accurate. You're 95 PSI should run up to 100-105 PSI, but not get much beyond that range. Getting beyond that indicated issues. Try checking your tire pressures before and again 30 minutes into your next trip and see where you're at.

Also, I'd assume significant elevation and/or ambient temp changes can have an effect, but to what extent IDK.

No, I understand. Just an offhanded comment that if you know the pressure is going to exceed the 10% or so expected increase because of overloading, you can't correct that by starting at a lower pressure. No more thought into that comment that that.

 

[GATORB8]

Alot of nice trucks towing these trailers lol, I will tow with my silverado 6.2L had it regeared also

I was going to mention this is an important piece of the equation.

I wouldn't pull my trailer, or many of the others here, with a half ton. For example, the trailer I posted weighs almost 4k by itself. There are a lot of magic tow ratings on half tons that I would not recommend getting anywhere near.

Ours and a few others have posted drive over fenders, it's important to know the widest you expect to build your rig, a standard (deck between the fenders) trailer may not be wide enough for tons and big tires.

If I were running a half ton, I would highly consider an aluminum trailer, or even a partially decked car hauler style to get the weight down. A partial deck will limit your ability to use the trailer for general use, though.

 

[mjonesjr84]

If I were running a half ton, I would highly consider an aluminum trailer, or even a partially decked car hauler style to get the weight down. A partial deck will limit your ability to use the trailer for general use, though.

When I had my 14k equipment trailer that I hauled the TJ on, I pulled it with my Silverado 1500 3.0 Duramax. The trailer and TJ weighed about 1,800# lower than it's Max towing capacity. It pulled it great and got 16-17 MPG running 75.

Since building the crawler hauler, I've now got a 3/4 ton Duramax for obvious reasons . This grosses in at 24,895#.

I always start at the max cold PSI in the tires. These are 110 PSI. The highest I've seen the GM TPMS in the trailer tires read was 122 PSI and an internal temp of 130°F.

 

[Apparition]

Where you plan to tow has a lot to do with your tow rig choice. My F150 was a pulling machine in the Midwest.

I70 said I needed more when I had to leave that truck in Moab and get the transmission replaced.

Now with the 1 ton Superduty I literally check my mirrors to confirm the jeep is still back there. The truck doesn’t care at all.

In the pictures I previously posted of my old trailer you can see the brackets for my weight distribution hitch. It was required for that F150 and I’ve never missed not having it on the F350 because this truck doesn’t care what’s behind it.

 

[NashvilleTJ]

When I had my 14k equipment trailer that I hauled the TJ on, I pulled it with my Silverado 1500 3.0 Duramax. The trailer and TJ weighed about 1,800# lower than it's Max towing capacity. It pulled it great and got 16-17 MPG running 75.

Since building the crawler hauler, I've now got a 3/4 ton Duramax for obvious reasons . This grosses in at 24,895#.

I always start at the max cold PSI in the tires. These are 110 PSI. The highest I've seen the GM TPMS in the trailer tires read was 122 PSI and an internal temp of 130°F.

View attachment 652279

MJ - Does the GM TPMS work with full steel tires like those Carlyses I run? I looked into getting the Ford version but it stated that it would not function when used with such tires.

 

[E-Ticket]

I’ve been using an aftermarket TPMS system on my trailer. It is not very elegant but I don’t mind the monitor on my dash when towing. I added the signal amplifier to ensure connection between the receiver and the wheel transmitters. So far after a small sample size of about 6k miles, has worked well.

And for the benefit of the OP’s original question, I’ve got a 20’ aluminum 10k car hauler dual axle brakes with a wood deck, just about 2,000 lbs. empty. Tows my LJ well and has room for anything else I may need to tow or some utility hauling needs.

Tymate RV Tire Pressure... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07S7CP3PB?tag=wranglerorg-20

 

[mjonesjr84]

MJ - Does the GM TPMS work with full steel tires like those Carlyses I run? I looked into getting the Ford version but it stated that it would not function when used with such tires.

Mine do yes. I have full steel wheels and 14 ply tires. My only issue is how far my sensors are from the receiver. Sometimes they cut in and out.

I didn't want another screen when the truck had the capability. I also added the rear trailer camera to the back of the RV to check on the TJ and back up.

 

[Rickyd]

Where you plan to tow has a lot to do with your tow rig choice. My F150 was a pulling machine in the Midwest.

I70 said I needed more when I had to leave that truck in Moab and get the transmission replaced.

Now with the 1 ton Superduty I literally check my mirrors to confirm the jeep is still back there. The truck doesn’t care at all.

In the pictures I previously posted of my old trailer you can see the brackets for my weight distribution hitch. It was required for that F150 and I’ve never missed not having it on the F350 because this truck doesn’t care what’s behind it.

That truck has around 1000 lb ft before even getting into tunes right?

 

[Apparition]

That truck has around 1000 lb ft before even getting into tunes right?

Yes, yes it does.