New tires won't hold air

[bruceb58]

Re: New tires won't hold air

He jacked it up and put the blocks under the tires instead of under the axles.

Which makes zero sense.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: New tires won't hold air

Which makes zero sense.

Correct, but it sounds like what he did

 

[oldjeep]

Re: New tires won't hold air

In the last 2 years I mail ordered tires for 2 of my trailers and goit them cheaper than local. I found that buying the tire/wheel combo was cheaper than just a tire and paying for mounting. They mounted them for free and included a free valve stem. The shipping wasn't really that much, and I saved sales tax. I then sold the old tire/wheel on CL and recouped 25% of my investment. It was a high volume dealer and the tires were all only a few months old. I'll never buy trailer tires local again!

I get all mine at etrailer, can't beat the price and my BL trailer uses a goofy size/load rating that I couldn't ever find locally anyways.

 

[steelespike]

Re: New tires won't hold air

This probably won't help much but::
In 2007 I bought a 17ft. Load Rite Trailer rated for 1000 lbs. Put the boat on it a dragged it home 100 miles. Unfortunately it's been sitting in the garage ever since.It's on concrete normal central NY temps. To this point the 480 X 12 Loadstar "made in Taiwan" tires
appear to feel and look normal and are still close to full inflation.The mold flash is still all there and feels right.
After reading this Thread I'm worried about some slightly hard to find 175/80R/13 car tires I found at about $260 for 4 including shipping.Appears to be a well established vendor on ebay.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: New tires won't hold air

After reading this Thread I'm worried about some slightly hard to find 175/80R/13 car tires I found at about $260 for 4 including shipping.Appears to be a well established vendor on ebay.

I paid less than that for that same size mounted and balanced for trailer tires.

 

[lckstckn2smknbrls]

Re: New tires won't hold air

Which makes zero sense.

True but he may have been parking it on dirt and didn't want it sinking in to the ground.

 

[steelespike]

Re: New tires won't hold air

I paid less than that for that same size mounted and balanced for trailer tires.

These were the correct white wall stripe tires. Were yours 4 mounted balanced and shipped?
From my limited wanderings black wall trailer tires tended to run less than passenger tires.
I've seen the 175.80R13 as high as the $200 dollar range, Just the tires. Of course these were were from a Chevy Corvair site.

 

[YoungMind]

Re: New tires won't hold air

I have always used Trail America tires. Landscaping trailer, 10ft high wall trailer, rebuilt trailer for my grandfathers 19ft Stratos, all have Trail America and they are great. Funny thing is they came from the same supplier iboats uses

Granted this is all dependent on what is available near you but I recommend them to anyone that asks about trailer tires. :decision:

 

[bruceb58]

Re: New tires won't hold air

Were yours 4 mounted balanced and shipped?

These were at the tire dealer I work with so no shipping was needed. Mounted and balanced. Passenger tires are always much less.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: New tires won't hold air

I have always used Trail America tires. Landscaping trailer, 10ft high wall trailer, rebuilt trailer for my grandfathers 19ft Stratos, all have Trail America and they are great. Funny thing is they came from the same supplier iboats uses

Granted this is all dependent on what is available near you but I recommend them to anyone that asks about trailer tires. :decision:

I hope they are good, that is what came on my new to me Malibu trailer. Had never heard of them before.

 

[junkpile]

Re: New tires won't hold air

"When I parked it, I set the air pressure at 60psi, and put the tires up on blocks, well off the ground and covered the whole boat.
When I reseated and pumped up the tires, both have dry rot cracks all over, especially where they sat flat. "


well off the ground ..... where they sat flat...

I park all my trailers atop several cinder blocks topped with a 2x12 pt board.
I simply set the blocks up, then lift the boat and trailer onto them when I park it, the tongue is then jacked up to keep the bow well higher than the stern. That boat weighs only a few hundred pounds at best, I can easily lift the boat and trailer myself.
The boat cover completely covers the hull and hangs well over the tires. I also slip on canvas tire covers that were meant for a motorhome. Sunlight or ground contact should not be an issue. The spare is in the garage under a table with several others.
The part that I don't get is that I've got a trash can cart made from an old trailer axle with 480x8 tires on it, the tires on it are Goodyear brand and at least 25 years old, those show no signs of rot and I've not had to add air in years. The cart has no fenders, the tires are in full sunlight all the time.
The driveway and back yard are on a slope, I'd have to dig out a flat area to stack up blocks to support the axle rather than the tires. The boat and trailer are light, maybe 400lbs total, it doesn't even compress the sidewalls. The trailer GVW is only 700lbs on that one. My thought in supporting the tires vs. the axle is that PT wood would attach the steel axle and not likely hurt the tires.
I also flip the boat over for winter storage, plus a heavy tarp staked down all around. The other boat, about 1400lbs sits under a metal carport with two open ends, no sunlight gets to the tires and its parked on patio blocks atop 3/4" quarry stone.
Again however, this don't explain why the new spare rotted just as fast inside the garage.

Shipping far exceeds sales tax, local sales tax is only 3.5% here. The best price I got for shipping was over $65 for four tires. The tires were bit more locally but not enough to justify the shipping.

So far I've not found a single supplier that sells Carlisle, so far it looks like everyone has gone to only Kenda other than Tractor Supply who has Hi Run Tires.

 

[JimS123]

Re: New tires won't hold air

25 years ago Goodyear were USA tires and they lasted a long time.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: New tires won't hold air

I simply set the blocks up, then lift the boat and trailer onto them when I park it, the tongue is then jacked up to keep the bow well higher than the stern.

So, why do you put the tires on top of the blocks?

 

[junkpile]

Re: New tires won't hold air

So, why do you put the tires on top of the blocks?

I try and get the boat as high off the ground as I can, if not the trailer and tires get rain splashed with dirt and mud. I don't have pavement to park on otherwise, and the back yard there is all dirt, sand, and mud.
If I put the axle on blocks, I'd need a stack of four cement blocks to get the boat high enough.
I doubt parking the boat up on blocks does much to prevent dry rot or to add to it for that matter but it keeps the boat and trailer a lot cleaner. It also lets me put the motor all the way down for winter storage.
I've thought about laying two rows of blocks with a wood or concrete cap which would let me run ramps so I could just back the trailer onto the blocks but its not that big a deal to just lift the boat onto the blocks.
There's not enough weight on the wheels to be concerned with flat spotting the tires. I can lift the trailer pretty easily by just grabbing the back of the bunks.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: New tires won't hold air

I try and get the boat as high off the ground as I can, if not the trailer and tires get rain splashed with dirt and mud. I don't have pavement to park on otherwise, and the back yard there is all dirt, sand, and mud.
If I put the axle on blocks, I'd need a stack of four cement blocks to get the boat high enough.
I doubt parking the boat up on blocks does much to prevent dry rot or to add to it for that matter but it keeps the boat and trailer a lot cleaner. It also lets me put the motor all the way down for winter storage.
I've thought about laying two rows of blocks with a wood or concrete cap which would let me run ramps so I could just back the trailer onto the blocks but its not that big a deal to just lift the boat onto the blocks.
There's not enough weight on the wheels to be concerned with flat spotting the tires. I can lift the trailer pretty easily by just grabbing the back of the bunks.

There are these things called jackstands

 

[fishrdan]

Re: New tires won't hold air

I just looked at my 6-7 years old "Duro" tires on a trailer (Harbor Freight special) in the garage, no weather checking or cracking at all, still plenty of tread left too and I probably have 5-6,000 miles on them.

My trailer tires sitting in the sun all day, weather checked in 1-2 years... :facepalm: I'm going to start covering them like Bob_VT suggested.

Used to, maybe 30 years ago. All the goodyears I've seen in recent years are china or mexico.

"Used to" on that too. I think they got a LOT of backlash from consumers about their "premium" Marathon tires, being made in China (etc.) They are now making selected sizes of Marathon's i the US or Canada again, I looked at several sizes in WalMart and they were all made in the USA. I had a set years ago that were made in New Zealand that were very good.

 

[junkpile]

Re: New tires won't hold air

The yard slopes off to the rear to much to use jack stands, and that would also mean that if the boat got knocked off the jack stands, they would most likely go right though the hull. I have to back the boat in from a rear alley, the ground slope is in the wrong direction for the boat to drain. I put two or three blocks under the tires and the put enough under the tongue so it's about 6' off the ground. If i don't do this, it gets covered in dirt splashing up from the ground when it rains.
I actually just had a trailer ball welded to a 6' pipe to support the tongue to eliminate the stack of blocks under the tongue.
Either way, none of this has anything to do with tires dry rotting n less than a year.
I found a new set of US made Carlisle Trail USA tires over the weekend but their dated 6/2004. I've seen dealers with trailer tires over 10 years old.

I'd put car tires on it if they sold a 12" passenger tire. Every dealer so far has told me it's an obsolete size.

 

[I`mNotMe]

Re: New tires won't hold air

.

Not too sure why trailer tires would rot within a year.

For my trailer tires, I always "up size" to next size up.

For example…
- If my boat trailer has factory 13" ST175/80 tires, then I do upgrade to 13" ST185/80R-13" Or, up size to ST185/80D13 (bias)
- If wondering, this ST185/80 holds 150 lbs more than standard ST175/80 trailer tire.
This "up size" converts to 300 lbs more. Good buffer for those double railway tracks.

By "up sizing" axle, leaf spring packs and tires when needing replacement, I've yet to encounter a problem with my trailers.

.

 

[I`mNotMe]

Re: New tires won't hold air

Double post...

 

[junkpile]

Re: New tires won't hold air

Actually, the tires are upsized from 4.80x8 to the 12' tires on it now, the wheels were changed and the axle flipped to the top of the springs. The trailer is more than enough for a 500lb rig. Keep in mind this is only a 15' aluminum boat with a tiller motor.
Going to 13" wheels would mean new fenders, new fender brackets, etc, plus much more expensive tires.
The issue isn't in tire capability, its tire longevity due to dry rot cracking.
If only the tires on the trailer dry rotted, I'd say maybe its environment related, but the spare tire rotted in the garage, stored in a dark corner under the work bench.