Buying a Extreme Toy Hauler? Be careful, they are cutting corners to make more money and place your life at risk. They are using very low quality tires to save the bucks and raise the bottom line. In one trip to South Dakota, nearly ALL of the tires had blow-up problems. See the whole story at http://Extreme-Rvs.com

 

In first year with new Attitude 26 ft forward bed model, I had to replace three tires (one under warranty) due to failures. Then in second year I replaced all 5 remaining 15 in. wheels and tires with DOT 10 ply 16 in. truck tires. No problem since. Stock rubber on most toy haulers seems to be weakest link when loaded to capacity. I also cannot haul anything in rear of trailer due to excessive swaying from too light of tongue weight.

 

Lots of towables use low end tires. Also I think a lot of people don't keep them fully inflated. They should be kept at the maximum printed on the sidewall when cold.

I had one explode on my Patio Hauler (now made by Extreme), but I can't blame anyone else. I should have replaced that one becasue it was 6 years old, but thought it would live another couple trips to end the season... I was having a nail taken out of another tire when I mentioned to the tire guy that this particular tire seemed more rounded across the top of the tread. He said he thought it would be fine. In retrospect, I'm sure it had a seperated belt inside.

My advice would be to replace all of them as soon as possible with a good brand, maybe stepping up to 16" wheels like Old Turtle. In the mean time, check pressure daily when cold and run them at their maximum.

 

Disagree. Tire pressure should be what is recommended for the tire and the load caried. Example - recommended TP for my flatbed is 35psi. Tire sidewall says max TP is 200psi. No way would I put that kind of psi in my tires!

 

I stand corrected. I wouldn't run tires on an empty flatbed at max PSI either.

I see Maxxis and Goodyear lists a chart of various loads and pressures for trailer tires, but I see Carlisle recommends inflating their trailer tires to the maximum PSI listed on the sidewall.

Carlisle

Trailer tire link

Anyway, if I were running a flatbed around empty that had load range G tires, I probably wouldn't run those at max... Most RV trailers, though, are close to the tire's maximum weight rating when they are loaded and ready to camp. Some are actually suprisingly easy to overload, and RV's usually tip the scales empty much heavier than their listed dry weight- meaning you may have less capacity for your stuff than you think before exceeding gross vehicle weight rating.

My recomendation to Extreme23 would still be to run max psi, however, because he is likely close to the tire's max load.

Actually, I'd also recommend loading the trailer up with quads, water and camping gear and running it over a certified scale to make sure it isn't overloaded. Also one axle, or one side, may have significantly more weight than the other, and he might be able to move the load or adjust the hitch.

Lastly if he still has blowout problems, I'd just bite th bullet and get some good name brand tires, maybe even upgrade to 16" of a higher load range. Maybe Extreme would cover part of that under warranty if he's had multiple blow-outs...

 

PS... I just followed the link Extreme put in the first post. Looks like the poor guy had more problems than just tires.

The wiring on my trailer is much better protected, though they did leave saw dust and hole saw cutouts down around the furnace and stuff... I haven't really checked out their trailers since they changed from Kit to Extreme.

Anyway, that plate on the bottom of the spring pack is designed to accept shocks and isn't close to the tire on my trailer, probably because I've got straight Al-Ko 5200's on mine and those appear to be drop axles.

With the bad handling followed by tire blow-out, my other recommendation would be to take the thing to a trailer alignment shop and get it checked. It's hard to tell in that photo, but the one tire looks cambered funny... That is if Extreme23 comes back...

 

Thanks for the links. First time I've seen that. I still lean (strongly) to using he car/truck/trailer maker's recommendation for TP, rather than what the tire maker says. The vehicle maker knows the weight & load limits; the tire maker doesn't (unless it's a one-of-a-kind tire for use on one vehicle and no other). TP is a recurrent issue brought up by Click & Clack ("Car Talk" on NPR). They went into a lengthy discussion about tire failure a few months ago. Basically said that it's under- not over-inflation that causes failures, and that it's better to err with more psi than less.
Should go without saying you ned to use the right tire for the vehicle. I learned that the hard way when I was a kid. Put used passenger car tires on 2-axle flatbed, TP around 50psi, hauling a few tons of firewood, blew two tires same side at ~50mph. Actually think only one blew, other one got torn up by tire or fender debris.

 

I vary the pressure on my truck according to load based on what Dodge provided, but on the toyhauler I run max psi.

Trailer tires are a bit different than than car/truck tires. The casing is quite a bit stiffer and the rubber compound is harder (they have to scuff sideways when doing a tight turn in a double or tripple axle) and they don't tend to wear in the middle from high psi. Actually, for most people's application trailer tires get replaced due to age/heat cycles/ stress before the tread is even close to worn down to the wear bars.

In my application most of the time the trailer tires aren't too far off from their max load, anyway. If I had mobile home tires under an unloaded flatbed, though, it might be different and lower PSI might keep it from chattering/bouncing...

 

That brings up a couple of questions. We're TH gonnabes but have been around cargo & livestock trailers for decades. Up until my little blowout incident I always mounted used-but-good-tread tires. They're cheap (rearely pay more than $5 each) and what the heck it's only a trailer. I assume they were passenger vehicle tires (car/pickup). The few replacements I've bought since then have been the cheapest (= lowest guaranteed mileage life) I could find between WalMart, Sams & Hibdon.

1. How do you know TH (or any other trailer) tire is worn out if there's still good tread and the sidewalls aren't dry rotted or cracked?

2. You imply that trailers use special 'trailer tires'. ? If so, do you have to go to an RV place to get them or are they available at the tires stores or, better yet, WalMart or Sams?

 

I've gotten our tires for the TH at Discount tire. Carlisle brand, and while I wasn't pleased at the 100 dollar price, they seem to be holding up well. So far, I've had three flats from the original tires. One was a puncture, the other two were blow outs.

Going down a steep grade at 70mph, and a fully loaded trailer is not the best time to have a blowout. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] I think the worst part was that I was only 2 miles from house.