tires for alaska to dallas trailer

wilsonintexas · 07-30-2018, 02:40 AM

I am going to be driving a rv from Anchorage to Dallas.
I picked up an aluminum trailer with duel axles and electric brakes rated for 4500 pounds.

It came with 6 new (still have mold seams on them)

But they are only 10 inch rims.

The tires are rated as 10 ply and have the load rating to handle the trailer fully loaded.

I will have a TPMS on the trailer,

I am use to 15 inch tires on my other trailers and think that the larger tires would handle some of the poor road conditions I am likely to have on the norther end of the trip.

Has anyone towed a trailer on 10 inch rims on a 4000 mile trip?

youroo · 07-30-2018, 05:29 AM

Info is Sketchy but it sounds like this trailer Might be a "Snowmobile/Quad" hauler type unit! The Plus for this type of trailer is they have a LOW deck height for easy loading,the Downside is they have 10" Tires! The 10" Tire "Dependability" goes "Out the Door Fast" with "Speed/Heat/Overload/Potholes/Incorrect Tire Pressure/and Cheap TIRES"!

The Key Indicator is a Dual Axle trailer coming with 6 Tires! I wish I had a Dollar$ for every 10" "Black Donut" we have seen along the highways during the Winter from Snowmobile trailers with 10" tires! I would NOT try to go 4000 miles with this trailer loaded at 4500 #!

Youroo!!

CedarCreekWoody · 07-30-2018, 05:32 AM

Wow, those are small tires for that much weight. I had similar tires on a pontoon boat trailer, albeit much lighter. The tire failures I had were due to old tires, which you may not have, but my concern was wheel bearing failure due to the high rpm of the small circumference tires. I would certainly carry extra bearings and the tools to replace them.

jd50i · 07-30-2018, 05:37 AM

Check the speed rating, the 10" tires I have had were limited to 45mph, I swapped them to 12"

CampingGator · 07-30-2018, 05:37 AM

And carry extra tires so you have them to change when needed.

wilsonintexas · 07-31-2018, 02:47 PM

I got around to checking the tires.
I do not think that these are the small donut tires

Does this change anything?

New tires and rims are approaching $900 up here in Alaska. (freight kills us)

These are pictures of the side of the tire, the size

and the dot stamp.

I see a load rating but I do not see a speed rating.

TTED · 07-31-2018, 03:16 PM

I have found some tire/rim combos at Tractor supply that were reasonable and would hold the loads you are referring too.

wilsonintexas · 07-31-2018, 03:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TTED

I have found some tire/rim combos at Tractor supply that were reasonable and would hold the loads you are referring too.

In Texas there is a tractor supply close to my house. But that is where I am headed. There are none in Alaska. Freight kills us if we ship it up.

wilsonintexas · 08-03-2018, 12:34 PM

We =were originally going to load the trailer with abut 3000 pounds of stuff. BUT my daughter decided that we are going to ship most of it and are not going to haul as much down. Maybe 2000 pounds, which is 1/2 of the trailer capacity.

I have a set of tpms caps that I will add to the trailer and go with the tires I have. I have 2 new spares and a third one that is worn on one side (he did not inflate them to full pressure)

If I run into problems I will stop along the way and change out the tires. They should be more reasonable down in the lower 48.

If I run into problems I will let you know.

CedarCreekWoody · 08-03-2018, 01:02 PM

Good luck with the drive. We will be looking for you here in texas!

pgandw · 08-05-2018, 06:26 PM

Having made the trip from Kodiak to San Francisco, you will probably be OK if you minimize the amount of driving on gravel roads. The gravel used, especially in Kodiak and up towards Fairbanks and north of Tok, slices tire tread pretty quickly.

The other issue is making sure the bearings are in good shape and well-lubed with decent dust caps. In Juneau and other SE towns, glacier silt is used for snow treatment. That stuff is really nasty and corrosive - we had to "wash" our vehicles with WD-40 to clean the stuff off the paint. It can tear up your brake cylinders, shoes, and rotors, as well as your wheel bearings. Ask me how I know.

Enjoy the drive - we did. We did have to replace a boat trailer tire in Northern BC when the tread peeled off. The TV - Ford Explorer - already had 8 ply tires due to living in Kodiak. One of the boat trailer bearing dust caps fell off in middle BC - I covered the hub with Saran wrap until we could find a replacement.

Fred W
former resident of Juneau and Kodiak

wilsonintexas · 08-05-2018, 10:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pgandw

Having made the trip from Kodiak to San Francisco, you will probably be OK if you minimize the amount of driving on gravel roads. The gravel used, especially in Kodiak and up towards Fairbanks and north of Tok, slices tire tread pretty quickly.

The other issue is making sure the bearings are in good shape and well-lubed with decent dust caps. In Juneau and other SE towns, glacier silt is used for snow treatment. That stuff is really nasty and corrosive - we had to "wash" our vehicles with WD-40 to clean the stuff off the paint. It can tear up your brake cylinders, shoes, and rotors, as well as your wheel bearings. Ask me how I know.

Enjoy the drive - we did. We did have to replace a boat trailer tire in Northern BC when the tread peeled off. The TV - Ford Explorer - already had 8 ply tires due to living in Kodiak. One of the boat trailer bearing dust caps fell off in middle BC - I covered the hub with Saran wrap until we could find a replacement.

Fred W
former resident of Juneau and Kodiak

Thanks a lot for the comment.

The bearing have all been repacked, The seals are all in place. I think that they are bearing buddies, so I may pump some more grease in them along the way.

I expect to have at least 1 flat.

I will have tire pressure monitors on all of the tires, including the trailer. at least I can see if one is overheating or going flat.

I have 2 new spares and a third one that is pretty worn, but would let me limp to the next town.

I have 6 new tires on the RV and 1 good mounted spare. I am taking 2 unmounted tires that have plenty of tread, but they are getting old so I did not trust them. They would do in a pinch as a spare.

I also have both patch and plug kits

I have a 3hp compressor mounted in one of the storage compartments that runs off of the generator. So I could air up a low tire after putting a plug into it.

I do not have a big tire sledge, so I do not think that I could mount a new tire on the road, but if I have to use a spare, I will stop at the next town and get the flat fixed, or mount a replacement.

At least with the RV I can stop for the night and even wait for a day or two if places are not open on the weekend.

I have a flexible schedule, so the trip will take as long as it takes.

My daughter has the entire Harry Potter set of books either on tape or CD. So I have until I have heard all of them for the rip.

I did get a satellite radio module for the new radio I put in, but I do not want to start the subscription unless I have to.

wilsonintexas · 09-13-2018, 11:32 PM

the problem was that the axle has been previously bent and failed at the canada border. see the post "what a trip"

AudiDudi · 09-13-2018, 11:49 PM

THose look to be the same 10 inch tires that ACME uses for its EZTow car dolly.

wilsonintexas · 09-14-2018, 06:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AudiDudi

THose look to be the same 10 inch tires that ACME uses for its EZTow car dolly.

could be. The tires would have been fine if the axle had not bent.

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