New 27HFS - tire/wheel upgrade? - and tongue weight ?

[CHD Dad]

Hello All! We just put a deposit down on a 2015 27HFS tonight. We're trading in our SP295 on it next week when we get back from the holiday weekend trip and they are installing a second bed or Happijack in the back for us. The layout looks ideal for the family and all our small toys - bikes, kayaks, etc.

I had a question on the wheels and tires. We upgraded (unfortunately recently) the 14" wheels on our SP295 to 15" wheels with LT D range tires, Goodyear Wranglers. Made a HUGE difference in how well it towed plus no more worries of running at restricted low speed or load. We were never overloaded and I ran across the CAT and checked tires religiously and we still had two tires blow on us before upgrading.

I saw that the 27 comes with 15" rims stock but it had Westlake tires which I have heard nothing at all that is good. They had that huge recall a few years ago and I just flat out dont trust cheap tires when I have a fam of 5 plus our dogs to worry about.

Anybody upgrade tires? I cant find any LT tires that have a high enough load rating, our Goodyear D are only 2085 at 65psi. We wont be hauling heavy in the 27 ever, we dont have any big toys - carts, motorcycles, etc. I am guessing we may load at max - 500lbs in the garage and that is if we packed all our gear back there. We mainly want the garage so we can easily store our bikes back there, wet boats, wet dogs, etc. and with the beds up will give the kids a nice huge play room and a great place for the dogs to hang out when we need to leave them for short trips out.

Anybody upgrade to 16" rims and tires? That would open up a ton of options in the LT range. I thought I read a few reports of the stock 15" rubbing in certain instances. I am not sure if I can find a close 16" tire OD wise to the stock 15". The 14" on the 295 were small to start so it was easy to go up.

We live in the south and camp farther south quite a bit so lots of sun and heat plus 10+ hour drives on the highway = lots of tire stress. This very possibly could be a deal breaker if we cant get some decent tires under there. I may try the Goodyears and then weigh it to see if they will work for our intended loads

The light load in the back brings up my second question - tongue weight. I know TH tongue weights run heavy with the idea that people load the garage with 1500lbs of toys and that takes a lot of weight off. Of course I read on here of issues with sway when people get too much in the garage! Does anyone see any issues with running a heavy tongue all the time other than some added stress to the TV?

Thanks for any info. We've got a week to wait on picking it up and to figure it all out!

[WolfWhistle]

I'm camping with spotty bandwidth. I will reply when I get home WW

[youroo]

Take the (New 15" Goodyear W/T) that you are happy with and put them on the New unit! The (Westlakes) can go on the (Old unit)! Youroo!! (Restricted Low Speed) are you saying 65 MPH with (5 people and 2 dogs) towing a 30' TH is SLOW?

[CHD Dad]

Originally Posted by youroo

Take the (New 15" Goodyear W/T) that you are happy with and put them on the New unit! The (Westlakes) can go on the (Old unit)! Youroo!! (Restricted Low Speed) are you saying 65 MPH with (5 people and 2 dogs) towing a 30' TH is SLOW?

I am saying I dont want to stare at my speedo all the time when the speed limit is 70mph plus and I am being passed like I am standing still by little old lady's in Caddys.... After my first blowout with the OEM tires I put a wireless TPMS on, bought Maxxis trailer tires and kept it at 65max on the nose and tended to stay under that if possible. Still had a blowout. Checked axles, they were aligned correctly. Checked other 3 tires manually since TPMS said they were OK, they were fine. Tire wear was even. Only thing we could figure out (I asked on forums and locally) is that the tires were just plain undersized for that size of a camper. 14" C rated tires where there was only around 75# per tires in extra capacity if we fully loaded for a long trip.

I want extra safety capacity. I am not saying I am going to tow at 65+, I dont plan on it ever. I want one less thing to worry about and I want to make sure I have the safest tires possible.

My sales guy said we can most likely swap tires. Only issue is size (for them). My LT's are 215/75-15 the stock Westlakes are 225/75-15. I dont mind going slightly smaller on the TH as long as I stay within their weight range. The only LT's I can find that will hold the full load are 16". We were hoping to just swap rims and tires but the new 27HFS has 6 lug wheels vs. the 5 lug on the SP295.

[CHD Dad]

Just heard back from the dealer - they want $300 to swap the tires! I thought that was a bit high and then we broke it down together.

10 wheels to take off (4 plus spare - 2 trailers)
10 tires to dismount and remount
10 tires to balance
10 wheels to reinstall.

I guess $30/ea to do all that isnt horrible... We got what I think is a fantastic deal on the XLR and we beat them up over 3 days to get the price where we wanted with the extra bed in the back so they arent budging on trying to help! They matched RV Wholesalers price on the unit and ended up giving us $2000 over KBB on our trade. Beat the next guys by near $3000.

[Cathcartww]

You have a few more choices in the 15" diameter. As mentioned, the Maaxis M8008 comes in load range E (80 psi) and is a very well respected tire. There are a few other manufacturers that offer a Load Range E ST tire, but Goodyear does not seem to be one of them.
Goodyear does make the Cargo G26 http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....5G26&tab=Sizes which is rated for "all position" including trailers and comes in 225/70R15 size which usually fits instead of 225/75R15. This tire is sometimes used on the euro-style (think Sprinter) vans, and is made in Europe. It is a well respected tire on various RV forums and at 65 psi, has a capacity of 2,470 pounds.

[CHD Dad]

I remember looking at the G26 before we bought our Wranger LT's. The local shops including Goodyear wanted near $300/ea! That price on Tire Rack is great for that tire.

I dont really trust any trailer tire after blowing out a M8008 on the SP295. Granted that was a 14" C tire but they were still rated among the "best" trailer tires. I tried buying Kumho's trailer tire but they were backordered at the time. They are also well rated, I think it's the 857 Trailer. I would prefer to stick to an LT highway tire if I can.

I am looking into swapping out the 15" for 16" and running LT E range tires. Tons of choices in a 16" E and I'll never remotely come close to maxing them out.

[WolfWhistle]

Hi CHDD and welcome.

Watch out for little old ladies driving 400+ HP caddys.

D rated tires are well within load limits on your 27, but if I have to have "E" rated to feel safe...

May I suggest Maxxis D rated in stock size or the Hercules Ironman ST-SVP in a 10 ply, either will fit the stock rim, with the ST-SVP rated @ 2830# single, probably 600# more capacity than you need per tire with a full load. A member Northstar99, swapped Westies for Hercules, maybe he will comment. All these are orient in origin as are the Westlakes that I'll stick with.

Results | Hercules Tires

I would also not tow above 65 mph. I usually keep it around 62, for safety and fuel economy especially when pulling a big brick like we pull; when something goes wrong with 9000# trailing, it goes wrong in biblical porportions.

Blow outs with proper pressure, low speed and weight not over the load limit are rare, but they do happen. And, probably will again, if you keep trailering.

Everyone gets their rigs weighed but seldom do we know how much each tire is carrying, you can't get that on the CAT scales. Over kill on the tire rating would lessen the likelyhood of one tire being over the limit, I suppose.

If you go with 16" and LT tires, make sure you have plenty of fender well clearance.

[dave961]

After putting 4,000 on the dealer tires, I felt I was pushing my luck and put 4 new Maxxis 8008's on it. They aren't cheap, but I've had a blowout on the road and don't feel like doing that again.

[Taranwanderer]

I looked at upgrading to LT tires, but to get the same load capacity as my E-rated ST, I needed to go up a size, and there isn't room in my fenderwells or between my tires. So I'm sticking with the ST Westlakes, TPMS in place. If I get a big wad of cash burning a hole in my pocket, I may upgrade to the GY G614, but at $385 a tire, it'll have to be a large wad.

The STs are designed to do what we do. Just don't drive Warp 7 and keep an eye on the temp and pressure with TPMS. Good luck!

[WolfWhistle]

Originally Posted by Cathcartww

.... Goodyear does make the Cargo G26 http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....5G26&tab=Sizes which is rated for "all position" including trailers and comes in 225/70R15 size which usually fits instead of 225/75R15.... at 65 psi, has a capacity of 2,470 pounds.

You know the G26 is a D rated tire?

I did find Marathons E rated, but only in 16"

I've have traveled about 7000 miles on Westies and there is no sign of any wear, which as we know is more about keeping pressure right and alignment on the trailer itself. I should have TPMS but I do check tires time before setting out, each travel day and monitor occassionally with IR gun a couple times a day. TPMS is in my future before I leave for the west coast.

With the 29 traveling, I am right at 9000# total with the bike and loaded for bear. Like this, TW is slightly over 900#. Also, with mods (the new dry weight) only the Trailer weighted 7640# with 1260# TW. Front axle shows 4100# rear 4000# and if side to side is balanced (?), the front axle tires are carrying 2050# each... far below their rating (D).