Tires Upgrade

jjbrown6818 wrote:
A little background. I have a 40 foot, 2009 Montana 5th wheel. The placard on the side says the GVWR is 15600+ and the tires that are suppose to be used are shown to be 235/80R16 Load Range E 10 ply tire. I have had the trailer weighed and it is anywhere from 11,000 to 13,500 pounds. I say any where because I have had it weighed several times over the last three years. I have blown several tires in the last few years. After many phone calls to many tire gurus and talking with Drexel Axle people I have come to the conclusion that I have to upgrade my tires to Load Range F 12 ply. Those tires are 235/85R16. This means upgrading the wheels also since the ones I have will only allow air pressure up to 80 pounds and the Load Range F require 95 pounds of pressure.

There is no scuffing of the tires and it is suggested that there is not an alignment problem. Do you know how many trailer axle alignment businesses are out there? I haven't been able to find any very close to my location. After discussions with Drexel Axle and several tire dealers, they don't think I have an alignment problem since no specific tire or tire location fails.

Basically the question is.... am I going down the right road? I have had suggestions of going to Load Range G 16 inch tires requiring 110 pounds of pressure. It has also been suggested that I go to a 19.5 tire. The G 16 and the 19.5 tires are 14 ply.

Please let me know. I am going to make the change soon and the cost can be costly.

Personally I think the 17.5” options need to be justified with your personal traveling habits. If you’re just a casual user, only doing a few thousand miles a year, the dollar value of the 17.5” rims and tires is very expensive. On the other hand, constant travel up over 15,000 miles a year would justify the expensive rims and tires.

The LT235/85R16G is manufactured in numerous brand names and is more than just adequate for your certified 6750# GAWR axles. The popular name brands may not always be easy to find, but others are, so you can often find them when most needed.

One thing to remember about that tire is its rim width. I’ve not checked the specs on all of the brand names but those that I have checked only have one acceptable rim width, 6.5”.

FastEagle