FastEagle wrote:
All fingers should be pointed at the DOT. I’ve spent many hours searching for studies that describe the dynamics of the RV trailer and the effects that may differ from tire usage on other vehicles. It cannot be found. The RV trailer can be 13’ tall, more than 8’ wide and more than 43’ long. They can have single, dual, or triple axles with combined loads exceeding 20000# on the axles. The axles (more than one) are almost always close together and cannot be sharing the total loads equally.
With few exceptions the Special Trailer (ST) tire endures the wrath.
On the few trailers with 8000# axles or larger, the low platform truck trailer tires are performing well. They also have oodles of excess load capacity.
In my opinion, the OE tire failure percentages will not decrease until the DOT steps in and, in some way, patches-up the loop-holes in the existing regulations for RV trailer tires.
FastEagle
ST tires endure the wrath of horse trailers and boat trailers owners also. Send them back to small utility trailers where they started! Problems will be a lot less. I am sure that the height of 5th wheels puts extra loading on the tires, but how do you explain the failures on all the other trailer types, other than the overall quality and lack of necessary construction of ST
LT and commercial truck tires seem to able handle these conditions much better than the light weight ST tires.
I am sold on the steel carcass offerings for this kind of service. If I had a larger trailer it would be on 17.5" rims and LRH commercial tires. Knowledgeable manufacturers and consumers are making the transition to such wheels and tires.
Chris
