Tire Blowout Questions

PawPaw N Gram wrote:
I've seen rigs with 65% of the total trailer axle weight on one tire.

Forgive me if I come accross as argumentive, not my intent. If you have a tandem axle that is conected by an equalizer, typically in leaf spring suspensions. The weight between the front wheel and the back wheel is pretty much ballanced as long as the suspension is not bottomed out. In which case the entire load between the two is supported by the wheel that has bottomed out. All things being equal, the design of the tandem leaf spring axle is so that the weight/load is shared 50/50 between the two axles. You can have side to side load differences. More care should be used to keep that in relative check. Even that doesn't have to be 100%.

A torsion bar suspension tends to be more in line with and independ suspension on trailers. These can be loaded differently per wheel as there is no "equalizer" between the wheels/springs. Each wheel supports its own weight. The "attitude" (nose high or nose low) of the trailer will determin if the wheels are loaded heavy or light front to back. Again, all things being equal, trailer level. The weight should be about even. Side to side loading would be the same as a tandem axle and again, care should be used to keep it close.

Now, speaking to your coment about "65% of an axle being on one wheel." I would venture to say that you could probably find the same thing on most pick'm ups. They inherently are "off banalce" front to back, no big deal. Typically the fuel tank is offset in the frame so a full tank of fuel "side loads" and then depending on which side it is on, lets say the drivers side, you throw a 200 pound driver in there and there you have it, probably 15% loaded heavy on the drivers front wheel.

I think you will find this "condition" on a good number of vehicles and I don't think most folks give it another thought. If the vehicle is not listing to one side or obviously "poorly balanced," in most situations you'll probably be okay. One mans opinion.