Woodcutting with a TC report. Naches WA

Hey there wrote:
Hi,
Not much comment on the trailer tires. So here is my take on them. The Carlisle tires that I Had (emphasis on "had") were cotton cord, bias ply tires. I replaced them with radial ply Michilon LT tires and have no more problems. Check those new tires to see if they are radial ply or bias ply. I was told by a tire store rep that trailer tires had great side loads placed on them and thus I "had" to use "trailer" tires. I asked him to explain to me how the side load of a 2000 pound trailer was greater than the side load on the front tires of a 12000 pound truck (with TC on truck) when making a turn. He had no answer. Just the mantra to buy "trailer tires".

Well I'm with you on the LT tires if I could, but as stated my trusted tire shop close to home who I do a lot of business with (I have a fleet of over 10 vehicles) and have been very satisfied with over 20 years now told me he doesn't carry any LT rated tires that go 80psi on a 15 inch rim and couldn't mount them if he had them. I'm not going to argue with him over it, and he did make the situation right by replacing all my tires, for the cost of two new ones, and heck if I could do that every 5 years I'd be happy. I do know that trailer tires do skid more sideways, especially if you do tight turns, such as backing into spaces. But like you I'm kind of skeptical whether a LT tire would hold up just as well. I've read a lot of folks in this forum use LT tires and I'll see how these Power Kings hold up before I make the switch in a couple years on my travel trailer where a blow out previously did body damage to the trailer. I have a 1951 International pickup and it has retreads on it from the 70's and I'm still driving with those tires (split rims with inner tubes), it just seems like certain things from the old days lasted a bit longer. I had Michelin tires (load range E) on my pickup that were only 7 years old and had ton's of tread left but the sidewalls were all dry rotted and I couldn't haul my camper with them, so I bought my Toyo's from my Les Schwab dealer because I know he will stand by them. Thanks for your input "Hey There",Hans