Tire blowouts
I have a 27' 5th wheel. Over the years I have had (5) blowouts. I have 15", E rated tires from Les Schwabb for trailers. I have two 5200 # axles with the 5th wheel being rated at GVWR of 12,000 #. A f...
Forum Discussion
Hamnet wrote:
I have a 27' 5th wheel. Over the years I have had (5) blowouts. I have 15", E rated tires from Les Schwabb for trailers. I have two 5200 # axles with the 5th wheel being rated at GVWR of 12,000 #. A few questions,
(1) I have had in storage for twelve months with little use.
(2) bent axles a possibility?
(3) wheels out of alignment?
I am looking at going with 7000 # axles, stay with 15" tires or should I go with 16" tires,
Stay with E rated tires or go higher rated tires.
Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.
Most likely the blowouts were from a heavy trailer and ST tires. We see this just about daily on trailering forums (rvs and non rvs).
IMO your cheapest long term scenario is upgrade to 16" wheels and LT E tires.
The best LT E are the all steel carcass commercial grade Michelin XPS Ribs and the Bridgestone R250.
I use the BFG Commercial LT E on my 11200 lbs 5er. Other excellent fabric carcass LT E are the Firestone Transforce or Uniroyal Laredo HD-H or a all time favorite Goodyear Wrangler HT.
Your 12000 lb GVWR 5er may have a 2400 lb pin weight which leaves 9600 lbs on the axles or 2400 lbs per tire. The LT E at 3042 lbs capacity will give you a nice reserve capacity plus years of trouble free operation if you keep them pumped to the max sitting or on the road.
Going to 7k axles gains more braking but does nothing for blown tires or tire reliability issues. Makes for a lighter pocketbook.
Out of aligned axles on a trailer will show abnormal wear patterns usually on one side of the tires tread or the other.
A big rig trailer repair shop can handle your axle alignment issues along with replacing worn out pins and bushings.
