Replacing tires on fifth wheel

[cardinal10]

We had a blow out coming home from vacation on our 2010 Cardinal, 40 ft, 14,000 lb fifth wheel. The tires that came on the unit were made in China, Goodyear ST 235/80R16, load range E, max load 3420, 7000 lb axles. We want to replace all of them and are looking for some suggestions as to a good tire not made in China and heavy duty enough to carry the load.

[Superslif]

How was it controlling the 5er when the blow-out happened? what speed?

[chief02]

Upgrade to a LT (light truck) ameican made load range F and u will be good. 17.5" would be good also but that requiers new wheels and enough clearence.

This is a hot topic..u will get many repiles...keep it simple.

I should add you will be good if you run the right pressure for your load and are not over loaded. A tire pressure monotoring system is a good investment.

[cardinal10]

We were traveling approx. 60-65 mph in the slow lane. My husband heard it blow, had no problem controlling and was able to pull right off to the shoulder. Thank goodness, it only tore up alittle of the underneath and chipped off some paint on the fender.

[450Donn]

Personally with your load I would go straight to the 17.5 inch tire/wheel packages and have no more worries.

[FastEagle]

Originally Posted by cardinal10

We had a blow out coming home from vacation on our 2010 Cardinal, 40 ft, 14,000 lb fifth wheel. The tires that came on the unit were made in China, Goodyear ST 235/80R16, load range E, max load 3420, 7000 lb axles. We want to replace all of them and are looking for some suggestions as to a good tire not made in China and heavy duty enough to carry the load.

It's against the law for any RV trailer manufacturer to put tires rated at 3420# on 7000# axles. Maybe your axles are 6750#, They like to do things like that. Check the tags on the axles to cinfirm their true capacity.

FastEagle

[TXiceman]

Two places that you do not want to cut corners on the RV or truck are tires or brakes. The Michelin RIB series are great tires. I would seriously consider going up in tire and wheel size to a heavier duty tire provided you have clearance for a larger diameter tire.

Ken

[tvman44]

LT BF Goodrich Commercial TA's

[Belle_Rouge]

According to my husband (who worked for Tire Kingdom for years) all Michalin (sp?) tires are made in the US.

Good luck!!

[Ray,IN]

Originally Posted by cardinal10

We had a blow out coming home from vacation on our 2010 Cardinal, 40 ft, 14,000 lb fifth wheel. The tires that came on the unit were made in China, Goodyear ST 235/80R16, load range E, max load 3420, 7000 lb axles. We want to replace all of them and are looking for some suggestions as to a good tire not made in China and heavy duty enough to carry the load.

This website sells 5 different brands of 16" load range G tires. I bought 4 Sailun LT235/85R16, load range G tires. These are all-position tires, usually used on HD lowboy trailers. Don't let the made in China label scare you away, our tires are a great improvement over the ST tires.

[ralper]

Weigh your RV and then put tires on it to carry 125% of that weight. Forget that there is any weight on the hitch. You need 17.5" J rated tires. Michelin makes some nice ones.

[Cat320]

Originally Posted by ralper

Weigh your RV and then put tires on it to carry 125% of that weight. Forget that there is any weight on the hitch. You need 17.5" J rated tires. Michelin makes some nice ones.

I'm confused...you are going to carry an average of 20% of the RV's weight on the pin. So why "forget that weight" and why "carry 125% of the weight" on the tires?

[cardinal10]

Thank you for all your info! We went with 17 1/2 inch wheels and the G114 Goodyear tires. A little pricey but hope this is the last of our tire problems!

[SmokeyWren]

Originally Posted by cat320

I'm confused...you are going to carry an average of 20% of the RV's weight on the pin. So why "forget that weight" ...

When you weigh the rig on a CAT scale, you're going to get the weight on the trailer axles, without hitch weight. The hitch weight is on the tow vehicle, not on the trailer axles. But if you spec the trailer tires to handle only the trailer axle weight, then you're probably going to have blow outs caused by heat. So pump up that number by 25 percent to get a decent fudge factor to minimize the possibility of heat-related blowouts.

Originally Posted by cardinal10

We went with 17 1/2 inch wheels and the G114 Goodyear tires.

Ya done good!

7,000 pound axles require trailer tires with a minimum of 3,500 pounds weight capacity. Like ralper, I prefer a fudge factor of at least 25 percent, so I'd want tires with at least 4,375 pounds weight capacity. The Goodyear G114 in size 215/75R17.5H has a weight capacity of 4,805 pounds each. That's enough fudge factor that you should never again overheat a trailer tire if you keep them aired up to what Goodyear recommends.

If your wet and loaded trailer actually grosses 14k, then the weight on the trailer axles is probably around 11,000, or 2800 pounds per tire. The Goodyear load/inflation table shows a minimum of 90 PSI and a max of 125 PSI. Since 90 PSI gives you over 2,800 pounds weight capacity per tire, I'd go with 90 PSI.

PSI = max weight per tire single (not duals)
--- - ----------------
90 = 3695
95 = 3860
100 = 4020
105 = 4180
110 = 4340
115 = 4495
120 = 4650
125 = 4805

http://www.goodyear.com/truck/pdf/edb_loads.pdf (page L-11)