Am I crazy? Another tire thread...

[lackskill]

My wife and I just bought our first trailer, a 2013 Heartland Sundance 3400QB which has a GVWR of 13,850. 2 of the tires are still original. In May we will be taking a 3500 mile trip. I'd like to get new tires prior to that. I currently have 235-80/16 LRE. I currently have just over 2" between my tires, which leads me to believe that I don't have room to go to an 85 series tire.

Here's my problem, that I suspect several of you have encountered. Most tire places only carry a load range E variant of some Chinese made tire with a max load of 3,420 per tire. Multiply by 4, carry the 1, etc., and the tires would be rated for a total max load of 13,680. I understand that I have pin weight to account for, but that doesn't seem like much headroom. Especially when you consider that individual tire loading is never going to be total load divided by 4.

My initial research led me to the Carlisle csl 16 which is available both in LRG (4080 max per tire) and speed rating of M which gives me headroom both in load and speed. However, every distributor in the area says that size and model is on an extended backorder with no ETA. The only other LRG with an M speed rating that I see is a taskmaster that I'm not very comfortable with.

Other options I see are S637s (LRG, L speed rating).
Various LRFs with M speed ratings from mfgrs that I've never heard of or have questionable quality.
Goodyear is not an option for me. Both because I won't pay the Goodyear tax for g114s and because of what they did with the g159s which was tantamount to mass negligent homicide IMO.
I'm not willing to spend the money to go to 8 lug to get into 17.5s at this time.
M8008s in LRE?
Or?

Thanks for listening to my crazy rant and for any opinions you can offer!

[LAKnox]

Originally Posted by lackskill

My wife and I just bought our first trailer, a 2013 Heartland Sundance 3400QB which has a GVWR of 13,850. 2 of the tires are still original. In May we will be taking a 3500 mile trip. I'd like to get new tires prior to that. I currently have 235-80/16 LRE. I currently have just over 2" between my tires, which leads me to believe that I don't have room to go to an 85 series tire.

Here's my problem, that I suspect several of you have encountered. Most tire places only carry a load range E variant of some Chinese made tire with a max load of 3,420 per tire. Multiply by 4, carry the 1, etc., and the tires would be rated for a total max load of 13,680. I understand that I have pin weight to account for, but that doesn't seem like much headroom. Especially when you consider that individual tire loading is never going to be total load divided by 4.

My initial research led me to the Carlisle csl 16 which is available both in LRG (4080 max per tire) and speed rating of M which gives me headroom both in load and speed. However, every distributor in the area says that size and model is on an extended backorder with no ETA. The only other LRG with an M speed rating that I see is a taskmaster that I'm not very comfortable with.

Other options I see are S637s (LRG, L speed rating).
Various LRFs with M speed ratings from mfgrs that I've never heard of or have questionable quality.
Goodyear is not an option for me. Both because I won't pay the Goodyear tax for g114s and because of what they did with the g159s which was tantamount to mass negligent homicide IMO.
I'm not willing to spend the money to go to 8 lug to get into 17.5s at this time.
M8008s in LRE?
Or?

Thanks for listening to my crazy rant and for any opinions you can offer!

Double-check that your rims won't handle 110 psi. If so, then go with the Sailuns. They have an excellent record, with very few failures reported. You =can= run them at 80 psi, if you don't have the rims, but often times you can get a tire/rim package for much less than you might think. You can also recoup some by selling the other tires/rims. You =need= to get rid of those going-on-seven year old tires PDQ!

Providers are also a good tire and you see a lot of them on utility trailers. We have 6 G-rated on our 30' GN flatbed, but they do make E's.

Westlakes also get excellent reviews on tire sites. I have no experience with them.

Only down side to going full-on G, is that you might have to swap hubs, or even axles, to get 8-bolt wheels.

Lyle

[lackskill]

Mea culpa, I'm an idiot. Before we bought it, I tried to visually verify that the wheels were 6 lug based on seller pictures and I thought they were. I continued with that preconceived notion and forgot to verify when I went to buy it. They are 8 lug...

They're also rated for 110psi and 3750lbs each according to the marking on the inside of the wheel...

[LAKnox]

Originally Posted by lackskill

Mea culpa, I'm an idiot. Before we bought it, I tried to visually verify that the wheels were 6 lug based on seller pictures and I thought they were. I continued with that preconceived notion and forgot to verify when I went to buy it. They are 8 lug...

They're also rated for 110psi and 3750lbs each according to the marking on the inside of the wheel...

Then, don't even hesitate. Any of the 3 brands I mentioned are likely much better than what you've got, especially the 6+ y.o. tires. Looking at $200-250 each, from what I've seen. Just make sure you get them balanced!

E-trailer has 3 available. The Provider is the cheapest and has a slightly more aggressive tread. They also have the Contender, also made by Taskmaster (same as the Provider) for a few $ more. It's more of a rib style, with more siping. The Westlake is only $1 more than the Provider.

Lyle

[kdauto]

Originally Posted by lackskill

My wife and I just bought our first trailer, a 2013 Heartland Sundance 3400QB which has a GVWR of 13,850. 2 of the tires are still original. In May we will be taking a 3500 mile trip. I'd like to get new tires prior to that. I currently have 235-80/16 LRE. I currently have just over 2" between my tires, which leads me to believe that I don't have room to go to an 85 series tire.

Here's my problem, that I suspect several of you have encountered. Most tire places only carry a load range E variant of some Chinese made tire with a max load of 3,420 per tire. Multiply by 4, carry the 1, etc., and the tires would be rated for a total max load of 13,680. I understand that I have pin weight to account for, but that doesn't seem like much headroom. Especially when you consider that individual tire loading is never going to be total load divided by 4.

My initial research led me to the Carlisle csl 16 which is available both in LRG (4080 max per tire) and speed rating of M which gives me headroom both in load and speed. However, every distributor in the area says that size and model is on an extended backorder with no ETA. The only other LRG with an M speed rating that I see is a taskmaster that I'm not very comfortable with.

Other options I see are S637s (LRG, L speed rating).
Various LRFs with M speed ratings from mfgrs that I've never heard of or have questionable quality.
Goodyear is not an option for me. Both because I won't pay the Goodyear tax for g114s and because of what they did with the g159s which was tantamount to mass negligent homicide IMO.
I'm not willing to spend the money to go to 8 lug to get into 17.5s at this time.
M8008s in LRE?
Or?

Thanks for listening to my crazy rant and for any opinions you can offer!

Your trailer is a 5th wheel, correct? If so, I suspect it's similar in specs to mine. It must have 6000 lb axles, so it likely has around 11 000 to 11 500 lbs on the axles and the rest is carried on pin weight/5th wheel hitch.

I run 4 Goodyear load range E in same size as your OE tires. I had load range D as standard equipment. mine has 14 400 lb GVWR.

[xc-mark]

Sailun 637 are good tires , I have them on my 17500 lb Redwood (17.5"). I had Goodyear 16" load range G. the G tires where not enough margin for Me , but they are good tires also. I will not run anything but these tires

[lackskill]

Originally Posted by kdauto

Your trailer is a 5th wheel, correct? If so, I suspect it's similar in specs to mine. It must have 6000 lb axles, so it likely has around 11 000 to 11 500 lbs on the axles and the rest is carried on pin weight/5th wheel hitch.



I run 4 Goodyear load range E in same size as your OE tires. I had load range D as standard equipment. mine has 14 400 lb GVWR.

Yes, it's a 5th wheel. Your math checks out, but what bothers me is that there's only about 650lbs per tire of headroom if load distribution is perfect. Since I know it's not perfect and I don't have ready access to individual tire scales, I'm hoping to achieve more headroom in my tire capacity.

[lackskill]

After some back and forth with the local discount tire (whom I've had excellent luck with), I ended up getting some taskmasters ordered for about $60 per tire less than I could find them anywhere else.