Tyres pressures on trailer

[MyEscape]

Hello all,

What sort of pressures do others run in their boat trailer tyres? I have Seajay 4.35 CX Escape, say boat 280kgs plus motor fuel and gear, probably looking at 450-500kgs all up?

I put about 25pounds in them and they look ok. Were down to about 20 and I thought they looked a little on the flat side.

Steve

[Fatenhappy]

When towing our boats, traditionally I used to always pull over a little to the left of the carriageway when safe to do so. Just made everyones life a little easier.

That worked well until getting a flat tyre up near 1770. Pulled into the garage up there and the old fella told me that when there's weight on the tyres especially, they should never be ballooned in shape at all.

The result ever since is that I tend to run on the high side of the recommended inflation range. There is less rolling resistance, (better economy) with better handling, slightly less chance of picking up a flat and realistically there has been no disernable difference to tyre wear. This is especially true for the latest generation of low profile tyres that have come our way over the past few years.

Cheers
Greg

[johnny roger]

hey steve,
my rule of thumb is to be like 10-20 psi below the maximum rated tire pressure that is on the wall of the tire. i have had my GU patrol now for 10 years and have only had one flat tire. that was just outside of burketown where the road was covered in sharp granite type gravel.
the trailer i tow into the bush is only a road trailer with standard tires. i also keep them 10-20 psi under maximum.
John

[TOPAZ]

Hi Steve,
If you look at the sidewall of your tyres, you should find a load capacity/pressure statement like: "Max 1050lbs at 60p.s.i." or such.
This is a guide for you to figure out what pressure to use.
If you have thos little 6.00 x 9" tyres as fitted to some small trailers (I had them on my last boat) you will need to keep them at 55-60p.s.i as they get quite hot at any less pressure and heat will eventually cause them to de-laminate and fail, usually in a spectacular manner!
Currently I have a tandem trailer with a 2500Kg boat on it, with 13" 8ply steel belted light truck tyres, and I run them at 60 p.s.i. At this pressure they barely get warm during a long trip, and they are carrying close to their stated maximum load.
Heat is the greatest enemy for your tyres' good health, and if you have any 'bagging' in the sidewall of the tyres, you can imagine that with every revolution of the wheels, the tyres are continually going from bagged out at the bottom of their rotation, to straighter sidewalls at the top of the rotation, This bagging in and out takes place at a very rapid rate (one cycle per revolution of the wheel), and quickly builds up heat. Those little 6.00 x 9" tyres of mine, when run at 35psi, used to get so hot that I could not hold my hand on the tread for more that 5 secs after a long trip.

Richard.

[Moonlighter]

I agree with the earlier comments and run my tyres on about 50psi and up to 55 psi on longer trips. That's on 13 inch rubber with a max of 60psi. More pressure, as long as its below max recommended as stated on the sidewall, is much better than lower pressure.

Grant

[Briz]

Another thing to remember is that the higher the pressure - the easier the boat/trailer is to maneuver when it's not hooked on to the car. Similar to a push-bike the extra pressure makes an amazing difference in terms of the effort required.
Briz

[tsea]

Last weekend i towed our Viking from Sydney to the Gold Coast. The brooker trailer has those little velox wheels and we put them at 50 PSI. Tyres and rims stayed nice and cool. Maybe that was because of the night time trip.:)

cheers
TC

[dnej]

And remember to do the pressure test,and inflate when you are at home,before any running.
Otherwise,they will read higher,as they get hot,and give you a false impression.Get one of those tyre pumps from Super Cheap.They do the job,if you dont have a compressor at home.You will be amazed how much the pressure increases,just on a short run to the garage.
David

[PADDLES]

yeah, work on an increase of around 4psi from cold to hot. it doesn't seem to change much more than that.

[Roo]

I run 36psi in my 13" tyres. The load rating on the side wall is stated as 430kg @ 35psi and the all up weight of the package is around 800kg. The sidewall has a slight bulge even at 36psi. The tyres don't get too hot even though watching them bulge as they bounce over every bump in the rear view mirror is a bit off putting. These tyres are not Light Truck type and are the original tyres fitted by the manufacturer. Possibly cheap junk whacked on to make up the numbers. might up it to 38psi next trip....or look in to some new ones.

Cheers Roo.

[JRBK]

Hi there,
I've got a 4.6m aluminium centre console, and the tyres are 175/75 R13 84S. There is no mention of tyre pressure on the walls of the tyres. What pressure should i be putting in these? Was thinking of at least 30 psi.
Ta
Mark..

[Noelm]

those little Velox Alloy wheels need to be inflated to around 60PSI at least, I used to have them on one of my old Trailers, and after a longish trip they would be so hot, the tubes melted/bonded to the rim and tyre, always inflated them to 70PSI from then on and never had a problem. I also changed them to standard wheels after that and it was better again.

[tsea]

I will up the pressure on the velox for the Viking.
I bought a second pair for the trip back from Sydney to the GC just in case.
I got nervous because of the recall.

http://www.recalls.gov.au/view_recall_detail.php?Recall_ID_Auto=11855

Probably a bigger set of rims would be better down the track.

cheers
TC