Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives Spare Tire For A Trailer Spare

My flatbed trailer did not come with a spare. I have some decent 15" passenger tires I could have mounted on rims.

Thoughts?

That's essentially what I use. As long as it'll carry the weight and isn't dry rotted, it'll get you home. Just take it slow until you can get a good trailer tire back on. Mixing bias with radials might give you some problems but I've never tried it myself.
Trailer tires have stiffer sidewalls than car tires. An LT tire is a closer match than a car tire because of the sidewalls. I have LT's on my 4 horse trailer that came off my pickup and they pull great at 60.

As R/C said, they'll work. But I always get a regular trailer tire for a spare.

I have a car tire spare on my TT. Last fall I picked up a nail and had to use it. It worked ok but I never had it over 50.

Don’t t need a spare often at all, but I don’t like not having one.
Thanks.

On a single axle I'd have no reservations about using a p or lt rated tire on a trailer. On a tandem you'll probably be ok if you don't stray too far from home

Car tire will work just to limp home, better than not having a spare for sure.

We had one for our little single axle deer hunting camper that we had years ago. I just happened to be bringing the camper home from deer camp one year and the left tire blew on the little camper while I was in the left lane on the interstate. I backed the speed down and started looking in the mirror to see how quick I could make it to the shoulder. Luckily the cars saw what happened with all the tire rubber flying and gave me some room to maneuver over. Oh yea when those tires blow they will tear the heck out of those camper fender wells. Being too afraid to change the tire beside of that interstate I eased on up to the next exit, where I changed the tire on a wide shoulder. That was one time that I sure was glad to have a small floor jack and wooden blocks in the back of the truck. I was over 200 miles from home and I just took it real easy the rest of the way home just hoping that the spare did not blow out.

It really pays to keep good tires on trailers.

It's been a long while ago but a guy in a motorhome was pulling a trailer of some kind, maybe a boat. He was north of Boise on a state highway in a national forest. The forest was super dry at the time. He blew a tire on the trailer but couldn't see it in his mirrors so he just kept driving. The bare wheel was throwing sparks. Before someone could flag him down, he'd started a 3 mile long forest fire. It turned into one of the big ones that took weeks to put out.


You guys in SW Idaho might remember that one. It was in Banks canyon at least 20 years ago.

For tandem trailers having two or three axles, Rich Luhr's "Newbies Guide To Airstreaming" actually says that for short distances, you can simply remove the flat tire and drive without it. He says that Airstream says up to 100 miles!

Of course, that will stress the other 3+ tires and you must reduce speed to 30 MPH or less, but it would get you to where you can get help.

I wouldn't want to try it, but it is an option. As I wrote elsewhere yesterday, I plan to get a new set of five tires asap for the used tandem trailer I just bought.

I've also heard that a blown tire can cause a lot of damage to the body of a trailer, particularly an aluminum one.

Norm

Whether you can drive on 3 depends on the trailer and the load. You have to remove it and let the jack down to see if the hub is well above the ground. You're doubling the load on the remaining tire. If you're loaded heavy, you can blow that one purely from overload. Airstream might say it's ok but an Airstream is a very light trailer compared to one hauling cargo.

To say that a blown tire can damage the trailer is an understatement. That flapping steel belted piece of tread can rip a trailer to pieces. I've seen fenders torn completely off by one.

If one is lucky, a blown tire will *only* shred itself and not beat up the trailer.



TPMS on a vehicle is a PITA, IMO.

Worthwhile to put it on a trailer.

I am guessing that it is hard to read the DOT date information on that tire.


I am now leaning towards buying the 10-ply radials to replace all those on mine. A friend with much experience hailing a trailer in the wild areas around here and the oil fields is urging me to do so.

Norm

I just bought 8 new 14ply G rated trailer tires and 8 new 4K rated rims.

Don't know the date code, but at least visually, the tires are in very good shape with plenty of tread life.
Pretty sure I found something on the road. Never felt it behind the Powerstroke.

My trailer trips are 13 plus hours, I hate trailer tire trouble! Two spares for me. I agree with the advice on good tires.

This ^^^^^^^ Have had two tire failures on trailers with loads in past 20 years. Now run the best tires I can afford on the trailer. And always have a spare and jack and breaker bar / tire tools along to change out a trailer tire if needed.

Trailer, or "ST", tires are considered a special category in the current global design standards of Tire and Rim. The major difference is that trailer tires are required to carry 10% more load than an equivalent P-metric size tire.

LT type tires are actually on a lower formula and would require a significant size or load change to meet the trailer load requirements.

In the design process, we evaluate what works best under trailer applications/conditions. We typically find that a narrower tread width and a shallower non-skid (tread depth) provides a better overall performance in a free rolling position. This is one case where wider is not better.

There are significant design differences with these tires and this explains why trailer tires are in a special
category. In addition, that is why we recommend using trailer designed or trailer specific tires in trailer towable applications.

Sincerely,

Steve McKay
Consumer Relations
Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company


TRAILER-TIRE CONSTRUCTION
Commonly encountered tires are P (passenger car), LT (light truck) and ST (special trailer). While each tire series shares basic construction methods, such as bias or radial belts, a bead, tread plies and so on, the details vary meaningfully among the three. Considerations in designing tires used on trailers include the need to carry heavy loads, the relative lack of cornering loads, long duty cycles (the tires can be expected to sit for a year; then rotate for days on end during long trips). Furthermore, because the design of most trailer suspensions dates back many decades, ST tires are designed for as soft a ride as possible so they don't transmit too much shock to the trailer and its contents.
Trailer-tire sidewall stiffness is a compromise between P and LT designs. The desire for stiffer sidewalls is still occasionally cited as the reason for choosing a bias-belted trailer tire. While passenger-car tires are nearly all radials these days, ST tires are still available in bias-belted construction. Radial trailer tires are superior in all respects to bias-belted tires except in sidewall stiffness. Reduced tire heat, lower rolling resistance and softer ride are among the benefits of radials, not to mention extended wear. On the road, ST tires share some characteristics of passenger-car tires, but are closer to the design of light-truck tires. Trailer tires typically employ heavier steel or poly-ester cords and somewhat lighter sidewall construction than light-truck
TRAILER-TIRE SAFETY
continued
tires, and trailer tires typically run lower air pressures than their truck counterparts. This gives ST tires good load-carrying capacity; but with the desired softer ride. ST tires also have the advantage of rubber compounds that are specifically designed to resist deterioration from the elements, including sunlight and ozone, during extended storage.

All my trailers are on ST tires. I just need to limp to a shop or home 'if' I get a flat.

Of course any tire will end up like my pic above if not caught in time.

After several trailer tire failures. I buy the best Steel belted, highest load range available, for the size tire on the trailer. I will order them online then have a local shop mount and balance. I also carry two spares on most trailers. Read the load rating on your trailer rims. Sometimes it is better to just order rims and tires online. Local shops do not often stock good trailer tires or the correct wheels. They will have a few Chinese crap tires. Out here Les Schwab is one of these china crap stockers. So big chains are no guarantee you will get options while on a trip.