Trailer Tires - How hot is normal?

[Sailor]

I have a Champion dual axle Al. trailer with 13"(?) wheels for my 85 Mako 20 and I'm amazed at the amount of heat that the tires generate. I have checked the tire pressure and it is at the recommend 50 PSI (actually 47 when I checked it cold) so they are not underinflated. The trailer is rated for up to a 22 foot boat so the trailer is not over loaded.

If I feel the tires immediately after running 60 - 65 the treads feel *very* hot, almost too hot to touch for more than a five seconds. My bearings are not heating up so I think they are fine. I don't know the tire brand but saw in the archives when I tried to search on the subject that some brands run hotter than others, but this seems too hot for any tire, especially a trailer tire.

Any suggestions, comments?

[Megabyte]

Bias-ply or radial tires?

FWIW - I replaced the no-name bias-ply tires that came on my single axle trailer with a set of Goodyear Marathon radials. I figured that skimping on the tires was not a good thing considering the value of the boat that the tires were holding up off the road.


- Kevin ><((((*>

[jocko_nc]

Check the manufacturer. I bet Continental trailers came with Carlisle tires. From what I have read (and experienced thus far) Carlisle are not so great of a tire. The Goodyears seem to have a good reputation. Carliles are bias ply trailer tires.

Mine get hot too. Yours sound hotter than I have experienced. Keep the air up to keep heat down. If you are getting a vibration and a tire is getting out of round, it wil fail soon. That means it is delaminating.

jocko

[remmer4]

Sounds too hot to me- never should normally be so hot you cant keep your hand on it (absent driving in 100 degree weather.) SIde wall should be nicely warm-
What is max rated pressure on this tire? if 60 or 70 (6 or 8 ply bias tire) pump it to the maximum and see how much cooler it is.
Good luck

[jtburf]

Keep in mind if the tire is not running square to the road it will heat up and try running at night after the road has cooled and recheck you being in Fl your road temp's and mine run very hot simply try walking across the street at high noon barefooted......John ....

[allycat]

It definitely sounds like you are running too hot. I just had (2) 3 year old Carlisle's fail. one blew - the other bulged. I went to Goodyear Marathons. I can definitely hold my hand on them - and they are loaded near the limit.

[ctoth]

When we trailer, we check the tires and hubs everytime we stop with a heat sensor gun thing. The tires typically run between 130 and 135 F and the hubs are about 125. There is a difference on the tires between the sidewall and the treads, with the treads usually running about 5 degrees hotter.

If you can find one of these sensors, is a nice precaution to know if something is heating up and gonna go off, before it happens.

[Sailor]

ctoth,

That sounds like a great way to monitor the heat buildup. Where can I find one of these? I didn't have much luck on google and I'm not real keen on putting in the word "gun" in a web search from work!

[Mist-Rest]

WW Grainger has them. The real name of these are Infrared Thermometers. They cost about 100.00. You might look pretty funny hanging out the truck window at 70 MPH pointing it at your wheels.

[WildeOne]

How fast do you drive? 13" wheels are going to cause really fast rotation compared to larger wheels. I have a similar rig with a single axle trailer, but 15" wheels. I can run all day at 70 mph+ and the trailer tires don't get more than warm. [I can comfortably put a hand on them.] The rubber velocity on your trailer tires is where all the heat is coming from. If you drove at very modest speed [i.e. no faster than say 50 mph, I'll bet the tires would be much cooler.

___________________________
a bad day fishing is always better than a day at work
___________________________
Jim

[Sailor]

Just picked the boat up from the shop today and I have Nanco 13" tires. The funny thing is that I could only find the load range/recommended psi, etc on one of the tires. The other three must be installed inside out. I think I'm going to buy a new tire gauge just to make sure that mine is reading correctly and the infared sensor is a great idea.

I'm running around 65 - 70 and I used to run smaller tires on a sailboat trailer at 80 without near the heat - but of course the load was lighter.

I guess if the tires are properly inflated and square then they just run hot. I'm certainly going to thing hard about changing them out to the Goodyears in the near future.

Thanks for all the replies.

[Bruce W]

With a 20ft. Mako on the trailer, why doesn't it have at LEAST 14's on there?

That sounds like a LOT of weight - even if it is a tandem???

At 65-70mph, them 13's are SCREAMIN'!!!

I would look into larger dia. tires, also - if they'll fit on the tandem?

P.S. - I was coming back from boating Saturday around 8P.M. and ran across 2 guys "putting" along at about 5mph on the shoulder with about a 17ft. boat! We stopped to offer assistance - they had one FLAT (shredded!) tire and the other one was starting to come apart in the center!!! NO SPARE!!! I repeat - NO SPARE!!!

HOW can folks spend the money on a boat and all the other "stuff" that goes with it, and NOT buy a spare TIRE???

We were gonna' "offer" a spare but they had 13's AND needed TWO! We had one 14.

So - they were gonna' have to leave it on the side of the road in a pretty "rural" area - and, I assume, take all the "valuables" out of the boat. Closest place to get a spare, IF they could find one (much less TWO!) was about 20mi. or so!

Moral of the story - ALWAYS have a "spare" (unless you're MARRIED! )!!!

Regards,
Bruce W

[vc]

I had a trailer with bias ply tires that ran very hot also. I thought the brakes were hanging up causing everything to get hot, but i disconnected them and still they were very hot. I switched to radials and the temperature difference was immense. Much cooler running than before.
vc

[Sailor]

Just to update the thread....I found out that my gauge was measuring almost 10 psi less than actual so I was running them underinflated. I put them at the correct psi and they run much cooler. I'm going to replace them all anyways since one of them developed elephantitis on the inside sidewall this weekend. Fortuantely we noticed it .5 mile before getting ON the interstate!