Off-Road Trailer Tires

[troutfisher]

Last weekend took my truck and boat up to laurel bed lake in southwest va,there is a 2-3 Mile access road that is mainly loose gravel & dirt.Its steep at some points and drops off down into ditches and a fast flowing creek.Anyways the truck did fine,but the trailer was just sliding all over,the tires would just slide around any turn.

Would it be worth getting some off-road tires for my trailer like BFGs or some good A/T's.Would it be worth it,I know some off-road pop-up campers come with them.But the boat is a bit lighter,anybody have any first hand experience with this?

 

[Dyusik]

How fast are you going? Sand bags in the boat will do more good I would think.

 

[FlyNavyP3]

My first thought is that either your boat and trailer is either really really light or that you're just driving too fast for conditions or perhaps a little bit of both. I've towed a lot of trailers over an awful lot of loose dirt or gravel or crushed stone roads heck even muddy roads. Everything from aluminum boats with just a trolling motor to heavy dump or car trailers. I've never had a trailer that was sliding around to the point where I thought I needed a more aggressive tire.

Add weight over the axle or slow down the tires aren't the issue.

 

[troutfisher]

I do about 20-30mph on the way up, your riding the brakes or in first the whole way down its steep and twisty.

Yes the boat is on the lighter side,probably 1500-1800 it's a mid size polar kraft

 

[LotI]

Cant think of a ST tire that would be all-terrain.

Don't use passenger car or truck tires on a trailer. It's just dumb.

 

[Blaze]

I ended up getting 15 inch 10 ply trailer tires for our horse trailer which we take off-road frequently. So far no flats.

 

[Nick1994]

What size?

 

[SavagePatch]

I have Goodyear Trailrunner AT's (10ply) on my Jayco Jay Flight Baja travel trailer. Love 'em!

 

[DoubleWasp]

There is nothing new or unusual about 10-ply off-road tires on a trailer, because off-road trailers themselves are nothing new.

The most common motivating factor for use off offroad tires on a trailer is sliding that occurs when climbing loose terrain at an angle, and the second is sliding as a result of going down a grade on loose terrain.

Just make sure to use 10-ply tires. The weight of your boat may not necessarily "call for it", but the handling on road will be a lot better with them.

 

[Driz]

Originally Posted By: FlyNavyP3
My first thought is that either your boat and trailer is either really really light or that you're just driving too fast for conditions or perhaps a little bit of both. I've towed a lot of trailers over an awful lot of loose dirt or gravel or crushed stone roads heck even muddy roads. Everything from aluminum boats with just a trolling motor to heavy dump or car trailers. I've never had a trailer that was sliding around to the point where I thought I needed a more aggressive tire.

Add weight over the axle or slow down the tires aren't the issue.



Exactly. Slow it down to meet conditions not your desires........or tears will come

you don’t want to get into trouble out there in the puckerbush like busting an axle. AAA ain’t comin and repairs really really suck.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

I've pulled my popup up actual trails with the factory 4.80-8 and now 4.80-12 tires ... Slow it down a little.

The trailer is likely so light anyway, that upgrading the tires won't do much

 

[meep]

^^^ this

most trailer tires have generally front-rear grooving which has more side-side bite than F/R bite. An AT won't improve upon this much, especially over gravel. There's a reason most experienced RVers I know don't get in a hurry. I won't either, with a big pendulum hanging out behind me, swinging out and pushing me along... And keep in mind that if you go bigger, trailer bearings aren't that great. I'd suggest dropping the speed some.

-m

 

[troutfisher]

Yea,looking at the tires today,they definitely are already getting worn in the center

About 10,000 miles on these,but checking the pressure each one was 15 psi over inflated,I may have just solved the problem

 

[hatt]

Originally Posted By: LotI
Cant think of a ST tire that would be all-terrain.

Don't use passenger car or truck tires on a trailer. It's just dumb.
What's dumb about it?

 

[IndyIan]

13" snow tires? Yokohama still makes them according to tirerack. 1047lb load rating means you can't run too much on them but I've always found small trailer tires to be khrap anyways.