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Which trailer tires?

caeryon

New member
My husband has gotten his hands on the frame & axles from an old camper trailer, and he wants to make a utility trailer/car hauler out of it. It's twenty-feet long, has electric brakes on double axles, and is built like the proverbial brick house. He's an old welder, both as a hobby and a job, so he's familiar with metalwork and thinks that it's more than sturdy enough to haul our '66 Suburban from WA to AZ. He's curious about what tires he should get, though. One of our local tire shops can get 8-ply trailer tires. The tire guy says those would be fine, but he wants to sell tires, after all. Will those be stout enough, or should we go up to 10-ply, if we can find them? It'll be a l-o-n-g haul with a bigass car (about 5300#) on it, so we want to be sure the trailer's up to it.
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
I tried replying early this morning but the outage prevented it.

You will find a load rating stamped on every tire near the bead. Just make sure the load rating and the speed ratings are sufficient for your uses and you will be good.
 

johnday

The Crazy Scot, #3
SUPER Site Supporter
Same thing happened to me about replying.
Since this an old camping trailer frame, I'd be a little careful in making it a car hauler. Alot of the camper types are only rated for around 7500#. And I'd bet this frame and axles you've got, at 20' is one of them. I believe both of my trailers that are at this rating have C range, or 6 ply tires on them. There may be a tag somewhere on the tongue that will give you the rating. Now, remember, that the rating combines the weight of the trailer, and weight of the load. Therefore, if say, the trailer weighs 2000#, and the rating is 7500#, that will leave you with the potential for a 5500# load. I've no idea what a Suburban weighs, but I think I'd be close to think it may exceed the weight rating for this trailer. BE CAREFUL, I see way too many trailers/pickups, whatever that are grossly overloaded, and dangerous out there. It doesn't matter if you're only going to go 5 miles either, dangerous is dangerous.
If that frame and axle combo you've got is too light, it would still make a nice light duty trailer for hauling less of a load.:burp::burp::tiphat:
 
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