What I found is that a previous owner used 165R15 tires (common
automotive radial tires). These tires sidewalls were bulging and
cracking in an ugly fashion. With the help of a trailer shop we
realized that the rims should have something like a 205D15 ST or a
ST205/75D-15 tire, which I got today.

When I started to put them on the drums, I found out why the previous
tires were the smaller diameter automotive tires; fender clearance.
They will clear the inside of the fender, but only under no-load
conditions. As soon as I took the jack stand out and lowered the axle,
the tire is nearly rubbing inside the fender. Any bouncing and it's
going to chirp.

Rather than go back to the smaller incorrect tires, I'm going to take a
Sawzall to the fender mounts tomorrow, and remove the fenders. I'm
going to figure out where the fender really should be mounted, add a
little clearance, then get the fenders welded back on.

Judging from the spare, I think the trailer originally come with three
6.00x15 tires. These will fit in the fender space, but are no longer
available. The date stamp on the spare is 1988.

Thanks to everyone for the advice to get the right tires!

Ken

PS: while I had the wheels off I checked the axle bearings and the
bearings in the drums; all are good. that's more than I can say about
the brakes, which are nasty. I'm going to completely replace the brake
backing plates with a new plate which has fresh slave cylinders and
brake shoes. I used a micrometer on the drums today and if I have them
turned 0.010", they'll be at the discard limit. I probably need a new
Atwood master cylinder on the tongue as well, or at least a rebuild.

In article .com,
" wrote:

Trailer tires are preferred, especially on single axels, trailer tires
have heavier built side walls and withstand side torque better.


wrote:
Ken Ward wrote:
what's the story on tires? is it OK to use regular automotive radial
tires or are ST tires required?

thanks,
Ken

Use the heavist duty tires that will fit your rims (or get bigger
rims). There is something about trailer duty that is hard on tires.
Myself and several friends have had tire blow-outs in recent years on
tires that should have been ok. It might be the (slight) fish-tailing
that you see on all trailers in tow is extra hard on the side walls,
but I really don't know for sure. I am refering to single axle trailers
(no experience with dual axle).

Tom Seim
2G
Richland, WA