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View Full Version : Trailer tire rotation



jester
05-15-2010, 09:19 PM
I have never thought about his today but how often or how many miles should you go before you rotate the tires on a single axel trailer?

mmandley
05-15-2010, 09:43 PM
I dont think there is much point to rotating a single axle trailer.

The point of rotating tires if because the front tires take more stress with breaking and steering. The rear tires have stress on rear wheel drive due to acceleration.

You rotate to allow the tires different stresses to allow the tread to last longer.

On a front wheel drive car the back tires will essentialy last till they dry rot or fall off but rarely because they are worn down when cared for properly of course.

On a tandem axle trailer i can see rotating the frint and rear axles as for the steering stess but then again i am not going to do this as i just dont think it will warrent better wear.

Razzman
05-15-2010, 10:52 PM
You can't rotate them. Never rotate radial tires side to side, if you do you risk the plies separating. Radial tire plies run across the tire unlike bias plies which run lengthwise and won't come apart due to rotational direction change. A radial, once worn to one direction is like overlapping layers, one lower than the other.

Hoopskier
05-16-2010, 12:18 AM
Razz, after working for many years in the auto repair industry, I have never heard the idea of never changing rotation direction unless the tire is specified as uni-directional. I just did a quick search of your idea and it was described as a myth, and that it only applied in the early years of radial tires. The industry even recommends the cross rotate to even the tread wear such as cupping/chopping. I'm unsure if you are making a generalization to all tires (cars & light truck/SUV) or are just refering to trailer only tires.

I wouldn't think there would be any harm to rotating tires on a dual axle trailer but I don't see any benifit either.

The piviot point on a single axle trailer is the axle itself. On a dual axle trailer the piviot point is a line directly between the two axles. So all tires kinda skid around a turn, wearing the shoulders of the tread. Hence the reason the dual axles are hard to manuver by hand in a garage setting.

Hoopskier
05-16-2010, 12:22 AM
I have never thought about his today but how often or how many miles should you go before you rotate the tires on a single axel trailer?

I wouldn't waste my time or energy. There will be no added tread life. Most trailer tires suffer from dry rot/old age before the tread wears out.

kaneboats
05-16-2010, 01:21 AM
Yup, I have never heard of anyone wearing out the tread on a boat trailer's tires.

Razzman
05-16-2010, 09:14 AM
Razz, after working for many years in the auto repair industry, I have never heard the idea of never changing rotation direction unless the tire is specified as uni-directional. I just did a quick search of your idea and it was described as a myth, and that it only applied in the early years of radial tires. The industry even recommends the cross rotate to even the tread wear such as cupping/chopping. I'm unsure if you are making a generalization to all tires (cars & light truck/SUV) or are just refering to trailer only tires.

Well things may have changed since i left the industry in 1986. I grew up in it and spent fifteen years in in everythin tires.

jester
05-17-2010, 01:38 PM
Thank you guys for the info. This is very good to know. I will save the time and drink another beer well looking at the tires but not touching.

viking
05-17-2010, 01:39 PM
I was going to rotate my trailer tires while I was servicing the oil in the hubs but after reading this post I just put them back on where they came off!