Re: [VAL] Tires

["Scott Scheuermann" <s.l.scheuermann@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Forrest,

In '60 the 24 foot Trade Wind came with a single axle. The 26 foot Overland
also had a single axle, but a dual axle was an option. I have seen pics of a
50's trailer with a single axle that looked to be longer than 26 feet, have
never seen one in person, but there still may be a few of them out there.
The empty weight for my Overlander (single axle) is listed as 3250 pounds. I
have always said that my trailer weighs 5000# when loaded for travel knowing
that there was a comfortable margin for error. So I just pulled my scale
sheets out to get accurate numbers. When loaded and with a full water tank
the total weight was (in 1995) 4170# with 540 of it on the tongue. Even if I
just take the full weight and divide it by 2 (ignoring the weight that the
tow vehicle carries) I still only have 2085 pounds that each tire is
expected to carry. The Load range C's are rated for 2150 at 50 psi. so I
could use C's. However I do know that since '95 I have increased the fresh
water capacity, added a wash water tank and added 2 children to the mix. So
do I need to re-weigh? Yes, but I am currently using Load range D's inflated
to 55 psi, which according to a GY chart I have from a few years ago should
be good for 2270 pounds. Since the tires run cool I feel confident that they
are not overloaded, but I will re-weigh in the future just to be sure.

David has stated that his trailer weighs 4900#, nearly 2000# more than its
dry weight of 3030 pounds.

Ignoring the tongue weight that the tow vehicle carries, his tires are being
asked to handle 2450# The D's inflated to 65 psi will handle 2540# so he is
OK. At first glance he only has a safety margin of 90# per tire, but
remember that the tow vehicle is supporting at least half (Most likely most)
of the tongue weight. Assuming a 15% tongue weight his should be about 735
pounds. Half of that is 377. Half again for each tire and you have just
found that you have doubled you safety margin of 90# to 180# per tire. Since
his weight distrib bars are probably distributing less that half the tongue
weight to the tires he really should have an even greater safety margin. So
Dave really is OK with D's. However he, like I, likes to have a comfortable
safety margin, so he is considering E's. I understand that. But he really
needs to consider the overall weight of his trailer. Was his trailer
designed to carry 1 ton of "stuff"? I doubt it. I suspect that he has
overloaded the trailer. I have yet to see a maximum weight published for
these trailers, so I cannot proclaim that his is overloaded beyond design.
However, check the modern trailers. They only give you 1000# for stuff,
sometimes less. So I highly suspect that his is overloaded.

Dave, I highly recommend that you and your wife go through everything in the
trailer and purge the stuff that you really don't use, but feel that you
should take along just in case. If you havn't really needed to use it in the
last year or two, you probably don't need it. Just because there is room for
it does not mean that the trailer was designed to handle the weight.

I preached the gospel of weight to a past VAC president. He ignored me. He
broke the frame on his '50 something trailer within a year. Too bad, it
still sits, waiting to be fixed.

Scott