Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Well guys, me and the mrs. decided to go get the boat and hit the lake this afternoon.... as I'm driving up the local hiway to the launch I hear this loud " boom ".... then all of a sudden vehicle's pulling to the right and riding rough as hell..... I Knew immediately.... Trailer tire on the passenger side had a blow out.... pulled over to the side of the road and got the jack out of our 4 Runner only to find it wouldn't raise high enough to allow me to put the spare on... Fortunately I called a 'boating" neighbor of mine who came to the rescue...he had some "wood" pieces in the bed of his truck and a larger jack, and together that allowed us enough space to change out the tire... ( nothing better than being on the side of the hiway on a hot louisiana summer day ). My neighbor told me I should buy a small "floor" jack and keep it in the boat.. when I think of a floor jack, what I'm picturing is pretty big, so he must have something else in mind... any of you have any thoughts on the kind of jack needed... also he told me when I went to my tire guy, to go to a tire with a heavier "load" limit.... apparently these are minimum.... the good news..was on the lake by 4 and fished til 8.... now it's back to work for me.... oh as far as the tires... any "specific" things I should know about what kind of tires to get for the trailer. When I touched this tire, it was hot as hell....



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I don't think I would keep a floor jack in the boat. When I travel, I have a light weight aluminum 2 1/2 ton, I put in the back of the truck. Can you just pop one in the back of the 4 Runner when trailering your boat? Looking at the second picture, it looks like your tire is pushed back, like its not centered in the fenderwell. Did it always look like this or did the actual blow out, cause it? Or maybe its just the angle the picture was taken from. Hard to judge from a picture...
At least it all turned out good, no accident and you got out to enjoy your day...


Hey, I still don't see your EzFenders...

Bummer....

I went with the highest rated tire I could find for mine, but I have those tracker trailer tires that arehard to find, I think they are E rated tires. The old ones where C rated so I went up 2 steps for more piece of mind.

the floor jacks are regular floor jacks like mechanics use, but they come in different sizes, from small to huge.
like this one:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003UM ... B003UM42J0

-bb

my floor jack is heavy and comes in a plastic carry case, but I prefer a hydraulic jack that I can keep behind the seat of the truck. It's easier to level the smaller jack on the side of the road than the bigger one.

Floor jacks are too bulky to take on the road with you. An inexpensive hydraulic bottle jack or a good scissors jack will do the job for you, and are easily available @ Northern Tool or Harbor Freight for little $. My pickup truck jack will lift my trailer axle just fine.

Around the shop, floor jacks are wonderful, however.

As far as tires go, just make sure you purchase a tire with a ST code--not a P auto or LT truck tire with the same width as the other tire. ST tires have a much stiffer sidewall, and are specifically designed and built for trailers.

Bryden24shp wrote:I don't think I would keep a floor jack in the boat. When I travel, I have a light weight aluminum 2 1/2 ton, I put in the back of the truck. Can you just pop one in the back of the 4 Runner when trailering your boat? Looking at the second picture, it looks like your tire is pushed back, like its not centered in the fenderwell. Did it always look like this or did the actual blow out, cause it? Or maybe its just the angle the picture was taken from. Hard to judge from a picture...
At least it all turned out good, no accident and you got out to enjoy your day...


Hey, I still don't see your EzFenders...

Hi bryan.... as for the jack, whatever I get it will be in the back of the truck, not in the boat... as for the tire not being centered... right again, only this was caused by the blow out.. actually bent the fender.... once I got the spare on I took advantage of my big boy status and jumped up and down on it a bit to bend it back... it's almost perfect now... and yeah, ez fenders need to go on my boat.. they're still sitting here on my computer desk so I can look at them. again, heck of a product.... I know they'll be perfect for us...

blackberg wrote:Bummer....

I went with the highest rated tire I could find for mine, but I have those tracker trailer tires that arehard to find, I think they are E rated tires. The old ones where C rated so I went up 2 steps for more piece of mind.

the floor jacks are regular floor jacks like mechanics use, but they come in different sizes, from small to huge.
like this one:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003UM ... B003UM42J0

-bb

blackberg... I believe the one that blew out on my trailer was a c rated tire... so I'm assuming the higher in the alphabet you go, the better the tire? I know in car tires, I have a Z rated tire but that is for the speed application... I like the looks of that floor jack, but I have one concern... that particular model says the max lifting height is 13 inches... is that enough? I know that yesterday on the side of the road, the little jack that came with my truck wouldn't go high enough to allow the spare to be put on.... what would be the minimum / maximum height limits I would want for the trailer.

Bamaman wrote:Floor jacks are too bulky to take on the road with you. An inexpensive hydraulic bottle jack or a good scissors jack will do the job for you, and are easily available @ Northern Tool or Harbor Freight for little $. My pickup truck jack will lift my trailer axle just fine.

Around the shop, floor jacks are wonderful, however.

As far as tires go, just make sure you purchase a tire with a ST code--not a P auto or LT truck tire with the same width as the other tire. ST tires have a much stiffer sidewall, and are specifically designed and built for trailers.

Hey bamaman.. thanks for the info.. my neighbor used a bottle jack to lift my trailer.. I'll look into that... and really appreciate the info on the ST tires.... I'll remember that when I get new ones.... about how much can i expect to shell out here for two new " better grade tires " and 1 rim... any ideas...

Are those 13 or 12" wheels? I'm very surprised at the number of trailer manufactures that are supplying under rated tires on there trailers, especially pontoon trailers. I see single axle 20-22' pontoon trailers all the time with only 12 or 13" wheel/tires on them. 12" range C only have a ~1050# rating and 13" C ~1350# neither of which is enough rating for a modern pontoon boat, heck a bunk trailer it self runs 700-1000# and add on a 2000# pontoon and your over capacity. If you could have fit the next size bigger rim/tire combo I would have went that route as you get a tire that can more weight with less pressure. I'm willing to be the load range E tires you got probably require 100+ psi of air pressure where as the next size bigger Range C would probably be a 50psi tire and airing up a tire to 100+ psi can be tough with a 12v compressor or gas station air if needed.

I always carry a floor jack in the truck when I am trailering very far from the house. It doesn't really take up that much room and it is a lot more stable than a bottle jack. If I was going to use something like that I would just use the Ford "screw" jack from my truck.
Take a piece of 3/4" plywood so you have a stable place to set any jack if you are off the pavement.

I've learned a little about trailers and trailer tires due to making mistakes. I once looked in the rear view mirror and saw a 6000 lb. skidsteer loader and trailer swaying back and forth 45 degrees. I was lucky not to have flipped my company van I was pulling it with.

We also have a travel trailer that stays in the North Georgia mountains, as the tires are too old to put on the road--and too expensive to replace right now. (I'm saving for a new tritoon.)

The internet is a great place to purchase trailer parts and get information. One great place for technical information on many trailering subjects is ChampionTrailers.com.

They have a section on tires: http://www.championtrailers.com/tire_art.html

Tire pressure, tire pressure, tire pressure. Check it before every trip. I would go with the hydraulic bottle jack and some foot long 2x10 boards for a base. Compact and easy to handle. Glad you got on the lake. Nice boat!

rancherlee wrote:Are those 13 or 12" wheels? I'm very surprised at the number of trailer manufactures that are supplying under rated tires on there trailers, especially pontoon trailers. I see single axle 20-22' pontoon trailers all the time with only 12 or 13" wheel/tires on them. 12" range C only have a ~1050# rating and 13" C ~1350# neither of which is enough rating for a modern pontoon boat, heck a bunk trailer it self runs 700-1000# and add on a 2000# pontoon and your over capacity. If you could have fit the next size bigger rim/tire combo I would have went that route as you get a tire that can more weight with less pressure. I'm willing to be the load range E tires you got probably require 100+ psi of air pressure where as the next size bigger Range C would probably be a 50psi tire and airing up a tire to 100+ psi can be tough with a 12v compressor or gas station air if needed.

rancher lee... to answer your question, they are 13 inch wheels... as for the tires, I went out and looked at the blown out tire tonight.. it's made by a company called " trail america " and the numbers on the sidewall are ST175/80/D13 I have no idea on the load rating..... but using your numbers.. a 13" C rated tire has a load capacity of 1350 lbs.... so I guesstimated the actual weight on the tires, guessing the trailer weighs around 850 lbs, boat runs around 1700 and the motor another 369 lbs.... very little gear "stored" on the boat, max of another 100 lbs including the 2 mushroom anchors... total is right at 3020 lbs.... I read somewhere that you divide the total weight by the number of tires on the axle to get your per wheel load rating ( I think I read that correctly ) so in this case the load for each tire would be approx. 1510 lbs, still over the max allowable load for a c rated tire... again, not sure what the load rating on this tire is... Is that what the D stands for in the ST 175/80/D13? Is it possible I could go to a 14" rim without having to modify the trailer, and if so, what if any effect would it have on me unloading or loading the boat at the launch?

1 other thing.. I googled " trail america st175/80/d13 " and came up with a forum on trailer tires... several guys there were pissed that their tires had either had a blow out or formed big bubbles on the sidewall, all under 1000 miles.... I am guesstimating that my trailer tires also are under 1000 miles.... boat and trailer is stored indoors on a smooth concrete surface and does not sit out in the sun... regularly check the air pressure ( but my next set of trailer tires will be filled with nitrogen as there is much less deviation in air pressure )... Tread was still great.. didn't heat anything that I'm aware of... and yet the tire still went Boom...

Roland:

I love it that they call the tire "Trail America", and they were probably built in China. And all you see are complaints about just about all unknown brands of tires.

The whole RV world has problems with Chinese tires coming on $50-75K fifth wheel trailers. One problem is that there are not that many brands of quality ST (trailer) tires available, and trailer tires are very expensive (for what you get) in larger sizes.

You might could go with 14" tires, but the gain might not be worth the pain in the pocketbook of changing your wheels. Fortunately, trailer tires are available at many sources on the internet for fair prices. Goodyears for your trailer are $90 and a C rated tire @ Tire Rack. Their unknown brand of tire is $70.

Good luck.