Radial versus bias ply on Teardrop trailer?

[CapriRacer]

Originally Posted by ECO-AKJ

Back to the Radial vs Bias ......

Bias of the same size will carry more load because that is how they are designed. .......

Ah ...... Mmmmm ...... Not exactly.

I think you are confusing ST tires compared to regular car tires. ST tires carry more load because of the higher inflation pressures. But ST tires come in both bias and radial - at the same load carrying capacity!

To the OP:

Check to see if you have a vehicle tire placard. The tire placard will list the original tire size and the specified pressure for that size.

Since 2008, it's supposed to be on the driver's side front of the trailer. If your trailer is older than that, it could be anywhere, but usually on travel trailers it's behind or near a door - sometimes a cabinet door.

Oh and radials will have better fuel economy - all other things being equal.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

A cousin who works selling and repairing tires said to me that bias-ply are not so cheaper anymore, because of the tubes, and finding a tubeless bias-ply is not so easy...

Originally Posted by aerohead

I've no idea what it would have done with the original 8" bias-ply tires.

I don't remember seeing many trailers with 8" tires, which I have only seen on Vespas and those Indian-made Bajaj tricycles. Most trailers I see use tires with a more regular size, either something around 165/70 R13 and 175/70 R13 that are the few 13" radials still found quite easily here, or the 5.60-15 bias-ply still easily found because of the VW Beetle.

[freebeard]

My Westfalia has 8" wheels. It's currently in pieces; I just got the wheels powder coated, the trailing arms are next.

Not mine:

[CapriRacer]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

A cousin who works selling and repairing tires said to me that bias-ply are not so cheaper anymore, because of the tubes, and finding a tubeless bias-ply is not so easy...

Must be a regional thing. In the US, there are hardly any tubetype tires - even on trucks, where they were the last to convert.

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

A cousin who works selling and repairing tires said to me that bias-ply are not so cheaper anymore, because of the tubes, and finding a tubeless bias-ply is not so easy...




I don't remember seeing many trailers with 8" tires, which I have only seen on Vespas and those Indian-made Bajaj tricycles. Most trailers I see use tires with a more regular size, either something around 165/70 R13 and 175/70 R13 that are the few 13" radials still found quite easily here, or the 5.60-15 bias-ply still easily found because of the VW Beetle.

Harbor Freight's entry-level utility trailer, with 800-pound cargo capacity has the 4-lug, 8" diameter wheels.
Their 5-lug, 1,300-pound cargo capacity has 13" bias-ply, which I hope can accept the 13" radial-ply trailer tires when it's time.
That first trailer had actual 5.5"X 13" wheels and tires from the Honda. You could buy an entire set from Discount Tire, mounted and balanced for $ 134. 165 70 SR /13 all-season, 60,000-mile treadwear, made by Kelly Springfield, which is owned by Goodyear.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by CapriRacer

Must be a regional thing.

It's not a regional thing at all, even though I have seen people using tubes on radials which were actually tubeless. Some did it because one of the sidewalls was damaged, and so the tire would otherwise lose pressure, while others did it because they didn't understand how a tubeless tire works.

In the US, there are hardly any tubetype tires - even on trucks, where they were the last to convert.

Even though tubeless tires were already available, in the early and mid '90s I was still more used to see tube-type tires. Nowadays I only see tube-type tires on motorcycles still fitted with wire wheels and some ancient cars and trucks. Odd enough, even though I remember seeing motorcycles with tubeless tires, I don't remember having ever seen radials being fitted to a motorcycle, yet for cars and light trucks the tubeless options are mostly radials.