RE: [A/S] choosing tires for single axle trailor

["David & Bret" <dtbw_1999@xxxxxxxxx>]

David,
Even with a flat tire, the low side of the trailer will not bottom out
as the rim keeps the trailer high enough to prevent the undercarriage
from scraping. In fact, there is more than enough clearance to put a
scissorjack between the road and the lift point (as I learned 1st hand).


As for being a daredevil, there is another perspective, when I had the
valve stem failure, I knew it quickly and therefore stopped before the
tire shredded.  I did not notice anything unusual in handling (I tow
with a Hensley). What caught my eye was that suddenly the trailer was
leaning to the curbside.  I first thought I had dropped the trailer
wheel off the road edge, but quickly dismissed that as I was running
dead center of the road surface.  I slowed and pulled off, again, no
adverse handling.  The time from blowout to stop was only seconds and
the blown tire was not even hot, but, once we got the tire off the rim,
we realized that the interior of the tire had been ruined by the few
seconds of running on the rim.  That is something that probably would
not occur in a tandem as the weight of the trailer would be handled by
the remaining tire rather than pressing the rim into the rubber on the
blown tire.  The problem with tandem and triple axles is that when a
tire blows, the driver typically does not know anything has happened and
the tire continues to rotate and heat until it sheds which then causes
extensive damage to the undercarriage and sides (I have seen this on way
too many Airstreams, which is why I am a proponent of active tire
pressure monitoring).  And maybe I am a bit of a daredevil...

david