[DMK]

Originally Posted by JRTJH

I'm strictly speculating here and I don't have any specific numbers/weights to go by, but let's look at the potential for problems with a 2013 Raptor 300 and LRE or LRF tires.

First, the trailer is 11985 pounds empty with a cargo capacity of 4515. That's a GVW of 16500. Assuming a pin weight of 20% (3300) that would leave the 80% (13200) on the axles. With 4 tires, that's 3300 pounds on each tire. Looking at the floorplan, on the curb side there is a refrigerator directly over the axles and immediately behind that is a washer/dryer space. I'd suppose (as I said in the first sentence) by speculating, that since you're full-timing, you have a washer/dryer?

Have you, by chance, spent the time to weigh each wheel independently? My guess is that with LRE (10 ply) tires in either 23580R16 (3520 rating) or 23585R16 (3640 rating) your Raptor may be overloaded on that side or on one of the tires on that side. That may be the reason you had such poor performance with the 10 ply tires and even why the LRF (12 ply) tires which are rated at 3960 @95PSI.

With a "calculated wheel load of 3300 pounds" and floorplan locations of extremely heavy components, it's not unreasonable to see 300+ pounds of difference in wheels on the same side and 600+ difference in the pair of wheels on one side compared to the other side of the trailer. Add travelling with a full fuel tank or a full fresh water tank or partially full holding tanks can even magnify that "load imbalance"....

I'm in no position (with the limited information presented) to know for sure what loading the tires experienced, but it seems to me that there's got to be a reason why two sets of 10 ply tires and a set of 12 ply tires all failed on a trailer. It's just not "fate" that caused the failures. If it were my trailer, I'd dig further into the problem and find "why" it happened.

Sorry it has taken so long to respond, I don't get notifications on my posts for some reason... If you have read my previous posts carefully you would have read that I have weighed my rig, not just the axles, but wheel by wheel and I am NOT overweight on either any of the tires or by axle. Because we are FT and I know things accumulate I have been getting my rig weighed by Escapees smartweigh at least twice a year. Surprisingly enough I am within 100lbs side to side, so asymmetry is pretty darn good on my rig! When we travel (with exception when traveling to a boondocking site), we travel with 5 gallons of fresh water (measured by water meter) and empty holding tanks. (When I weigh I usually have full fuel tanks and propane). I upgraded to a wet bolt kit when I purchased this TH so I wouldn't have issues that many have with shackles and bushings. I have had the alignment checked since the failures (by lazer) although with the suspension on my trailer if it were out, there are limited choices on getting it adjusted (Hence considering a MORrhyde IS 8K upgrade in the spring). It is too much of a pain in the hind end to post the pictures I took of the failed tires (they are somewhere on my phone) although at the tire shops they were too busy to really care about why they failed. Since the TPMS warned me in time to get pulled over before they overheated and blew I thought maybe they would care a little, but they didn't seem to. One split right down the middle of the tread face, another was failing right along the bead, the other failed along the sidewall (DT decided to replace the other 2 by good measure). Out of the three that had me pulled over, one was on the left front, one was on the right front, the other on right rear. I will say that DT is a stand up company and stood behind what they sold me, but with my experience I am not sold on the Carlisle Radial Trail HD's. Starting to look into upgrading to either a commercial grade 17.5" or a 19.5" tire wheel combination. If $ was no object I would upgrade both my TV and TH to a HDT and a DVR Fullhouse. Like I've said in an earlier post I've already put a lot of $$ in this rig so I'd rather do a few upgrades than purchase another one and have to put upgrades on it, not to mention I'm already maxing out the CGVWR on my RAM 3500 dually. Makes me wonder on those that are pulling the larger Raptors, the 300 mp is the smallest 5th wheel Raptor TH and I am pretty much maxed out from a legal standpoint with my 3500!