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NW MN | I am putting new tires on a lowboy trailer. Converting from 15" tires so going with 17.5" on new rims. Changing to 22.5's is not an option. I am trying to decide on which tire size to use 215/75R17.5 (4508# dual) or 235/75R17.5 (5675# dual). Height difference for me is insignificant.
My gut says go with the 235's since they are rated for more weight. However, most trailer manufacturers I have seen online runs 215/75R17.5 on their new single drop trailers. Also had a tire guy tell me the 215's seem to do better since they are lighter and get less heat build up.
Thoughts?
The tires will also be an import brand due to price and low use considerations, any brands that are better than others?
Edited by ShopTeacher 12/29/2014 17:45
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| Pretty sire you can get 17.5's rAted over 6000 lbs. i would personally go with the heaviest tire I could get on a true lowboy. |
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Heil Harvesting, Ulysses KS/Limon CO | We have been running 17.5s for 15 years now on combine trailers, when we bought the first one it needed a whole new set of tires and we debated what you are debating, we decided not to be cheap and go 235 and went from there--now running 235s on them all. If I had to do it over I would go to 215s. I think the narrower tire with the gap in between would work wonders for tire life, if it is above 90 we fight tire problems terribly bad, I don't know that the 215 would be better but it can't be worse. We have tried all kinds of tire from Kumho to Cooper, Bridgestone to Yanli, Duratrac to Michelin, Firestone, Toyo, Roadmaster. I would not buy another Kumho or Duratrac, beyond that, no one tire seems to be better than the other and when they come apart it can get expensive fast. I would be shocked if we have a tire on the ground that has over 6000 miles on it, they wear funny even after the axles are aligned, i blame it on heat. We are currently running mostly Toyo and Roadmasters, |
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Southeast SD | I don't know how big of a lowboy or what you are going to be hauling or where but going with 215's only gives you an axle rating of a little over 18,000 lbs. Which may or may not be adequate depending on what you plan to do. My day job is an engineer for a large custom trailer manufacturer in SE SD and we very very very seldom put 215's on anything. Lots of 235's and 245's (basically same tire). Everyone we build trailers for wants a minimum of 20,000 lb axle rating on 17.5 tire applications (this is largely due to brake size on a small brake axle). Just my 2 cents |
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NW MN | Thanks for the replies. The trailer is a 25 ton with 20k axles. Right now I am only looking to haul about 25k of tractor and water, but I'm not sure what the future has in store.
The rims I ordered are rated at 4,800# each, so right there I am limited to 19,200. The 235's would be way more capacity than the rim, 215 as was pointed out would drop my axle weight another 1,200. Either way I am limited to 34,000 on the trailer tandem without a permit, so both tires would get me to my legal max.
Cheddarbob56, what tire brand(s) has your company had the most luck with?
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Southeast SD | If your rims are only 4800 then you probably would be ok on 215's.... I know you are limited to 34,000 on a tandem no permit but if you ever think you might need 38 or 40K on a tandem with a permit you wouldn't be able to... but you wouldn't get to 40 with the rims anyways so you are probably OK....
we use ALOT of continental tires... but most of the 235's we put on are Michelin XTA2's or XTE2's... really nice tire, not really sure on the price but a good tire... we have people putting those tires on big combination units hauling 400,000 - 500,000 lbs plus.... lots of tires on a rig like that :)
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17.5" Tires for Lowboy, 215/75 or 235/75
