4-tire boat trailer . . do best tire go on front or rear?

[MitchM]

I am upgrading tires on my load Rite 5 Starr boat trailer , which has 2 tires per side, capacity 3800# unladen , carries a 2,000# boat. I plan to replace 2 tires and rims w new , because of my right rear tire having a gradual air leak and not holding proper 45 PSI over the season .. I also noticed some sidewall checking issues ( on the front right tire, which side faces afternoon sun. despite using wheel covers at all times when in storage. )

the trailer is only used to haul the boat from its marina yard winter storage space to the travel lift 2500 feet away, 2x a year of driving on a paved asphalt road at 10 mph. .

would you put the best 2 new tires and rims on the front , or mount both of them them on the back ?

if I were doing highway high way hi speed driving , I'd think best tires should go on the front.

all thoughts welcome . . .

 

[dmax]

I would put them on the back as you should do for a car - you don't want the rears tires breaking loose before the front ones, in a car it will cause you to spin, not sure for a trailer but I'd go with that.

 

[Rick Webb]

Rear
More tounge weight is better than less.

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

How old are the tires? Any dry rot? Are tires same size. and correct pressure? Can you take tire off? Please respond.

 

[MitchM]

Load Rite trailer and 4 load rite same size 14 " 5 on 4 OEM tires were bought 9/2011 to haul small boat from travel lift to new owner's house 3 miles away. the trailer and tires were never in water, boat went from its mooring into the travel lift then lift put the boat onto trailer. trailer was driven on paved roads and stored on paved drive way used to t transport boat to and from travel lift. when I got the trailer in 9/20 , it was stored on my marina grounds and used to transport boat 1/2 mile to and from the travel lift 2x a year. cannot tell from codes what year tires were manufactured. all 4 trailer wheels were covered w sun covers at all times by me when trailer was in yard. I see no checking or sidewall damage on any of the tires including the one losing air. at last haul in in spring 2023, I first noticed that rt rear tire was low and losing air, it was pumped up to 45 psi and navigated to the lift OK . wheel rim holes are not elongated, 5 wheel lugs are rusted but should break free w PB Blaster . (we suspect road debris etc from construction may have caused the rt rear slow leak. ) right rear tire was low on air again at 2023 fall haul out. so my plan is to put one new wheel rim and tire onto the rt rear, use its rt rear rim for a new tire to use as a spare tire/wheel . then put a new tire on the left rear rim so there will be 2 new tires , 2 older tires, and a new wheel/tire as a spare . I am contemplating a long trip at highway speeds this summer , so want to know where the 2 best tires should be. I can see if previous owner ever replaced any of the tires, I found a code on the sidewall of each of 4 tires that says 'F 78 14' . each tire is ST 205 / 75 D load range C.

thanks for your thoughts. . .

 

[Benny17441]

Trailer tires do not steer whether in front or back axle. They do share a similar load and braking forces. It should not make a difference. The important thing is that all tires should be roadworthy. The trailer axels are close enough to respond as a single unit in case of a loss of traction.

 

[DaveJ]

Two trains of thought….
1- If the tire is slowly losing air, it is probably just a rust on the rim issue. Have the tire shop wire wheel the inside of the rim. This is ok for taking the trailer short distances.
2- All tires are dated from 2011, I would not travel any distance on the highway with these tires, even if they look ok.
I would err on the side of caution and replace the tires.
cheers

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

You need all new tires. I would recommend new stems as well. I would suggest looking at tractor supply, northern tool and on line to see the cost of tire and rim too. You probably have surge brakes which need to be checked along with lights too

 

[LloydB]

The last time I decided to buy new tires for my trailer I found by going to a nearby RV and camper sales center and buying trailer tires on rims from them were actually less expensive than tires separately and would be a D rating. I think it would be worthwhile to you to go to your local trusted tire distributor that supplies tires for your car and ask them questions about trailer tires radial tires and which brand of tires are better. They want your money so they will not tire of your questions. I would expect two brand new tires and wheels alone would get your trailer down to the ramp most any year expecting 3 old tires of unknown quality keeping you out of trouble on a high speed road trip seems silly to me.

 

[Project_Mayhem]

high speed road trip

He said 10mph. That's like bicycle speed. In all honesty, this is essentially a yard trailer

 

[DaveJ]

He also said he was contemplating a long road trip this summer. A yard trailer is totally different.
Cheers

 

[Project_Mayhem]

He also said he was contemplating a long road trip this summer. A yard trailer is totally different.
Cheers

I must've missed that. Thanks for pointing that out

 

[MitchM]

thanks for all the thoughts. buying 2 brand new tires on new rims are much cheaper than by the piece. e trailer has great prices but check what you are getting, first ' tech support' was a woman who tried to get me to buy radials. I said 4 bias ply are on now. she said just buy 2 radials. I said transfer me to your supervisor. you should know you cannot mix radials and bias on any vehicle.. boat US insurance will send a person to remove old and install 2 new some time next week..

 

[MikeHoncho]

Put them on the curb side so you aren’t in traffic when you change them out on the side of the highway