MINIMUM safe PSI?

[DCC Smith]

Hi this is my first post. I just bought a Fleetwood Element Neon and on the drive home (about one and a half hours) both my wife and I were a little disturbed by how much jerking and bouncing we felt from this tiny pup! My TV is a Silverado 1500 and the pup only weighs 985 lbs and I am not a stranger to towing, having towed sailboats, utility trailers and car haulers all my life. Once home I tried using a "cushioned" ball mount (like this one://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_47815_47815) to see if that would reduce the jerking, but it didn't have any noticeable effect. So I decided to try reducing the tire psi to see if that would help. The tires on this pup are actually golf cart tires, but they are DOT approved for highway use. They are Kenda/Loadstar 205/65-10 load range C maximum load 1100@50psi cold.....That's the maximum PSI for the maximum load...my entire pup isn't 1100lbs so I should be able to reduce the psi somewhat to smooth out the ride, right? So for a test (ONLY for a test around the block!) I reduced the psi in increments of 10 psi until I got them down to around 20 psi...40 psi made no noticeable difference...30 psi reduced the jerking SOME...25 psi was pretty good...20 psi and I couldn't even feel the trailer back there! OK, Obviously I don't want to run at 20 psi, but what is the SAFE minimum psi? The big RV tire mfgrs have load/psi charts, but nothing I've been able to find on the net has any info for my particular tires...even the kenda site. The owners manual for this thing is a generic, one-size-fits-all joke and the placard on the side of the trailer just mirrors the sidewall of the tire. So if anyone here has any suggestions I'd love to hear them as I am about to drive from GA to CT and I really don't want to be jerked around the entire time! I also would like to avoid catastrophic tire failure due to underinflation if at all possible. Thanks in advance for any advice and sorry for such a long post...Also sorry for the long URL back there...couldn't figure out how to make it into a short hyperlink. -Smitty

[mike4947]

#1 they are NOT golf cart tires. They are ST (special trailer) tires. ST tires are ONLY designed to run at the maximum rated pressure marked on the tire sidewall. In that size range there is no manufacturer rating for reducing tire pressure versus the load rating at reduced pressure.

Run them at less than their rated pressure and you risk damging the tires or the a lot of the trailer if one blows out at speed. A large chunk of rubber can take out the majority of the side of the camper. Not to mention going through the thin wheel well and doing damage inside as well.

Actually IMHO Fleetwood screwed the pooch on this one.
Once you subtract out the tongue weight the trailer will only have a maximum axle weight of around 1300 pounds.
The trailers GVWR is only 1500 pounds and with the tires they put on it (1100 pounds X2) with a 2200 pound rating you do have more tire than the trailer can posible use.
They should have used the next lower rated tire which is rated at 35 PSI and 905 pounds each.
BUT that doesn't mean you can run your current tires at 35 psi. They will fail at that pressure. I hate to say it but it's bounce or replace the tires with ones closer to the trailers actaul axle weight.

[AustinBoston]

Fleetwood is famous for less-than-ideal towing trailers.

I would not go more than 5 PSI below rating on an ST tire, ever.

I would check with the dealer; it is possible Fleetwood put the wrong tires on your particular trailer.  If so, they should be replaced with the correct tires under warranty.

Make sure you have enough tongue weight.  The total weight on the tongue of an 1100 lb trailer should be about 110-165 lbs. (10%-15% of actual loaded weight).

In which direction(s) is the trailer moving (side-side, up-down, forward-back, etc.)?

Austin

[DCC Smith]

http://www.kendausa.com/specialtytires/trailer.html
http://www.kendatires.com/205_65_10.html
These are the two links I could find for Kenda...one site calls these tires "loadstar DOT golf cart tires", which is why I said these are golf cart tires...the other site lists several different "ST" tires, but these particular tires do not get the "ST" designator. The sidewall of the tire isn't marked with "ST", "P", "LT", or any other designator, just"205/65-10"...so are they ST by default? In any case, it sounds like I'm either going to have to live with the bouncing or get new tires! Austin, when I look in the rearview at the trailer I can't see any visibly excessive bouncing, but you definitely FEEL it in the cab...what you feel is a pretty constant jerk fore and aft. It isn't bouncing my truck up and down, but the trailer may be bouncing down the road and every jerk is transmitted through my hitch as a fore and aft motion. How would I adjust my tongue weight if it were not correct? The axle is fixed, not sliding and I don't have any gear or anything that I can shift around to shift the load. I think I am going to contact the dealer and/or Fleetwoodand see what they have to say. Other than the jerky towing I love my new pop-up!

[flyfisherman]

Hi this is my first post.

 OK, Obviously I don't want to run at 20 psi, but what is the SAFE minimum psi? The big RV tire mfgrs have load/psi charts, but nothing I've been able to find on the net has any info for my particular tires...even the kenda site. The owners manual for this thing is a generic, one-size-fits-all joke and the placard on the side of the trailer just mirrors the sidewall of the tire. So if anyone here has any suggestions I'd love to hear them as I am about to drive from GA to CT and I really don't want to be jerked around the entire time! I also would like to avoid catastrophic tire failure due to underinflation if at all possible.
Smitty

Well, welcome aboard, Smitty!

First off you want to be very careful about bias trailer tires and carry the full amount they call for on the sidewall of the tire or they will build up some heat kinda fast and on a long, hot summer drive all the flaws and shortcomings will show-up! A little tire article here for some insight into trailer tires ~

http://www.championtrailers.com/tire_art.html


Another site for a tire chart (Carlisle Tire) that gives some good information on size, load ranges and required air pressure ~

http://www.carlisletire.com/products/trailer/usa_trail/index.html


My previous popup was a '96 Coleman/Fleetwood and some models of the era were just plain out of swack towing EMPTY!  I began to wonder what I had gotten myself into! And that particular beast simply required some cargo and it had to be loaded properly. First off, if the load was way off it would sway like there was no tomorrow! Then if off just a tad, it would do that hitch hunchin your talking about ... there would be that cling, clang, rattle - rattle, push, shove ... just plain aggravating!

So we learn about our new campers by some practical towing on down the road.
Things like making sure the camper and the tow vehicle are level with one another when hitched. Tire pressure a big factor, not only with the camper but the TV as well. Soft springed rear end in a TV will add a teeter/totter effect, too. And learning to distribute the cargo weight as already talked about. Anyway, before you do anything too drastic, load up the camper and take it for a short cruise on the open highway. Just might call for some adjustments before you hit the road for that long trip.


Fly

[DCC Smith]

OK, so I talked with Bob at Fleetwood who was a really nice guy and he agrees that it seems like the tires that the Neon came with are indeed "too much tire" and that the other 10 inch tires Kenda makes, which are rated for 950 lbs @ 35 psi, would probably be a better fit for this trailer and he gave me the number for the folks at Kenda to talk with them about it. He wasn't sure if this would be a warranty replacement but said they would always be willing to listen if I got someone at Kenda to agree with me that the trailer should have come with different tires. Which is great, but won't do me much good before my trip to CT probably seeing as how I leave in a week and so far haven't even been able to get ahold of the person at Kenda yet. Even if the folks at Kenda agree that the tires should be changed and I can get them to tell someone at Fleetwood and the person at Fleetwood talks to their boss and they somehow come to the conclusion that they made a mistake and need to start putting these other tires on the Neon......ok nevermind...that's never gonna happen! I think I'm going to put out a couple of threads on a few pop-up forums and see if I can get ahold of some other Neon owners and see if they have the same issue. Thanks for all the good advice! -Smitty