Can Trailer Tires be Used on a Tow Dolly

Updated 09/08/2015 | Published 09/06/2015

Question:

I have a car dolly with a platform in front of the car that I can put my motorcycle on. The bike is 900lbs plus the front of the car and dolly. I has car tiers on it now, I am thinking of getting ST205/75R-14inch RADIAL Tire, Load Range D - what do you think thank you

asked by: Kevin

Expert Reply:

The first thing to check is what the tow dolly manufacturer recommends for the tow dolly. Trailer tires, designated with an ST in front of the size, are built with a thicker sidewall to handle more vertical load. Your tow dolly certainly does have some vertical load on it when the bike is loaded on that front platform. But ultimately I would stick with the recommendation of the tow dolly manufacturer to avoid any potential issues down the road.

If you can use trailer tires then I would just need to know the size to make a recommendation. If you have 205/75-14 tires now then you could use # AM10235 in its place. This tire has a 2,040 pound capacity at 65 psi. So 2 of them on one axle would be way more than enough for the front of a vehicle and the bike. Going with higher capacity tires will not increase the capacity of the dolly.

Radial tires track better and run cooler than bias ply tires and would work well on a tow dolly

Keep in mind that with trailer tires you should always inflate them to the maximum psi indicated on the tire. This is because trailer tires are built with a thicker sidewall than passenger vehicle tires to handle more vertical load. If under inflated the thicker sidewall generates excessive heat and can lead to failure.

expert reply by: Michael H