Recommended 235/85R16 Tires on 5th Wheel Trailer with Weight Capacity Rated Above Tire/Axle Capacity

Question

Question:

I am confounded about my used 200r Pilgrim Int. OPEN ROAD 357 RLDS 5 RV I bought as the tires were very wrong as purchased used. They are supposed to be 235/85 R 16 Load Range G tires and as the max gross wt of trailer is about 14,200 lbs. Someone has LT tires with Load E, which is good for a Dodge 2500 or F250 heavy duty pickup but NOT this trailer. With sidewall cracks, one blew out on delivery to me, as feared. Hard to find LR G tires, but I do not even know if someone swapped out the rims and may be under rated for a Load G tire pressure. How do I find out? There is a stamp on rim as I noticed when I removed the flat tire. It says 5 29 03 1606 KA CRC DOT USA T 16X6 KA I cannot find what KA means, but think it may be load or pressure rating limit. Do you know? I also do not know what CRC means. Please help. This spec system is toooooo mysterious and should be more obvious. I will have a tire shop remove the tire to see if any stamping of limits are on the inside of the rim, but do not expect any as the surfaces should remain smooth in event one uses an inner tube. DOES KA refer to load limit that I cannot seem to find answer to on NTS site or DOT when I google it????? It seems as if this is the clue I need answer to AND i NEED TO know prior to buying tires as I may also have to buy rims. The six lug pattern seems too little for such load but I would be shocked if Pilgrim Int. would install under rated axels and hubs and rims on such a heavy trailer which is just shy of 12,000 unlaiden, but where a user would probably have a ton of stuffinch with an RV being used and on the road. Seems odd that they would ever be able to sell units that way. Date and size are obvioius in code, and assume DOT T is trailer designation. They are 16 X 6 with 5.5 inch for stud pattern. These are on Dexter TorFlex axles which have Hubs with designation of 008-388-80 for the electric drum brake hubs with 42 MM bearing and 1/2 inch studs. Research says only 3000 lb load, which is shy for the max trailer weight of 14,300 lbs.. Odd. I do not yet know the axle model. Expect it is a Dexter #11 or #12 or #12V or maybe a 10G. I need to explore the surface rust to see if any stamp is on the metal with any numbers. I thought the rims had triangle cutouts for spoke formation, but they have circular cut outs. I do not know if these are Dexter or DexStar or whatever rims. I tried getting photo to show, but issue with mobile phone uploading to my computer.

asked by: Rick R

0

Expert Reply:

Your Pilgrim International Open Road 357RLDS definitely has tires needing replaced. It is not uncommon to use LT tires on trailers, but it sounds like they have some dry rot going on. The stamp on the wheel rim unfortunately is not anything I'm familiar with so I can't help with that, but I can tell you that most trailers use a zero offset meaning that the mounting surface of the wheel to the hub is in the direct middle of the tire. The triangular or circular cutouts in the wheel are very common from many manufacturers.

To get the 235/85R16 tires with load range G you mentioned, we have two options. The first is the Lionshead Westlake # LHWL410 which is rated for 4,400 lbs at 110 psi and speeds up to 75 mph. This tire comes with a 5 year warranty and 2 years of roadside assistance 24/7 anywhere in the United States, Canada, or Puerto Rico. The second option is the Taskmaster Provider # TTWPRG235R16. That tire is rated for the same 4,400 lbs at 110 psi but speeds up to 81 mph. It comes with a 2 year warranty. The bigger issue is the 6 on 5-1/2 bolt pattern won't work with the 4,400 lb tires. The wheels in that size will have a capacity of 3,500 lbs like # TA73VR. To get the 4,400 lb capacity you will need the 8 on 6-1/2 inch bolt pattern like # TA55VR so that also will require changing your hubs.

Based on the hubs you gave which are the Nev-R-Lube dexter hubs with 3,000 lb capacity each # 8-388-80UC3 for 6,000 lb axles. It sounds like upgrading your hubs and wheels would not be worth it as you'd also be updating your axles for a higher capacity. What the 5th wheel trailer manufacturer did in this case was determine that 15-25% of the load will be on the hitch and then accounted for 12K at the axles. This isn't all that uncommon but can be confusing.