aluminum boat on galv. trailer bounces too much

[K-2]

Re: aluminum boat on galv. trailer bounces too much

I find it odd that the 2 sets of tires are both B rated and they are so different. The new set sounds way more heavy duty than the original set.

 

[Outsider]

Re: aluminum boat on galv. trailer bounces too much

One option is to slow down ... :facepalm:

 

[Outsider]

Re: aluminum boat on galv. trailer bounces too much

Welcome to China. One option is to slow down ... :facepalm:

 

[roscoe]

Re: aluminum boat on galv. trailer bounces too much

You do not want trailer tires that flex the sidewalls.
Trailer tires are NOT a suspension component.
Trailer tires get their load carrying capacity through air pressure that keeps the sidewalls firm.
Lowering the air pressure will not help, but hurt, as it will allow more sidewall flex and cause heat build up in the tires.
The number one cause of trailer tire failure -- low air pressure.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: aluminum boat on galv. trailer bounces too much

Just put shocks on it
They WILL solve you prproblem don't believe it... Take the shocks off the back of your truck and go for a drive.

 

[midcarolina]

Re: aluminum boat on galv. trailer bounces too much

You do not want trailer tires that flex the sidewalls.
Trailer tires are NOT a suspension component.
Trailer tires get their load carrying capacity through air pressure that keeps the sidewalls firm.
Lowering the air pressure will not help, but hurt, as it will allow more sidewall flex and cause heat build up in the tires.
The number one cause of trailer tire failure -- low air pressure.

Tires are absoloutley part of the suspension equation.....Tires get their load carrying capacity according to how the tire carcus is made..

dry rotted tires cause seperation of the tread from the tire......that is likely the biggest reason for trailer tire failure..

If the OP tires are that severly crowned and hold up with no air in them, that tells me something is wrong with the tires..

Most of us are familiar with light trailers not riding smooth.......it's just their nature, shocks would for sure help, but getting rid of the wagon wheel tires will likely help the most...

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: aluminum boat on galv. trailer bounces too much

Be very cautious about adding weight to the boat.
It already nearly bottoms out the suspension and anything heavy in it bouncing around could do damage.

 

[Mi duckdown]

Re: aluminum boat on galv. trailer bounces too much

I think a pic of boat on trailer would Help

 

[roscoe]

Re: aluminum boat on galv. trailer bounces too much

Tires are absoloutley part of the suspension equation.....Tires get their load carrying capacity according to how the tire carcus is made..

dry rotted tires cause seperation of the tread from the tire......that is likely the biggest reason for trailer tire failure..

Is "likely" is not factual, its your opinion.

If the OP tires are that severly crowned and hold up with no air in them, that tells me something is wrong with the tires..


It tells me the sidewalls are stiff and the load is light.

Most of us are familiar with light trailers not riding smooth.......it's just their nature, shocks would for sure help, but getting rid of the wagon wheel tires will likely help the most...

I didn't make that stuff up. I came right from several tire manufacturers web sites and product info spec sheets.

Along with the instructions and warnings to always run trailer tires at the maximum pressure printed on the tire.

If you don't believe it, fine.
If you want to ignore it, fine.
I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you.

 

[slowleak]

Re: aluminum boat on galv. trailer bounces too much

I don't have a pic handy here but will take a few.
The tires are Kenda 4.80x12 Load range B, they are brand new, dated March of this year. They are the only brand I could find, even the Goodyear tire store here didn't sell Goodyear brand tires, they had some off brand and had to order them. I got these from an local RV place. I have the same size tires on other trailers, but all of those are different or heavier trailers, and yes, they all bulge at the tread when mounted and even just slightly inflated. With no pressure at all, the tread is pretty flat but it rounds out pretty fast as you add air.

I tried it with four 50lb bags of sand in the boat, its better but not by much, the tires still bounce off the pavement.
Its not a matter of the springs bouncing up and down like a car with bad shocks, the instant the trailer hits a bump the trailer launches like a basketball on the pavement.

I also tried raising the tongue with a taller ball mount but it got worse, the lower I get the tongue, the better. Right now the tongue is a bit lower than dead level, maybe an inch or so tops.
I took the boat off the trailer today and tried the trailer empty as well at various heights.
Then I removed the fenders and stuck a pair of old 13" wheels I had here on the trailer and it don't bounce, not a bit, it rides perfect but the added height would make the boat way too high, as it sits now I have trouble getting it off the trailer on some ramps.
The B78-13 ST rated trailer tires make the boat an easy 4" taller and they won't fit under the fenders or clear the hull without raising the boat. I have little doubt its the tires but I don't see any viable options to fix the issue here. Does anyone make 12" trailer tires that don't bounce like a golf ball over every bump?

 

[slowleak]

Re: aluminum boat on galv. trailer bounces too much

Just put shocks on it
They WILL solve you prproblem don't believe it... Take the shocks off the back of your truck and go for a drive.

If you took the shocks off the back of your truck, the whole truck wouldn't bounce a foot off the ground, it would just bounce up and down on the suspension. Now if you made the rear suspension of your truck solid, as in no springs, and put 100psi in your tires, you may see the same effect.

Sure I can slow down but its bouncing off the ground at 10 or 15 mph. When I pulled into the gas station the other day I was almost to a stop as I turned into the driveway and the thing bounced up in the air like it ran over a 10" curb. The truck never even felt the bump that launched the trailer. The road between here and the ramp is mostly old concrete highway, with a seem every 15' or so, driving at 30 mph, (on a 50 mph road), makes the trailer bounce line to line over every seam, its even bounced over towards the shoulder on a few pavement seems. The truck isn't feeling hardly any of the seams as it passes over them. What I do notice is that both sides don't bounce together, its always one side or the other, it'll alternate side to side on a concrete seamed road. If i let the air pressure down to about 15 or 20 its tolerable but it still bounces off the pavement a bit.
Now I've got an 8" tire trailer that's a bit too small for the boat that don't bounce at all, but its got 30 year old Sears Allstate tires on it from the 60's. That trailer has no shocks, 50 psi in the smaller tires, and a 700lb GVW rating. That trailer is sprung about the same but is too short not to get my truck wet launching the boat, and I have to tilt my motor when using that trailer. Its also painted which limits me to freshwater only when I run that trailer, which is why I bought the galvanized trailer.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: aluminum boat on galv. trailer bounces too much

I have trailers both with and without shocks.....
I HAVE (when I was much younger) had a pickup with bad shocks that put me completely off the road on the shoulder a couple times before I got new ones on it

I'm not saying that the lack of shocks is THE problem but rather that adding them will likely solve it....


The tires aren't THE problem either but rather it is a combination of several factors..... if all else is ideal on a trailer then even solid rubber tires couldn't make it jump in the air..... yes your new tires are stiffer than the old and as such aren't absorbing the impacts that are now loading your suspension and launching the trailer..... If you are determined to "fix" this by finding some mushy tires then look into some cheapo car tires Tire Rack - Search Results for 12 Tires

 

[lckstckn2smknbrls]

Re: aluminum boat on galv. trailer bounces too much

I think I would be back where you bought them and see if they will give you a different set of tires.

 

[midcarolina]

Re: aluminum boat on galv. trailer bounces too much

I didn't make that stuff up. I came right from several tire manufacturers web sites and product info spec sheets.

Along with the instructions and warnings to always run trailer tires at the maximum pressure printed on the tire.

If you don't believe it, fine.
If you want to ignore it, fine.
I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you.

You are the one that said tires are not a part of the trailer suspension...... you are the one that states your opinion as 100% pure fact!

even though often times you are wrong..... Then when someone questions your flawed reasoning you try and insult them
with that same tired response...... implying that I am too ignorant to understand your superior way of thinking....

Me thinks the ignorant one makes the statement " tires are not part of suspension "

 

[slowleak]

Re: aluminum boat on galv. trailer bounces too much

I have trailers both with and without shocks.....
I HAVE (when I was much younger) had a pickup with bad shocks that put me completely off the road on the shoulder a couple times before I got new ones on it

I'm not saying that the lack of shocks is THE problem but rather that adding them will likely solve it....


The tires aren't THE problem either but rather it is a combination of several factors..... if all else is ideal on a trailer then even solid rubber tires couldn't make it jump in the air..... yes your new tires are stiffer than the old and as such aren't absorbing the impacts that are now loading your suspension and launching the trailer..... If you are determined to "fix" this by finding some mushy tires then look into some cheapo car tires Tire Rack - Search Results for 12 Tires

I looked at passenger car tires but the smallest size in a 12" tire is a 145SR12, which is roughly 1.5" larger than the already too tall 4.80x12 trailer tires. I really don't care to add any more height to the trailer.

When I bought these tires, I bought 6 pair, two for the boat trailer, and two for my camper, and two for my utility trailer. All were bought with new wheels, the boat trailer tires came on galvanized rims, the rest on painted wheels.
All of these tires look the same, and I did try one of the other pair on the boat trailer and there's no difference. I don't feel its a matter of the tires being bad, they're just too hard.
I went to a local camper dealer on Sat. and bought a used shock set up, there's two frame mounts and two new u bolt plates with new bolts. The shocks feel pretty stiff to me but their on there for now. A road test showed no real improvement, the thing bounced up in the air just leaving the driveway here.
After giving up on that idea I went back and removed the springs all together, took the springs apart and installed only the main leaf as a test, what that got me is a load banging noise every time I went over a bump, and the trailer still bounces up in the air, only now it almost changes lanes.
Today I bought another trailer off CL, this one is much lighter, but with only 8" wheels, I towed it home with my big truck, which had a hitch about a foot too tall to let the trailer ride level, I never knew it was back there. I set the boat onto the new to me trailer, aligned the bunks and rollers and took it around the block, it bounces around like a basketball behind my Ranger. I switched the ball mount from my one ton Dodge to the Ranger and it solves almost all the bouncing on this trailer but the tongue is 12" higher in the front? I don't get it. I'd have expected the opposite reaction with the tongue that high? I didn't try the old trailer with the larger Dodge van as the tow vehicle since I'd never use the work van to pull the boat to the ramp.

 

[roscoe]

Re: aluminum boat on galv. trailer bounces too much

You are the one that said tires are not a part of the trailer suspension...... you are the one that states your opinion as 100% pure fact!

even though often times you are wrong..... Then when someone questions your flawed reasoning you try and insult them
with that same tired response...... implying that I am too ignorant to understand your superior way of thinking....

Me thinks the ignorant one makes the statement " tires are not part of suspension "

Trailers are not cars.
Trailer tires are not car tires.
Bias ply trailer tires are not radial tires.

You need to educate the professionals at Goodyear, Carlisle, Tirerack, Kenda, as it is their "opinions" that I posted.

If I am flawed in my reasoning, which is to follow the knowledge put forth by the most knowledgable experts in the field, then I think I will remain flawed.

 

[roscoe]

Re: aluminum boat on galv. trailer bounces too much

I don't have a pic handy here but will take a few.
The tires are Kenda 4.80x12 Load range B, they are brand new, dated March of this year. They are the only brand I could find, even the Goodyear tire store here didn't sell Goodyear brand tires, they had some off brand and had to order them. I got these from an local RV place. I have the same size tires on other trailers, but all of those are different or heavier trailers, and yes, they all bulge at the tread when mounted and even just slightly inflated. With no pressure at all, the tread is pretty flat but it rounds out pretty fast as you add air.

I tried it with four 50lb bags of sand in the boat, its better but not by much, the tires still bounce off the pavement.
Its not a matter of the springs bouncing up and down like a car with bad shocks, the instant the trailer hits a bump the trailer launches like a basketball on the pavement.

I also tried raising the tongue with a taller ball mount but it got worse, the lower I get the tongue, the better. Right now the tongue is a bit lower than dead level, maybe an inch or so tops.
I took the boat off the trailer today and tried the trailer empty as well at various heights.
Then I removed the fenders and stuck a pair of old 13" wheels I had here on the trailer and it don't bounce, not a bit, it rides perfect but the added height would make the boat way too high, as it sits now I have trouble getting it off the trailer on some ramps.
The B78-13 ST rated trailer tires make the boat an easy 4" taller and they won't fit under the fenders or clear the hull without raising the boat. I have little doubt its the tires but I don't see any viable options to fix the issue here. Does anyone make 12" trailer tires that don't bounce like a golf ball over every bump?

Since you have tried everything else, why not swap out the tires from one of your other heavier trailers, and take it for a test drive.

It sounds like you might have bought this trailer used. Is it possible that the previous owner messed with the springs?

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: aluminum boat on galv. trailer bounces too much

Well crap... Something just does not add up here..... I have several light trailers with 12" tires.... I have never had one jump around loaded or empty........

lets see a couple pics of this trailer and a pic of the "driveway curb" you hit at "10 mph"

 

[slowleak]

Re: aluminum boat on galv. trailer bounces too much

Here's a quick pic I took, this is the second trailer.

What still gets me is that the whole rig sort of rattles and bobbles around even just walking it across the yard by hand. Its feels like its got no suspension and wood wheels. If I do the same with my utility trailer, it rolls quietly across the yard. The boat reminds me of when we were kids and dragging a red wagon down the road behind a bicycle. It just skitters and hops all over the place over every imperfection in the road.

The driveway is a 1" tall drop cut in the curb, its a 1" step down to the asphalt roadway.

 

[midcarolina]

Re: aluminum boat on galv. trailer bounces too much

The only other thing I could possibly think of.....Do the springs rotate freely on their mounting studs?