Tire Rotation on 5th wheel

[Cook-Den]

I am sure its posted here somewhere and i'm sure someone will tell me that, but if you all don't mind could you give me your experience related to rotating your 5th wheel tires. Got on 4 Sailuns with approx. 4k on them, they are wearing perfectly. Should i leave well enough alone?

Thanks in advance
Den

[Montana Man]

If I get even wear I leave them alone. They generally time out before wear out.

[DutchmenSport]

1 pop-up camper, 3 travel trailers, and now a 5th wheel. RV ownership since 1996. My parents had a 1963 Phoenix travel trailer for over 15 years. I've owned 2 different utility trailers over the last 20 years. Never did tire rotation on any trailer. Bottom line is, they dry-rotted before there was any need to rotate, and thus, got swapped out for new. Never, ever rotated any trailer tire of any kind, ever.

[RMcNeal]

Agree. No need to rotate tires on a trailer under normal circumstances. I guess if I saw some unusual wear, I might consider rotating sides to get more time out of them until I could get the problem fixed.

[PSFORD99]

Same here no rotation .

[DQDick]

Same here. Popups, travel trailer, three 5th wheels and over 100,000 miles since going full time and never rotated a tire on either a camper or my trucks.

[BB_TX]

Same here. If no unusual wear don't worry about it. They will most likely age out well before they wear out unless you put a lot of miles on them yearly.

[Cook-Den]

Thanks for the replies, I'll just leave well enough alone and save my self some work.

Den

[Mark N.]

No rotation needed. Trailer tires aren't providing traction or steering, so rotation is pointless.

[Buckfisher]

Unusual wear means either alignment or inflation not right, bad tire, or bad driving habits. Rotating tires won't fix any of that. Due to the weight on the rear axle of my truck towing heavy trailers, the rear tires always wear faster. So I buy truck tires 2 at a time, move the front tires to the rear and put the new tires on the front for better control of the steering. I used to always rotate my tires. Since I started using the buy 2 at a time system, I haven't noticed a significant difference in the life of my tires and steering control is always maximized because the front tires always have more than half of the tread left. And I never rotate trailer tires.

[eZAK]

I always rotate! with spare!

1) Get use out of the spare so it is ready when you need it!
2) Your taking the wheels off once a year anyway, take another 5 min. and throw the spare in the mix.
3) Maintenance of spare tire carrier, Again You never know when you need it!
But you Will need to use it

[Derby6]

Dug this back to the top, because I too have never rotated trailer tires. (own and owned several trailers over the years) However, I have racked up around 7500 miles on my fiver this winter (past 3 months) and am noticing both fronts wearing a little quicker on the outside. I am thinking about just swapping straight from front to back vice Xing one of them like I do on my vehicles.
Any thoughts from you all?

I will not be rotating the spare into rotation--I have never done that as spare is emergency short distance fix until I get final repairs done ASAP.

In 2nd EDIT: They are all inflated properly. (110psi cold -- which varied as I traversed from 10 to 90+ degrees...LOL) I am now watching temps--front showed maybe a little cooler than rear today, but it seemed all were close for the most part.

[Lee-CI]

Pulling my own since '75 - pop-up, couple of travel trailers, 2nd 5th wheel, stock trailers, horse trailers, goosenecks and can't remember how many utility trailers. Never once rotated trailer tires. As stated again and again, they always have rotted out before wearing out. Hope you never find a reason to do so.....

[Joint Venture II]

Having 2 utility trailers over the past 25 years, 2 travel trailers and a fifth wheel trailer in past 12 years and a triple axle boat trailer for 22 years I have never rotated tires. Left home at 105k miles on truck end of July and now at 115k and haven't rotated truck or trailer tires and all were installed new for trip. They all look good as far as wear is concerned too. My only regret was not putting new tires on trailer before I left home instead of 112 miles later after blowing one out.

[Derby6]

I concur with both of you (Lee-CI & Joint Venture II) and have had same experience with all my trailers over the past 25 years. However the proof is in the pudding that these will likely wear faster than rot--see pics. So to be safe, I am rotating front to back. Its gonna be quick easy do it myself with cordless impact gun and torque wrench, so why not.

[CalandLinda]

Originally Posted by RMcNeal

Agree. No need to rotate tires on a trailer under normal circumstances. I guess if I saw some unusual wear, I might consider rotating sides to get more time out of them until I could get the problem fixed.

Side to side was a good move. It helps counter the effects of road crown.

One year we traveled US-2 from MI to ND and then state and rural highways & roads to Ellsworth AFB at Box Elder, SD. While there, I moved our tires from side to side.

[Derby6]

Bringing back to top. Didn’t travel near as far this year. New truck but I thing wearing th3 same. With such vast cold hot and altitude travel last winter I thing I was under inflated. Think I did same this year so I’m leaving SLC next winter at full 110 inflation and rolling with it. Over inflated center wear can’t rut at this point. I still have plenty of tire.

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/...fig1_328739421

Saw this pic on another forum and made me think. It’s possible toe is out. But I’m betting inflation. Does a trailer even have toe?????

[Foldbak]

According to Google
1/16" is common on trailers. Just enough let the wheels pull themselves into parallel positions when rolling. Toe-in and Ackerman Angle setting are both there to keep the front wheels parallel to each other when moving. Toe-in when going straight

[Derby6]

Originally Posted by Foldbak

According to Google

That gave me a good laugh. Perfectly utilized emoji.