Tires on 7000# axle

[Dave e Victoria]

I was wondering what size and brand of tire is being installed on the 7000# axles on Big Sky and Montana.

There were 235/85R 16G 14 ply Goodyear 's on our Cambridge We had two blow one day apart. The coach has close to 20,000 miles on it -- always properly inflated.

I'm wondering if there is an alternative brand -- reason for the question

Also suspect that this may be an end of life effect having to do with sidewall flex. These tires are right at the load limit in this application, are more than 3 years old and have a lot of miles but at least half of tread is left.

While on the road, I had to buy Chinese copies as no Goodyears were available on short notice.

Think I will spring for four new treads but may want a better brand if there is one.

Dave

PS: blowouts do real bad things to trailers........

[bsmeaton]

Dave,

The Montana 7K axle takes a Mission Tire ST235/80R16E @ 80psi. I believe only the Cambridge and the new Big Sky take the G-rated 14 plys @ 110psi.

For G-rated - I know Goodyear makes them, and Greenball (Highway Troopers).

You might PM LonnieB to see what some alternatives are for reputable tires.

[traveltunes]

I just checked and they are Mission 235/80/16's PR 10 Load Range E ,80 PSI Cold on our Big Sky.

[bsmeaton]

Well - I take that back. Looks like only the Cambridge came with the G-Rated tires.

Nice looking rig Traveltunes!

[sreigle]

Dave, over several years I never wore out the tread on those Goodyear Marathon tires on four different fifthwheels. They always blew out before running out of tread. I've only put about 7,000 miles on these Mission tires but so far so good.

When we left the RGV a year and a half ago I was finally fed up with the Goodyears and put a set of BF Goodrich Commercial T/A tires in an LT size. I only put about 5k on them before trading the rig but they were wearing very well. The installer told me he puts more of that tire on RV's than anything else. I'm not sure why but they apparently have a good reputation.

I'm sure there are other good brands, als.

[richfaa]

We have around 10K+ on our OEM Mission tires and they are holding up well Just installed the Doran system for an added measure of safety. Think we will swing over to LonnieB on our way SW this winter and have him replace the Missions.

[LonnieB]

Hello Dave,

I don't know what the Cambridge weighs, but it's evidently enough to make an engineer somewhere believe it needs G rated tires.

I talked to several of my distributors today after reading your post, and the general consensus is, the Goodyear G614 is the " King of The Mountain ". The Goodyear Marathon Steve Reigle had so much trouble with is a different tire than the G614 and is far inferior to the G614. I don't know anything about the Greenball ( Highway Troopers ) bsmeaton mentioned, but my recommendation would be to steer away from any foriegn or unknown brand of tires. As you said, " blowouts do real bad things to trailers........".

Hope this helps answer your questions.

[jars]

I will replace my Mission tires with Michelin xps all steel radials. I put 50,000 miles on a set with no problems.
Richard E. Smith
jars

[blarkman]

Your problem may have been the age of the trailer tires, I have been told to replace them every five years from date of manufacturer by many rv'er and leaned the hard way. Tires had no checking and looked like new but sure blew one after only travelling 80 miles from Yuma.

Also who sells Mission as there is no literature in mypacket
bob