I've asked the experts about going up on a higher load range tire for my camper, from C to a D. They said stick to the load range tires the camper sticker had on it. The higher load range tires don't mean there better tires, just means they can haul more weight. They are just as pron to blow out and they don't shed the road heat no better. Axles have a load rating on them too. You can go as high as you want in load range tires but you still can't haul no more that your axles will allow. Also tire rims are rated too. To much air can blow out a rim. So,more money more air , rougher ride with the higher load rated tires.They recommended the higher speed tires! Please don't ask me any questions about tires, sometimes i couldn't tell you my name, with out looking on my Drivers license. LOL, LOL ASK THE EXPERTS! www.etrailer.com
bigbar

bigbar, don't know who the experts are, never met them, but I know that on MY HI Lo, load range "c" tires were the BARE MINIMUM for the weight of MY trailer. I upgraded to "D" range cause of the weight I carry, and knowing they are safer than what was on there. I still stay at about 65 mph + or - a few. Tires Plus and Tire Barn both said standard rims are tested to about 100 psi or more during QC inspections, so a difference of 15 psi means nothing--they weren't even selling me rims!
Tree

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Treeclimber
2703 Tow Lite
2002 Escalade
Bonita Springs, Fl. &
Andrews, NC

Hey treeclimber, sounds like to me the HiLO people made a bad mistake on your sticker. Your sticker rating should have cover your max weight you could carry and the tire rating. I know if i was with in 400 lbs i would go to a higher load rated tire.
bigbar

bigbar, that's what I'm saying. I have a 27'er and the same load range tires were on the 19'er and the 24'er that I've owned, as well as the many Hi Los I've updated and repaired. Seems they put LR "c" on all their units. Just seemed smarter to up the load range for safety. Regardless of what people say, LR "D" IS better than "C"s. If your (LR "c") tires are at or near max weight and you impact a pot hole or the raised edge of an overpass, what the result? Now with the same weight and LR "D" tires, I'm sure the results wouldn't even be noticed, cause nothing would happen.
Tree

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Treeclimber
2703 Tow Lite
2002 Escalade
Bonita Springs, Fl. &
Andrews, NC

Seems to me I remember a discussion about some of the HiLo trailer sticker being in accurate for weight. Weigh your trailer when it is loaded for a trip. The weight on truck scales will give you correct information.

Treeclimber, I wonder if those people up there dranked a little and got things cross up. Your right, i've got a paper here with 18 to 24 ft TLs and TDs and TB all with 13 inch tires and load range c. Mine is a 97 21ft towlite , this paper says unloaded vehicle weight is 2760 loaded is 3900 lbs. Tires rated c 1350 @50psi all 4 tires would be 5400 lbs. You think i'm good or would go with the D rated tires. The axles are 2410 per so two of them would be 4820 lbs so my tires are still higher than my axle wt and 1500 lbs higher than my loaded V weight. What you think ? bigbar

bigbar, somewhere on the forum or you can check the internet for "tire date codes", these tell you the date of manufacture. Most RVers change tire at the 5 yr mark. I had a SPARE that was original to the Hi Lo dated 2002, totally rotted out on the bottom. I believe it's a 3 letter code (which tells you the place of manufacture) followed by a 4 digit numeric date. First number is the year next three is the day of the year. today is 8 (yr) 107 (day of the year) thus 8107. This is typical, but not always the same! I SUGGEST that if you are near or passed the 5 yr mark, and your considering new rubber, that you go for LR "D". They really don't cost much more. If you do purchase a set of ANY tires, try to ensure those date codes are the same. That goes for ANY type, size, or load range - - even for your tow vehicle/car.
Tree

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Treeclimber
2703 Tow Lite
2002 Escalade
Bonita Springs, Fl. &
Andrews, NC

Bigbar - Like Tree, my trailer came with wimpy tires when I bought it new in 2007. My trailer's max gross weight is 3800# and the puny Load Range C tires that came on it were rated to 3500# for the pair. I weighed my trailer on a CAT scale and found that if I left the fresh water tank empty, it weighed close to 3500#!, so, I had NO margin of safety.

In the second year I had the trailer, both tires failed due to cord separation. I replaced them with MAXXIS Load Range D tires and have had no more tire problems. I inflate them to the 65psi LR D pressure for every trip too, since inflating them to a lower pressure reduces their load carrying capability. Yes, my axle is also rated to only 3500#, but I believe it is designed with a somewhat higher margin of safety than the tires.

Like Tree, I think using tires with a higher load rating makes perfect sense, and he's dead on about the date codes and lifetime of trailer tires too.

- Jack

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Hi-Lo 1707T - Tire Minder TPMS on Tow Vehicle and Trailer, 300W Solar Battery Charger, Equal-i-zer WDH, Progressive Dynamics Converter, Fan-Tastic Fan, LiFePO4 battery 12V DC Electrical System
2014 F150 Platinum 4x4 3.5L EcoBoost SCrew

The date of manufacture is the last four digits of the DOT code. The first two digits are the week of manufacture, and the last two digits are the year. For example, if the last four digits of the DOT code are 0203, that means that the tire was manufactured during the second week of the year 2003.

If you have a 3 digit code the tires are way way old

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Cheers
Garyk52
DW Judy

96 24' Hi-Lo Funchaser, (99 Aliner Sofabed Sold 6/9/18)
06 Toyota Tundra SR5 Access Cab 4X4 36,000 miles and counting

wow! I thought the federal gov, made sure all this stuff was right or the DOT. But
Thanks for all the input, I'll be going for D rated tires on my towlite. I run them on my 5th wheel anyway.
Thanks to all, bigbar
ps! Why don't a bunch of ya'll invest a little and start your own company and build a better camper And do away with those blank cables !

It's not those blank cables, it's not taking care of them! I'm sure I lube my cables more often than needed and I'm partial to sewing machine oil like we used in the military.

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Treeclimber
2703 Tow Lite
2002 Escalade
Bonita Springs, Fl. &
Andrews, NC

Yes i agree, sewing machine oil is good and for sure take care of your cables and pulleys and guide shaft. But i think somebody out their could come up with a better way of raising the top of a camper besides cables and pulleys. To me it's what you can't see. Let's just say, you hit one of those pot holes you was talking about in another post and it damaged a pulley or a piece of payment flew up and cut your cable, may happen may not. I think it could be raised from the inside with electric jacks. The 97 towlite i have has everything exposed underneath. Or, treeclimber it could be just a senior crazy thought. ps! I'am going with D load range tires also, Thanks, benbar

Good for you, great choice.

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Treeclimber
2703 Tow Lite
2002 Escalade
Bonita Springs, Fl. &
Andrews, NC

The problem with electric jacks is the synchronization of them needing to move at the same rate. The one cylinder and cable system is always in sync.
The Hi-Lo is being produced once again but it is a very basic unit as they were in their early years. Hi-Lo | Inventory Database | Kerola Campers

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My Great Wife Joyce
2018 Jayco Jay Flight 21QB
Formerly owned 1705T and 2310H
2012 F150 4X4 SuperCrew EcoBoost w/Leer Cap
Reese WD Strait-Line Hitch
Amateur Radio K3EXU

An engineer friend and myself actually toyed with the idea of using the same type cable system to add a third tier to a Hi Lo or a second "top" so to speak so the ceiling would be even higher. But like many ideas it involved a heavier cylinder, cable routes etc, so we dropped that idea. The cables are unique to Hi Lo, they work and are reliable as long as we take care of them.

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Treeclimber
2703 Tow Lite
2002 Escalade
Bonita Springs, Fl. &
Andrews, NC

It would be nice to have a little more head room. I have friend that steps in mine and he has hit his head on the drop down bed and he has to watch his head on the air condition. Did ya'll ever toss around the ideal of adding 4 to 6 inches to the bottom of the [top] where the cables hook to and think about trying drop some weight by putting in lighter weight cabinets and stuff like that. I wouldn't think 6 inches higher going down the road would affect anything, wind or gas mileage as high as the trucks set now.
Thanks for sharing that, i think that is thinking out the box. I think one day when they find a cure for cancer it's going to people who thinks outside box.
If not for those people we would be pulling those campers with horses.
Thanks treeclimber, bigbar

Hey RichR Thanks for your input. With the advancements in electronics it just looks like it could be done. Maybe it will take both hydraulics and electronics to keep them coordinated to lift that top but think inside or outside corners. The two best things i like about my towlite the top does come down and that does make for easy pulling and it's lower to ground easy to get in and out of. Although i would like to have more road clearance when needed like a two stage air bags that would let you lower your camper axles down 2 or 4 inches which would raise up your camper just in case of road debris.
bigbar PS! Thinking outside the box is fun ! But lover just like she is! Got to name name the old girl.

Along this same topic I have one tire that gets wear I cannot figure out.
Front left.
Is where most weight is. Bad design to have everything heavy on the left (frige, sink, water heater, counter top, oven and storage cabinets). Balanced on other side with dinnette and closet (neither heavy)
If not for windows prohibiting it I would rectify design.
The front left has wear as if under inflated. Featheted wear outside edge, like new center. These are walmark tires, not great but likely not root issue.
With fridge n water heater sitting there hard to correct weight balance wo putting lots of weight at door on right.
Or is axle bent?
Bearing adjusted. Always had this issue.
Wear on both sides of tire sugges its not toe; to me.
Wondering if I should get higher psi tire, more than 50, to carry the load -assuming that there is too much weight on this one tire...
I drive a lot of miles in short time so am at rate of 4 -5 tires per year on this one hub.

It's amazing to me that so many people recommend inflating tires to the maximum pressure noted on the sidewall. Lots of folks on discussion boards, most tire salesmen, and apparently many RV manufacturers all say to do this. I think that since most tire failures seem to be caused by under-inflation, they are simply trying to cover their butts and not bother with taking the time to give any accurate advise. That is, those few who really know anything about it. (Of course if a tire develops a leak it's going to be under inflated, but that doesn't mean everyone should OVER-inflate tires.)

The ONLY people who know about proper inflation for any particular tire are the tire manufacturers. In my experience, every tire manufacturer I've looked up has a web site where they publish inflation tables for particular models and sizes of their tires. You find the weight that the tire will be carrying and the chart will show the appropriate pressure to use. Yes, there is a maximum pressure rating, and if you try to load the tire higher than it shows the tire is capable of by increasing the pressure above that maximum, you are asking for tire failure.

There is a reason we use pneumatic tires on vehicles instead of rigid ones. For a cushioned ride. Old tractors once had steel rims and lugs, but they operated on soft dirt and didn't worry about shaking their machinery to pieces. Common sense tells you that the higher the pressure in the tires, the less cushioning there will be for the load. If you run a tire at 80 psi when it only needs 40 psi, you should pretty much expect to see your trailer disintegrate over time. On a halfway rough road, that time could be pretty short.

Even publications like Trailer Life often publish letters from readers who claim that all their "experts" told them to just use the maximum pressure noted on the sidewall. In the current issue (Sept 2018) of that magazine, though, I finally see one response from the editors that makes sense. They say, in part, "Check the tire manufacturer's load and inflation tables for the tires. It's possible you may not need the full 80 PSI on the tire sidewall. Lowering the pressure somewhat, still allowing a reasonable weight safety margin, means the tires will be a bit more flexible and save some wear and tear on the trailer and its contents. A "safety margin" means if you need 65 PSI per the tables to carry the weight at each tire, go up by 5 PSI to add some margin of safety. This is not a hard and fast figure ..."

Here's what I did when I bought my 1999 22 foot Hi-Lo Classic three years ago. Knowing the tires were original to the trailer and thus a minimum of 16 years old, I replaced them all including the spare (they had lots of tread but were showing some little sidewall cracks, and bigger cracks in the bottom of the tread grooves). I did a lot of research online, and read sad tales from users of a lot of different brands, but saw no such stories about Maxxus tires, so that's what I bought. I upgraded from the original C range tires to D range. I looked at the Maxxis inflation tables and the recommended PSI for the load I was going to put on those tires was only about 32 PSI! (The maximum pressure rating on the sidewalls was 80 PSI.) I added about 6 to 8 PSI for a safety margin, even knowing the Hi-Lo would have a little stiffer ride. And driving on an old concrete road with noticeable bumps at the joints in the pavement for about 20 miles shook my lower trailer door apart and I had to rebuild it. I can't imagine what would have happened if I had used 80 PSI. Maybe all the upper cabinets would have fallen down ...

Also, I use a little common sense when driving. Can there be a reason the manufacturers of all trailer tires (I'm told) say the maximum speed rating is 65 mph? And yet I see these morons pulling a trailer the maximum speed limit on the freeway, which is 80 here in Idaho. Or 85, because they think the state police will let them get away with 5 mph over the limit. For four hours across the desert in southern Idaho when the air temperature is 97 degrees; goodness knows what it is on the black asphalt.

I drive at 65 or below on the freeway. I bought a Hi-Lo largely to get good mileage, and the high speeds do a lot to eliminate that advantage. Hey, you are on vacation, right? What's the hurry? Driving at 75 instead of 65 for an hour doesn't save you 10 minutes ...

About Goodyear. My original trailer tires were Goodyear Marathons, made in the USA, which had a good reputation. Then they switched to China production and the result was all the horror stories you find on the Internet about Marathons blowing apart and tearing up RVs. The trailer manufacturers kept using them because of the good rep. When that went away, Goodyear finally came out recently with a new trailer tire that they say is made in USA and is a big improvement. They say. But sorry, Goodyear, I just don't trust you any more.

I hope this at least makes people think a little about tire pressures in a way that makes sense.
Roger