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View Full Version : marathon vs carlisle tire survey??????????



roadtrip se
02-25-2002, 05:21 PM
Okay, I know this topic has been thrown around some in the past, but I would like some fresh opinions from the pros here.

Jill and I live up to our handle. Our weekend place is 200 miles round trip. We do the Texas to Cumberland trek a couple of times per year.
Lake of the Ozarks looks like a possibility later this summer. You know the drill. We're not about to stop hitting the road with our diesel wagon and classic.

Problem is, we eat marathon tires. I watch pressures, bearings, heat, speeds, and all that stuff. Three different tires in a year on this brand new 2001 Classic. Not a matter of if we get to change a tire, but when it seems like. This weekend, it took us 20 minutes to change the dang thing and back on the road, but what a dirty, stinking, hot, sticky, greasy, and dangerous way to start the weekend! This time it was a rock jammed between the treads. Gimme a break!

Is there a better trailer tire on the market?
I'm getting kind of tired of feeling like the pit crew for Jeff Gordon!

Bryan Tuvell 33ZX
02-25-2002, 06:06 PM
ROADTRIP, our new Fastload 2426T came with Carlisle tires. They are very nice, even though 14" still rated at about 1900 lbs each.
I had a side wall issue, and Carlisle stood by their tire no questions ask. Mounted on a nice mag, delivered, $150 each.

700 miles on mine, no sweat and they will take me to KY and beyond... I HOPE to find a spare tire mount soon! I am having problems in this area due to trailer beam size....

Todd, when will you and the better half arrive KY?
Bryan

Formula Jr
02-25-2002, 06:09 PM
Todd, the only reason I was running the carlisles was because they were sold thru out the US at just about every farm store on rim with my five hole pattern . The biggest pain in the butt, is trailering into an unknown town and then trying to locate a tire store with a matching profile to the old set. So if you needed a new tire, you just walked in to the farm store and bought a whole new standard off-the-shielf carlisle tire and wheel for $60. But they do not hold up for very long. My last set lasted 12K and then disintigrated. If you have 14 inch wheels you can go to D rated tires, but if you are at 13 inch, the best on the market is supposed to be the Nankang ST Loadmaster, C rated radial which I just bought and haven't had the time to try out. They are spendy at $70 per tire, but are supposed to last 50K. I always travel with my 2 1/2 ton foor jack. It makes tire swaps a breeze. Somehow I ended up with four trailers and every one of them has a different lug pattern for the wheels. :mad:

But with the extreme type of towing that some of us do, quality may not matter in the end, as most tires will get trashed by a road hazard rather than thru wear. So picking out a cheap, readily available tire, and then bringing them in quantity with matching rims, may actually work out better than a set of high quality tires that you may have trouble matching in StinkyBum, No Where USA.
This is the method I have been using and it has worked out well. This season I'm going to try the high quality route and see if my down time is any different.

Bryan Tuvell 33ZX
02-25-2002, 06:11 PM
Amen on the floor jack deal, we had a blow out enroute KY last year... It was like a NASCAR stop that lasted 30 minutes which isn't to shabby!
Bryan

BigGrizzly
02-25-2002, 07:32 PM
Todd there are several brands available. Jr is talking of bias ply tires at 70 dollars and the farm store price for Carlisle. They do make a good tire, but so is the marathon. On my trailer I have the bias belt type and will be changing to radial type. The biggest problem is the way trailer wheel bearings are set up. Since they are tandem axels they are set tight than back off a 1/4 turn. The wheel than wobbles when going down the road. This causes a delema with radials. The industry hasn't caught up yet. I run my Corsican trailer (with Marathons) up tighter. No problems yet. My suggestion check the wheel bearing set up and run the tires at their highest pressure cold and use a good tire gauge, not the $4 kind. matched mine with Tom's and found a 5 psi difference. I have my gauge checked often, but it is for my race bike and cars, and cost $56

Randy

Bryan Tuvell 33ZX
02-25-2002, 09:47 PM
Air pressure is certainly key, my guy at sale on the 26ZX, new trailer said, "checked them all, 50 PSI cold...
200 miles down the road (a little sway) they were all warm, he was wrong (polite way to put it)...

Under a true 50PSI cold, they ride straight and true, and most importantly cool at good highway speeds...
I had Marathons on the 22ZX trailer and had no problems at all for about 4000 miles total, I was told the inner tread line was supposed to look the way they do, that is normal.

I do like the Carlisles I have now, they seem to be a better tire, but of course that is an uneducated guess with 700 or 750 miles on these... and it is 10:40 on a Monday night!
I mentioned earlier I had a problem with one new tire and one was sent new UPS 3 day no questions ask... so they are a stand up co.
AOTHII ssssoooonnnnn......
Bryan

roadtrip se
02-25-2002, 10:10 PM
Great advice guys. Thanks, Todd

Dr. Dan
02-25-2002, 10:14 PM
We run with the Bias ply also right now,we also run with enough spares to do a full "Pit Stop", which is probably ridiculous, but if you're driving 1000 plus miles, it makes you feel a little more confident. We ordered our last pair right out of West Marine,with the matching chrome rims to our current trailer tires....$105 delivered ea., which actually I did not think was bad...they're the ST C rated(Loadstar and Duro brands). We're rebuilding the Trailer so might switch completely over to the Radial Route by the time were finished, but it pulled great all last season, over 10,000miles. wink ...Doc

Digger
02-26-2002, 08:46 AM
what a great bunch of info on this thread...not much to add except I 've had better ride with radials. I'm pretty anal about my trailer for the obvious reasons, just like everyone else. I seem to lose at least one tire per season no matter what I run. I run accu-lube spindles and give 'em a small shot of grease every time the trailer comes out of the water. also when changing bearings out I make sure to tighten the spindle nut to 50 ft lbs first then back off to make sure everything's seated.

This is the first trailer I've had with torsion suspension. It's absolutely fantastic, dampens out everything and rides as smooth as can be. I highly recommend them vice springs.

speaking of trailering, my only concern is the width of the rig...boat is 9'3" wide, couple inches wider on the trailer thanks to the vertical slide on guides up the side. takes up most of the lane, thats for sure. Most states legal limit for trailer width is 8'6" without a "wide load" banner. I won't be surprised to get pulled over one day, but hasn't happened yet.

"happy trailering"

Formula Jr
02-26-2002, 03:08 PM
Trailers are designed with a great deal of toe-in for stability. Thats why the inner tread will wear faster. Regular trailers just are not designed for the distances some of us use them for. The toe-in on the Haul-Rite I was running last year is rather extreme at 1/8th. Good for 200 mile hauls. Not good for 8000 mile hauls. That is where the quality, thus quantity got factored in. If I was running the Haul-Rite this year, I would have reset the toe-in to 1/16th and hiway test it to see if it was still stable. This year I'm pulling a tandem Gater trailer. Don't know how it will holdup, but I know the four hole lug pattern is going to be problematic to source in StinkyBum.

BigGrizzly
02-26-2002, 10:27 PM
Neither of my trailers have toe-in. the Corsican did wear inside treads until I tightened up the wheel bearings to the auto spec, instead of the back it off 1/4 turn trailer trick. The tandem axel trailer on the Criterion trailer doesn't cup either and it has no toe-in. with looser bearings the top of the tires camber in thus the inside wear on the inner bead.

Randy

Formula Jr
02-27-2002, 12:14 AM
Randy, it took me a while to visualize what you were talking about and I think you are dead on.
However, its my undestanding that all axles (or spindles), even the rear wheels of a front wheel drive car, have some degree of toe-in to counter the effect on the axle, or spindle from the rolling resistance (drag) of the tire. In other words, if a trailer truely had no toe-in, it would result in a toe-out condition at speed as the drag of the tire's contact with the road slightly deflects the axle backwards. Of coarse now, I've complete thunk myself into confusion as its appearent that trailer axles, as sold, are not orientated as to front or back and that the all important clue of what I'm saying has evaporated in to thin air..............

:D

BigGrizzly
02-28-2002, 12:28 AM
Jr Front drive cars are toe out, not toe-in. Toe-out because the car is pulled and forced a toe-in condition. The rears are straight with a + or - varience (for obvious reasons). I work for a front wheel drive company. We do toe in ever so slightly on the rear for some condictions on all wheel drive and 4 wheel steering just ot keep the wheels straight at a cruise. No one to my knowlege makes a boat trailer axel with toe-in or toe-out. There is no adjustment of any sort on the spindles. If what you said is true and there was no adjustment all axels would be pre-bent and have a instalation direction, and this just isn't so. The rear axel on your van would have an adjustment spec also and it doesn't, if it did how would you change it -bend the axel carrier and get ready for the leak.

Randy

RickR
02-28-2002, 08:36 AM
I'm with madpoodle (he has more trailer experience than all the rest of us put togeather). I'll probably have 4 flats today but "knock on wood" in 24 years of boating I've only had one flat due to a defective tire.

Currently running Maxxis radials with 40lbs (due to a over rated trailer) on a (6000GTWR)Rolls about 5000 miles a year.

On most tandem trailers you can change a tire without a jack. Put a block or 2 (2x8) under the good tire then run your tongue jack up (or down) till the flat comes off the ground.

I agree with Randy but if you run close tolerances on your wheel bearing there is very little room for error. Spin the wheel when adjusting the bearing and inspect grease regularly for water intrusion.