Adequate Tow Vehicle Rating

[scrubjaysnest]

Never hurts to check the tire maker's web site. And yes sometimes the tire guys get it wrong; in 2010 on our Alaska trip they kept saying the pop-up was over loaded. Cat scales proved that theory wrong.

Originally Posted by Mr. Adventure

To get to the maximum load rating of a tire, you have to go to the maximum pressure on the sidewall. So tire pressure needs to be set based on load conditions, and load conditions when towing are higher.

In the old days I got tired of the tire guy always blaming my alignment problems at replacement time because of those worn edges with better tread in the center. I found that pressures closer to the sidewall max give me better gas mileage and much better tread wear than the doorpost spec in everyday driving, and boosting the tire pressure is the only way to make tires wear evenly.

After Ford found out they had big problems with recommending 28psi tires on early 2000's Ford Explorers, I decided you can't afford to just believe everything they tell you. A side benefit is that I haven't had a tire guy complaining about my alignment in the past 20 years. I also prefer the crisper steering that comes with higher inflation pressures.

I agree 100%. Through many years and many different tires on light trucks/SUVs I now use higher pressures. Right now I use 40 psi in all my tires (passenger tires) on my new GX (which is what I used for years with my last TV (V8 4Runner). I get better mileage, good ride/handling and never had any bad tire ware. As soon as these tire need to be replaced I will get LTs and run them at 65 psi. I also bump up the pressure on back tires when I tow.

Koz

[Mr. Adventure]

Thinking about trapezoids:

Sorry to have to speculate about something so important, but I didn't find an awful lot of detail from the Hensley people to work from. Most of their pitch is pointed toward controlling trailer sway, a big problem for travel trailer owners but not such a big deal for us with folding models. The essence of how the hitch works is when the trailer swings to one side, the hitch resists a bit on the inside and pulls a little bit harder on the other. Not a bad plan for helping with trailer sway. But if that's all that's in the hitch besides a couple friction driven sway controls (nothing special to control the hitch when it's in compression), then what's laudable in pull risks becoming lamentable in push. In towing the trailer is happier in the middle. In stopping, however, the reverse could be true and the hitch could work against a straight stop more than a simple hitch ball. I'm not thinking this hitch is either necessary or necessarily a good thing for a low center of gravity trailer like a TrailManor, and it might actually add to vehicle instability in a skid.

I also added this comment to my note in post 53 in this thread, not having a better way to keep that particular conversation together.