BETTER TIRE MILEAGE - HOW TO...

[Captain Mal]

Just took off two Steeltex AT's that had 66,000 miles on them. They easily would have gone into the 70's but it was convenient for me to change today.

The secret was to ADD TONGUE WEIGHT on the trailers I tow. Started using my light 500lb. weight distribution bars instead of the 1,000lb ones. Most of the trailers I tow have tongue weights of 700 to just over 1,000lbs. Using the lighter bars keeps more weight on the truck and must hold the rear tires more evenly on the road.

Prior to this change the best I ever got on rear tires was around 50K miles.

Oh, the Michelin LTX's I had on the front were moved to the back and a new set ($154 ea - no bs -AJ Tire in Apollo, PA.)of LTX's put on the front.

The older LTX's have 42,000 miles on them and between 13-16/32's of tread depth. The new ones have 15-17/32's of tread. It looks like these tires will easily go over 100,000 miles. Heading to Arizona tomorrow to start to find out.

[AlanL]

I replaced my stock steelex ATs after burning the rears (no smoke shows - just regular driving) down to the wear bars at about 16K miles...

Tongue weight isn't the only thing that would have added another 50K miles to them. It must be my driving!

One way to add life to your tires is to buy new ones that have a milage warranty built in... even if you burn them up early, they'll pro-rate the difference when you buy another set. ;)

[BlueOx03]

I don't tow anything, but my back tires are almost bald @ 9K! I guess running Level four doen't help, sure is fun though!!

TJ

[Captain Mal]

ALWAYS AMAZED at how some people wore their tires out extremely fast. Have watched many bikers at Daytona spend hundreds of dollars and more burning off their tires in 'burn-out-pits'. I guess they do it for the enjoyment of others. To me it's also a sign of mental illness.

One thing to do with the tires is ALWAYS keep at least 60psi in them. During the tow, move that up to 70 - 80psi. Lower the pressure after unhooking.

I'm not rich and work hard for the money. Tires should last or you are doing it wrong.

[hd90rider]

CapMal, Hows everything? Most people wont believe this,but I dont care. Have 70k on a set of Firestones, that a lot of our drivers are using & getting up to 125k to 140k.Do have them rotated every 15k.(included in the price.) Will let ya know the model# later as truck is finally in the shop to replace the remaining 5 injectors. They havent gone completely, but my dealer said he was goona replace them for me as I am getting alittle more smoke now. Not bad for 245k. ;)

[Murf]

Captain - interesting since I'm moving to a 1,000lb bar from my 750!! With my 750 bars I was hardly able to move any wieght to the front of the rig - could never seem to get an even drop on the tow vehicle. How about you - do you end up with an overall even drop front and rear on the tow vehicle? What the wieght of your trailer - my max wieght is 10,000lbs - I just might hit that as we're loading up for a year long trip.

[Captain Mal]

HD90 & Murf,

Bill - Welcome to the 'I Replaced them ALL' club. Hope things go well. The dealer was real nice the other day. Gave me a 9 page diagnostic of what might be wrong. Tuesday morning delivery in Phoenix. Heading out right now. Good luck with your new injection.

Murf - Trailers run 7 to 10,500 lbs. Different models but most have about 10% tongue weight. I rarely use my 750lb bars. Maybe I should use them on the heavier units. Sometimes they are made wrong or have lots of electronics and tongue weights of 1,700lbs. You need the 1,000 lb bars then.

Whole rig usually sits flat to imperceptably low in the middle. I watch to see that the trailers DO add a little weight to the truck by looking at the top of the draw bar. If not right I adjust the number of links or change bars. Make sure your head is adjusted to the trailer tongue height.

Another guy that tows for the same company likes a dip at the back of the truck and front of the trailer. He often does not use any bars. His current tow is a generation 3 Cummins. Everyone is different.

Must go. Back in a week.