Winter Prep-Tire/wheel Removal??

[Capebuild]

We probably won't be using our trailer again until next April or so. While being stored in the garage during the winter.....is it necessary (or a good idea) to put the trailer up on blocks and remove the tires.... rather than have the trailer rest on the tires all winter?

Thanks for the thoughts.

John

[Onajourney]

I don't think so but this Good Year article talks about it.
https://www.goodyear.com/en-US/learn/tire-care-maintenance/dry-rot-tires

[tony.latham]

I've never done it and have not noticed any out-of-round vibration in the spring.

Tony

[Squigie]

It is a good idea to put the axle on jack stands, if possible.

But you probably won't suffer and negative side effects if you do leave weight on the tires - except maybe staining the concrete of your garage/driveway.


I had to replace the tires on my truck this year, due to weather checking and some pretty impressive sidewall cracking. They probably still had 25k miles worth of tread left.
But they were on a truck that lives outside 99.9% of the time, in full sun all winter and 80% of the day in summer. Daily driven, but sun eats at the tires every day.

I've had plenty of tires flat-spot from being parked. They work themselves round again in short order. (And I have never had long-term effects from such.)


Suspension may be something to consider.
The torsion axle under my pop up tent trailer is collapsing again (4th axle for this trailer). I have been wondering for a few years - especially after this last summer - if storing it with weight off the wheels might help with longevity of these axles.
The previous owners had the trailer overloaded for each suspension failure, but I have been very careful to not do so. I think the bigger issue for this particular trailer is that it has a dry weight of (from memory, so +/- a bit) 1,390 lb and a gross of 1,560 lb -- which is very easily exceeded with just some basic kitchen gear, a propane tank, and a battery, let alone any water or camping gear. All of that is on a Dexter axle rated at 1,800 lb.

As packed away for the winter, it probably weighs every bit of 1,500 lb. It also lives outside. Add 12-18" of wet, heavy snow on top of the trailer cover, and that's another 500+ lb. It is over the axle rating with that snow load, even if in 'dry weight' form.

I may have just convinced myself to go put jack stands under that axle. I hadn't actually calculated the snow load before and seen just how bad it is.

[Ottsville]

Hundreds of thousands of RV's are parked most of the year and all of the off season on the ground. I wouldn't worry about it sitting on the tires. That said, if I were storing a teardrop in my garage, I would probably store it on dollies so that it could be moved sideways to do other stuff in the garage, but that's just me and my shop layout.

[swoody126]

placing your axle on blocks and removing the wheel/tire assemblies is not that important fot the sake of the tires

HOWSUMEVER ... if you remove the tires you remove 2 routes vermin use to reach your trailer box and set up camp thru the colder months

sw

[Capebuild]

Thanks all for the follow up.
Seems like leaving the tires and wheels in place will work for me.

thanks again.

John

[Squigie]

placing your axle on blocks and removing the wheel/tire assemblies is not that important fot the sake of the tires

HOWSUMEVER ... if you remove the tires you remove 2 routes vermin use to reach your trailer box and set up camp thru the colder months

sw

I have only seen rodent issues when one or both factors were in play:
1. Food in the trailer/RV.
2. Food very near the trailer/RV.

("Food" includes anything that mice and rats will eat or hoard and store. Even grass seed in a nearby shed can be a food source.)

The only time I got bitten by a rodent infestation was failure to truly clean out an RV that I bought in 2010 or so. Root cause turned out to be several boxes of graham crackers that had been stored under a dinette seat by the previous owners, but had migrated around to the back side of a water tank. A thorough inspection would have had them spotted. But, I didn't look hard enough, it seems.

[tony.latham]

you remove 2 routes vermin use to reach your trailer ...

Something tells me there's no way a mouse can get into John's cabin. We're not talking Jayco here.

Tony