# How old are your horse trailer tires?



## Trails (Jan 28, 2009)

I just learned this about tires and thought you might find it useful sense most of us have to trailer to get to the trails.

It’s important to check the age of your horse trailer tires because the rubber degrades over time. I’ve never really thought about it but it does seem to make sense. I called my trailer gurus and both said that tire manufacturers are recommending that any tire be replaced if it’s over 6 years old. And old doesn’t mean from when the tire was placed on the trailer. It’s from the date of manufacture. 

The code with the manufacturing date information is printed on the tires and is a bit cryptic but once you learn the code it’s easy peezy to figure out. Basically it’s a two digit week of year and two digit year.

You can learn more on reading the code and see examples here


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## Painted Horse (Dec 29, 2006)

I've always heard that they need to be replaced after 5 years.
Most trailer tires will not be worn out as far as the tread goes. Its the deteriation of the rubber that is the big problem.


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## Darrin (Jul 11, 2011)

Yeah, I figure 6-7 year range for tires to avoid blow outs. I know manufacturers suggest earlier but I've taken that long plus to wear out a set of tires on a vehicle with no issues.


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## QOS (Dec 8, 2008)

My trailer is 2.5 years old and was ordered so the tires can't be much older than that! I have had to have one tire plugged as it was leaking air. Other than that, no issues. I will try to remember to replace them when it is paid off...that is when it will be 5 years old.


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## Trails (Jan 28, 2009)

Painted - exactly. Chances are none of us will ever wear out a set of trailer tires and it just seems wasteful to replace them with lots of good tread left. What I've done in the past with "old tires" was to put them on farm equipment. Unfortunately recycling to another contraption isn't an option for a lot of people and quite frankly some people don't know what dry rot looks like or what to look for (I was one of them). I look at at as cheap insurance. And a good reminder to check the age of the tires when I look at new ( or new to me) trailers.


Here's a pic I lifted off of the web of one of the signs of dry rot


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## MHFoundation Quarters (Feb 23, 2011)

We get new about every 4 years. I've recycled in the past but would love to find a place to shred them to add to my indoor footing.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## iridehorses (Oct 22, 2007)

QOS said:


> My trailer is 2.5 years old and was ordered so the tires can't be much older than that! I have had to have one tire plugged as it was leaking air. Other than that, no issues. I will try to remember to replace them when it is paid off...that is when it will be 5 years old.


Not necessarily true. The trailer mfg is not the tire mfg so even though your trailer may be new, it depends on where the tire supplier got them. Chances are that you are fine but it might be interesting to look anyway.


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## Red Gate Farm (Aug 28, 2011)

Informative and interesting!

I read that tires from southern areas of the U.S. degrade faster (due to the heat?) at about 5 - 6 years, whereas tires from northern areas of the U.S. were good for 10 years. Any more info on that? 

I also heard somewhere that exposure to sunlight was a prime reason for degrading tires, so if you covered them when not in use it helped. Anyone hear anything more about that?


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## Corporal (Jul 29, 2010)

Great thread!! 
*PLEASE have your mechanic double check the weight load for yours bc mine weren't graded for my trailer! **SUPER mad face***
MY 4 horse, steel, slant load trailer's tires are 3 years and 4 months old. We have 4 tires below and 2 spares on the sides. Two originals blew out on us when we drove home from PA (for the Natl. 145th Gettysburg Reenactment) in July, 2008 with 3 horses, and drove back home with 4. The first tire blew a few hours after we headed home, which we discovered _after_ we ate dinner, in the parking lot of a restaurant. The 2nd tire blew about 1/2 way home, in the middle of Ohio, on a very busy Interstate. The guys from AAA really risked their lives taking the tire off and putting on the spare. Our first call was to them, and our 2nd call was 9-1-1. An officer stopped to see what the problem was, then LEFT US about 10 minutes later. ***TOTALLY WTFudge!!!!*** I was expecting him to help us with traffic, so nobody would get hurt, since there was hardly a shoulder and there was one lane under construction. 
_WE_ used our Garmin and exited 3 miles later to a town with a tire shop. They sold tires for pretty much everything, including semi's, and they lifted the trailer fully loaded up to replace the tires. Our trailer (and horses) are in the back yard, and though we don't put a lot of miles on the trailer these days, we ALWAYS double check the pressure and condition before transporting anywhere. DH and I had to learn SO MUCH about trailering by trail and error over the past 26 years, and we have spent MORE than one extra night stranded, bc we needed trailer _*repairs*_ (with our first stock trailer) and twice with truck repairs (loose U-joints and broken regulator & alternator.) Educate yourself and save some grief!!


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## QOS (Dec 8, 2008)

I just had the trailer serviced and they said the tires were fine. I do haul it almost every week. The former Brenderup shop manager said I was an unusual Brenderup owner! LOL he said they don't haul that often. I told him I bought it to trail ride and it is a rare week I don't go somewhere!!! I will check out the dry rot look. I am hauling it tomorrow!


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

That is checking on the sidewalls, causes the tires to lose air or even a blow out. Storing your trailer in a garage will reduce this and moving the trailer regularly when idle. My trailer is brand new so the tires are new as well. I am very fortunate to have a insulated shop to park it for the winter.


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## Darrin (Jul 11, 2011)

Red Gate Farm said:


> Informative and interesting!
> 
> I read that tires from southern areas of the U.S. degrade faster (due to the heat?) at about 5 - 6 years, whereas tires from northern areas of the U.S. were good for 10 years. Any more info on that?
> 
> I also heard somewhere that exposure to sunlight was a prime reason for degrading tires, so if you covered them when not in use it helped. Anyone hear anything more about that?


You answered your question in the second paragraph. It's mainly the sun that does in tires over time. Rubber will still age when out of the sunlight (garage, barn, etc) but at a much reduced rate.


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## SailorGriz (Nov 28, 2010)

One of the worst things you can do to trailer (or any) tires is leave them sitting with low pressure for extended periods. Add some sunshine and it does get worse. 

A friend bought a 3 year old travel trailer that had been sitting (inside) for two years on low tires. He filled 'em up and figured he was good to go. I towed it from Iowa to Idaho and back for an ATV ride (my truck could carry our ATVs in the back, his couldn't, so I drove). We lost three of the four tires on the trip. Fortuneately, I'd tossed in my trailer spare, just in case, so we had two spares. We needed both of them before we could get the first blowout fixed.

Last summer, coming home from a week of packing into the Gospel Hump my friend had a trailer tire blow. He said it was an older, but never used, tire. Go figure. It's age, NOT usage, that destroys them.

Tires are simply NOT that expensive! And certainly NOT worth the frustration of roadside issues! Wear is seldom the issue (although I did wear out a set of travel trailer tires); age is the issue. It just ain't worth the hassle!


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## Corporal (Jul 29, 2010)

waresbear, You are fortunate to store it indoors. I stored my first trailer in a building about 7 miles away from where I kept them, but it was owned by my hay man, so we knew each other. My current trailer, steel, has been outside for a decade now. Last year it was looking rusty, so I bought 5 gallons of Rusoleum, and I painted ALL of the outside surfaces, including the many faces on my hay rack--AARRGGHHH!!! I didn't bother to tape anything off, even though I went from Midnight Blue (which I couldn't find pre-mixed) to Royal Blue, many shades lighter. It didn't matter. EVERYBODY thinks it looks great, now, and the water is beading off of it. I had enough extra paint to paint the corrogated metal overhang on one of my outbuildings and use the same shade on my new, steel back door that goes to my basement, and keeps me from tracking in _"everything barn"_ into my kitchen!
_(I went through a bunch of cheap brushes, bc you can't clean oil-based paint off of them and reuse.)_


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## VT Trail Trotters (Jul 21, 2011)

Everyone if your tires are cracked or old CHANGE THEM!!!! Trust me you dont want a tire to blow wit a horse in the trailer at 40 mph. I had bought a old 35 year old boat and trailer and it is a 12 boat and about 100lbs. And we had to move some stuff and loaded this trailer with the boat in with a bow flex and other things and going 30 mph down a road with 35 year old tires with say 300 lbs of weigh on them a tire and it blew and pulling this trailer back to the house on a rim and tire is not fun or easy.


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## MyBoyPuck (Mar 27, 2009)

Glad to see this thread. Just today I was looking at my truck tires. They are 2006, not obvious signs of rot, plenty of tread. The truck was babied and housed in a garage before falling into my trailer hauling hands. While I do plan of replacing my trailer tires in the spring, I'm not so sure about the truck. It'll be sitting my garage all winter, so I might be able to eek out another season, no?


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

Yes, Corporal, rustoleum is a dang good paint. Before I was given the new trailer for Mother's Day (love you Daddy! LOL), I had an older stock trailer, '84, red. Was showing it's age, we redid the whole thing & spray painted it with rustoleum and sold it. First person that looked at it bought it because they said it looked new. By way, new tires were put on it before it was put up for sale.


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