Towing a small empty trailer

[11 footer]

I have a possible buyer for my 11' Boston Whaler.<br /><br />The catch is I'll have to deliver it to NJ, about five hours away,. The boat will be removed from the trailer. The perspective buyer has no use for my trailer. He doesn't want it. I have to tow it home with me. The trailer is very small, picture a PWC trailer, just a tad bigger then that.<br /><br />I have never towed the trailer empty before, its very light and I'm worried about it bouncing around on the highway, and having it sway back and forth. I'd be towing it with a 4.6 V8 RWD Lincoln Towncar. I don’t need to go over 60mph.<br /><br />Could this be a problem?

 

[RubberFrog]

Re: Towing a small empty trailer

You'll get home, but it will bounce. Go slow (55?) and don't worry about it.

 

[John McFarlane]

Re: Towing a small empty trailer

Drop the tyre pressures down to about 8-10 lbs

 

[waterone1@aol.com]

Re: Towing a small empty trailer

Let's see, we don't know the size of his tires, the weight of the trailer, the type or normal pressure of his tires, yet we'll tell him to drop the pressure to 8-10 pounds ????? Sounds like a good recipe for flexing sidewalls, overheating and tire blow-out to me!!

 

[Triton II]

Re: Towing a small empty trailer

waterone1, that's very harsh! We got a reasonably clear picture of the size and weight of the trailer from Ryan T's description of the trailer in his question. Your response doesn't help the questioner or the answerer with his suggestion to drop pressures. If you truly believe what you wrote, why didn't you ask for the exact weight, tyre size and exact specification (i.e a description of what information is moulded into the sidewalls), trailer weight and drawbar length? My belief is, and hopefully will continue to be unless this type of "shoot first, ask later" attitude persists, that this forum is to help people, not harshly reject a suggestion and then offer a doom and gloom scenario that is based on hearsay because you too do not know all the facts. <br />So, Ryan T, please let the forum know a little more information so the tyre/trailer experts can give you an answer that is gained from that information, not from supposition. If I'm being overly judgemental I apologise, but us Aussies are very thin-skinned!

 

[U_U]

Re: Towing a small empty trailer

Agree with RubberFrog.<br /><br />It'll bounce but I think it stays all stable except from that. It carries no weight and with the axle sitting fairly long back it should run right in your track.<br /><br />Any chance of selling it while you're there?

 

[BillP]

Re: Towing a small empty trailer

Yep, what rubberfrog sez.<br />Empty trailers DO bounce more but not to the point of being a problem or dangerous. I've been towing empty boat trailers behind towncars since 1985 (5.0 & 4.6) and it isn't a problem. I never take air out of the tires either. You are worrying about nothing.

 

[roscoe]

Re: Towing a small empty trailer

DO NOT lower your air pressures!!<br />It will bounce more and possibly cause tire to pop off rim. Been there.<br /><br />If you run normal tire pressures, you will be fine, and it will bounce less.<br /><br />I used to tow small (tiny) 100# trailers behind my motorcycles. The only time they bounced was when the tire pressure was low.<br />The same goes for my small 3x6 utility trailer. Towed it hundreds of empty miles, no problems.

 

[DaveM]

Re: Towing a small empty trailer

Yea it will bounce, but that shouldn't be an issue. I once had a motorcycle trailer with no suspension at all. Zip, nada, none. It bounced whether it was loaded or not. Never an issue and it is still being used today.<br /><br />Hop you have a good drive!

 

[rwidman]

Re: Towing a small empty trailer

I wouldn't lower tire pressure.<br /><br />You could take the boat off and take the trailer for a test run before the big trip to see how it handles. If it really bothers you, you might be able to rig some sort of load to haul home such as lumber/plywood and/or sandbags, top soil, etc. Just stop by the home center after you remove the boat. And be sure to strap everything down.

 

[John McFarlane]

Re: Towing a small empty trailer

Nothing like tossing a cat amongst the pidgeons. <br />Trailer tyres, and all tyres for that matter, are designed to run in a certain pressure range for carrying a load. <br /><br />To suggest that the tyres remain at that pressure when no load is being carried is simply ridiculous.<br /><br />So therefore, it would seem prudent and sensible to deflate the tyres to their minimun safe working pressure in these circumstances?<br /><br />If you take the time to check, you may be surprised to discover that under no load or minimum load conditions, most tyres will happily run all day at between 8-10 lbs, and the additional benefits gained, like greater tyre footprint, less rigid tyre wall leading to better tracking and safer handling are actually endorsed by tyre manufacturers in these circumstances.<br /><br />Of course, you could leave the tyre inflated as if it was carrying it's normal load, and watch it bounce across the road each time it hits a bump. Then when you get it home you can put all the bulbs back in their sockets. <br /><br />At lower pressures, the tyres act as a greater part of the suspension. More give in the tyres, less trailer bounce.<br /><br />This is why tyre pressures are recommended. It depends on the tyre construction,(radial or bias) the load, road conditions, trailer construction,(springs or not) etc.

 

[Formula1974]

Re: Towing a small empty trailer

I tow a small john boat trailer (boat is 14 foot) with a piece of plywood on it. I use it to go to the dump and move stuff with it. I have towed it to maryland up the highway empty to buy a riding lawn mower and it didnt bounce at all. Its a single axel trailer and I can lift the back end when its empty and swing it around to get into or out of tight spots. I would just pull it home and not worry about it.

 

[BillP]

Re: Towing a small empty trailer

Originally posted by John McFarlane:<br /> Nothing like tossing a cat amongst the pidgeons. <br />Trailer tyres, and all tyres for that matter, are designed to run in a certain pressure range for carrying a load. <br /><br />To suggest that the tyres remain at that pressure when no load is being carried is simply ridiculous.<br /><br />So therefore, it would seem prudent and sensible to deflate the tyres to their minimun safe working pressure in these circumstances?<br /><br />If you take the time to check, you may be surprised to discover that under no load or minimum load conditions, most tyres will happily run all day at between 8-10 lbs, and the additional benefits gained, like greater tyre footprint, less rigid tyre wall leading to better tracking and safer handling are actually endorsed by tyre manufacturers in these circumstances.<br /><br />Of course, you could leave the tyre inflated as if it was carrying it's normal load, and watch it bounce across the road each time it hits a bump. Then when you get it home you can put all the bulbs back in their sockets. <br /><br />At lower pressures, the tyres act as a greater part of the suspension. More give in the tyres, less trailer bounce.<br /><br />This is why tyre pressures are recommended. It depends on the tyre construction,(radial or bias) the load, road conditions, trailer construction,(springs or not) etc.

I think most agree that in a perfect world tires should be inflated to match the load. But the only published info I ever see is for max pressure. If you have sources that give tire pressures to match reduced loads how about passing it along. I will use it next time I trailer empty.<br /><br />Otherwise, matching pressures to meet a light load is a guess. Under inflation damages tires and is more dangerous than max pressure in tires on an empty load. Virtually nobody in commercial trucking or trailer hauling lowers tire pressure with empty loads...it doesn't happen. Towing an empty boat trailer a few hundred miles with normal pressure isn't any different. Both of my boat trailers weigh approx 20% of max tire loading so I don't see the need for more footprint, better tracking or sidewall flexing...but less bounce would be nice when crossing RR tracks. I'm not against lowering pressures but don't see it being ridiculous to tow empty with standard pressure.

 

[Speedwagon]

Re: Towing a small empty trailer

A trick I learned for making sure I have the correct tire pressure on my car is this:<br /><br />Take a piece of chalk, draw a line across the tire(sidewall to sidewall), and drive a few rotations on it. If the chalk line wears evenly, you have the proper pressure. If it doesn't, you should inflate/deflate.<br /><br />One could use the same principal on a trailer. Obviously, without a load, you will have a heavy wear mark on the center of the tire. You'd want to let air out until you got an even wear pattern.<br /><br />And the tires should be in good condition for this. If they are already worn badly/unevenly, this doesn't work so good.

 

[craze1cars]

Re: Towing a small empty trailer

I'm getting off subject here, but as a hobby drag racer I'll offer a tire pressure tip that's a lot more fun than the previously written chalk line tip. A nice, big, smoky burnout! Even colored black marks on the pavement are the goal. Dark ridges at the outside = underinflation. Dark ridges in the middle = overinflation. Once you get it nailed down, run out and buy new tires...<br /><br />Now all you gotta do is figure out a way to get those trailer tires to spin like mad under their own power!!

 

[rwidman]

Re: Towing a small empty trailer

A trick I learned for making sure I have the correct tire pressure on my car is this:<br /><br />Take a piece of chalk, draw a line across the tire .........

Or get a pressure gauge from the auto parts store or megamart for $7.00 and use it.

 

[Speedwagon]

Re: Towing a small empty trailer

A pressure gauge doesn't do squat if you don't know where the pressure should be for an empty trailer though. The pressure is actually slightly different for every combination of tire/vehicle/weight. That's where the chalk comes in. You use it(with a pressure gauge), and then you know where that tire needs to be for a given load.

 

[ndemge]

Re: Towing a small empty trailer

....list the trailer for sale, and put your location as the same city you are delivering the boat to, put it on ebay cheap, no reserve and offer free delivery between there and your home state, put in your auction why your doing this and you might just find a buyer.<br /><br />...personally, I'd start driving, if it bounces, find any lowes/home depot, go buy 200 lbs of something and either use it or return it at your local store when you get home. Do you have a water softner? Buy salt and then put it in when you get home. I did this for weight in a truck once on my way home from work, it started snowing, was spinning around, stopped at the farm center on the way home, loaded up on salt for weight, and used it later.

 

[frroog000]

Re: Towing a small empty trailer

Maybe I'm wrong but if you remove the load would not that lower the pressure? But I have towed trailers and never did anything but go if it started to jump around, which only happened on a gravl road, slow down