Not that kind. I need to put some tires on my 13 ton tilt deck, wondering what the experts think of using caps. The trailer only gets used maybe a thousand miles a year, and usually is loaded kinda light, but it gets squeezed into a lot of tight driveways, often backing in. I worry about peeling caps loose, but virgin tires will rot before they wear out. Opinions?
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Virgins?
- Thread starter wilko
- Start date
old-iron-habit
Senior Member
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- Moose Lake, MN
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Making the assumption that your tilt deck has close tandems, I would not be at all concerned with peeling a cap with 13 tons on 8 tires going either forward or backwards. Always a good idea to back up loaded without cutting to sharp if possible as most trailer suspension systems will let the axles twist more while backing up.
mitch504
Senior Member
Assuming that trailer uses little tires, I don't know. I have had real good luck with recaps on 11R22.5s and 24.5s. My 9 and 12 ton equipment trailers run 9.00-14.5 lowboy tires and my 18 ton tag and my 50-ton run 10.00-15s. nobody has ever offered me recaps in the small tires, they say can't get good casings to recap.
On edit: I wouldn't be worried about peeling a cap turning, I'd be more worried about a build up of heat going down the road, since little tires turn much faster than big ones.
On edit: I wouldn't be worried about peeling a cap turning, I'd be more worried about a build up of heat going down the road, since little tires turn much faster than big ones.
Last edited:
mitch504
Senior Member
Those are the same height as 10.00-15s. I have trailer that would have those on it, but I couldn't find caps for those either.
Birken Vogt
Charter Member
I used a lot of caps in local delivery, with a lot of driveway squeezing, and never had any kind of failure from the treads peeling. We had a few blow because we had used casings that were too old/too many miles.
dixon700
Well-Known Member
You could look into a new set of something like Samson or road masters or some other cheap virgin tire and not spend much more than caps. Finding caps in that size could be tricky. I'd rather see cheap virgins then expensive caps. You never know the life the tire lived before it was capped.
I ran Michelin caps on my dump and got longer life from them than the original virgin rears. They were less than half the cost of new. When I hauled freight, they used Bandag caps on everything but the steering axle and in the 20 years I was there can only remember seeing two that threw the cap. I was surprised based on the number of treads I saw laying on the roads but I believe now those were the result of being run flat.
I keep hearing how great the Michelins wear, I'll have to look into some for the drivers. I've had one cap come loose from the casing, noticed it before it came completely loose, but it wouldn't have lasted the morning. It and the tire next to it were both properly inflated. Had another one blow out the sidewall at 55 mph. Sure got the tailgaiter to back off.
Joeyslushr
Well-Known Member
Talk to a tire guy that deals in a lot of recaps. They can tell u what casings to look for. Certain dot numbers make good recaps while others not so good
JS
JS
I run caps on everything except steer tires, have for many decades now, if your an over the road driver, driving hundreds of thousands of miles a year, buy virgins, the heat generated after hours on end of driving heats them up and spits caps off. For the average construction type operation, most tires either dry rot or are damaged from the locations we have to go, to deliver and pickup machines. I've blown a few caps over the years, but I believe its not the heat that gets me, its the sidewalls that start to crack out and eventually blow that makes a person think the cap went off first when in actuality the sidewall blew out and in the process, spit off the cap. Now I could be wrong, but I'm far more concerned with sidewall condition than I've ever been with the cap coming loose.
I prefer to buy caps put on Yokohama virgins if I can, they seem to last me the longest, but everyone has their own brand they like to run. I don't like running tires that have been capped more than once, most times the casings are not going to last me as long, the tire casing is already X number of years old and for me, the casing will start to crack and come apart long before the tread is ever worn out or off, but again its personal preference and how fast you go through tires.
I prefer to buy caps put on Yokohama virgins if I can, they seem to last me the longest, but everyone has their own brand they like to run. I don't like running tires that have been capped more than once, most times the casings are not going to last me as long, the tire casing is already X number of years old and for me, the casing will start to crack and come apart long before the tread is ever worn out or off, but again its personal preference and how fast you go through tires.