
the suggested improvement parts.
Almost.
How about those tires?
Tires
No brand or type tire recommendation is presented here. However, the first rule is that you
do not mix different types of tires on the vehicle such as radial, bias and bias-belted tires
except in emergencies. Best option is that all tires on an axle are the same brand, type of
tread and same age. A 'highway' (also known as 'steering') version for the front and a
'traction' version for the back is OK. Current recommendation is to replace any tire that is 5
to 6 years old. Unless you drive the motorhome quite a bit, chances are they will have 70-
80% of the tread still left on them after 5 or 6 years. Check around – especially with your
local tire dealers. You might find someone that puts on a lot of miles on a light truck that
will buy your old tires. They may use them up in a matter of months, before they really get
too old, and you can sometimes get up to half the price of the new ones. Win-win for both
of you.
The next rule is that the tire is of adequate capacity for the load it is required to carry and
you keep it inflated accordingly.
That previous front suspension example (4,300 lbs. front and 7,500 lbs. rear) for GAWR
indicated each front tire had to be able to carry 2,150 lbs. Each pair for the back has to be
able to carry 3750 lbs. or 1875 lbs. per tire. I added a sample chart from the P Chassis
manual below for this example. (Note the Load Range tire designation under each PSI
reading.)
Main Body Page 8 of 38 Total Pages