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02-05-2018, 02:12 AM
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#21
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Site Team
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Mid Left Coast, California
Trailer: 2014 Escape 21
Posts: 5,155
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Quote:
Originally Posted by War Eagle
Academic question: Let's say someone needs to haul 2,000 pounds of something 3,000 miles from Boston, MA, to San Diego, CA, in an enclosed utility trailer. They can make the trip using a single-axle utility trailer at roughly maximum GVWR, or using a double-axle utility trailer at roughly half maximum GVWR. All else being equal (tow vehicle, trailer size and frontal area, good tires at rated pressure and no blowouts, etc., etc.), what are the pros and cons of selecting the single vs. double axle trailer? My gut reaction would be to go with the single-axle trailer guessing there would be less drag from fewer wheel bearing having to spin so perhaps slightly better fuel efficiency to get the same job done. In the words of Vinny Gambini (from "My Cousin Vinny"), "Does that hold water?"
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drag at highway speeds is mostly wind resistance, NOT wheel friction. the trailer with the smaller frontal cross section, and better streamlining will win every time.
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02-05-2018, 06:54 AM
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#22
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Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Westcliffe, Colorado
Trailer: 2010 EggCamper (#083); 2017 Escape 21 (#053); 2016 F-150 5.0L FX4
Posts: 1,765
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Eggscape
... The reason being that doing tight turns and u turns on narrow country roads rips the crap out of the tires when there are dual axles. ...
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Growing up we had a 3-axle (6 tires on the ground) goose neck flatbed trailer for hauling hay (usually around 10 tons per load) that had to be maneuvered into tight spots. Tires don't like to be dragged sideways. Lots of frustrating flat tires from the tire sidewalls being pulled away from the rim on tight turns. Dad finally traded it for a 2-axle dually trailer (8 tires on the ground), and that ended the flat tire problem.
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02-05-2018, 10:01 PM
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#23
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Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2008
Trailer: 2006 17b Goucho
Posts: 302
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Like Holo my 17b had a blow out and I now pay attention to tire age.
I was going about 65 and I looked back and thought the bike fell off the rear of trailer bike rack, it was crooked. While stopping I figured out it was a flat tire. Just minor marks on wheel well. No handling problems.
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02-06-2018, 12:59 AM
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#24
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Site Team
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Mid Left Coast, California
Trailer: 2014 Escape 21
Posts: 5,155
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We had a front flat on old low mileage tires while towing our old tent trailer, my wife was driving while I napped in the passenger seat. She over-braked in the gravel and jackknifed the rig, totaled the E150 van and tent trailer. easy come easy go.
I've gotten way more fanatic about my tire condition and age now.
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02-24-2018, 08:34 AM
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#25
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Member
Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: Nanaimo, British Columbia
Trailer: 2017 Escape 19
Posts: 64
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Tire blowouts on single axle trailers
[QUOTE= Note to self always use towing mirrors so I can keep an eye out for soft tires! (forgot mirrors at home...once)[/QUOTE]
Thanks for that insight! I have liked the idea of some form of extension mirrors on my F150, but found that I had a pretty good view with the stock mirrors while pulling our 19 home from ETI.
Now I see a solid reason for getting some!
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
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09-14-2019, 01:57 PM
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#26
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Junior Member
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Sparks, Nevada
Trailer: 2017 Escape 17B
Posts: 10
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We had a blow out on the highway while going about 65 mph. We have a Ford Expedition tow vehicle and a little 17B Escape with sway bars and a distribution hitch. The car jerked a little and I think we heard the loud noise. We drove a little way to where there was a wide spot off the highway. We were safe and didn't lose control or anything, but the blown tire made a hole in the fiberglass underneath and a lot of black marks. We love the equalizer hitch and sway bars. They really improve safety. I'm not sure how well we would have done with a smaller tow vehicle.
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03-30-2020, 10:12 PM
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#27
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Junior Member
Join Date: Mar 2020
Location: Colbert, Georgia
Trailer: 2009 Sunset
Posts: 1
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Another benefit of a single axle trailer is you save money on toll roads
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03-30-2020, 10:32 PM
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#28
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: Juneau, Alaska
Trailer: 2016 Escape 19
Posts: 555
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I always use tire pressure monitors the cheap kind of screw on the tires and run by solar cost less than 100 bucks work just great the one I have has an alarm at sounds off if my tires got low saves a lot of trouble
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03-31-2020, 05:54 AM
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#29
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Tampa Bay Area, Florida
Trailer: 2015 Escape 5.0TA (Little Elsie) Extensively Personalized
Posts: 2,976
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rick F
Another benefit of a single axle trailer is you save money on toll roads
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That Is true, but in the sum of things how much does a dollar or two matter? If towing, I am already spending more in fuel costs. For the rare occasions that I pay tolls, the cost doesn’t matter to me. If it does, stay off of the 407 around Toronto or don’t go to Prince Edward Island on the Confederation Bridge (or by ferry). If you want to cross the US fast, you can go coast-to-coast on interstate highways without paying a single toll.
I personally would much rather have two tires on either side of the trailer in the event one starts losing air or blows out. The TPMS immediately lets me know if there is a problem with any tire.
__________________
What a long strange trip it’s been!
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03-31-2020, 07:36 AM
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#30
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Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: St. Thomas not BVI., Ontario
Trailer: 2014 Escape 5.0TA / 2016 Ram Eco Diesel 4X4
Posts: 8,038
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Quote:
Originally Posted by C&G in FL
That Is true, but in the sum of things how much does a dollar or two matter? If towing, I am already spending more in fuel costs. For the rare occasions that I pay tolls, the cost doesn’t matter to me. If it does, stay off of the 407 around Toronto or don’t go to Prince Edward Island on the Confederation Bridge (or by ferry). If you want to cross the US fast, you can go coast-to-coast on interstate highways without paying a single toll.
I personally would much rather have two tires on either side of the trailer in the event one starts losing air or blows out. The TPMS immediately lets me know if there is a problem with any tire.
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Hi: C&G in FL... Right now I'd Like my spare tire to go flat. This living close to the fridge is causing my personal spare around my waist to "Bulge"!!! Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie
__________________
Quote Bugs Bunny..."Don't take life too seriously, none of us get out of it ALIVE"!!!
'16 Ram Eco D. 4X4 Laramie Longhorn CC & '14 Escape 5.0TA
St.Thomas (Not the Virgin Islands) Ontario
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03-31-2020, 07:43 AM
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#31
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Central, Pennsylvania
Trailer: Escape#5 2022 E19
Posts: 26,268
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Be careful Alf, we do not want your spare tire to "blow out".......
__________________
Jim
Sometime life gets in the way of living.......
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03-31-2020, 11:51 AM
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#32
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Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Emerson, Manitoba
Trailer: 2016 Escape 5.0TA, 2022 F150 2.7EB
Posts: 1,848
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Quote:
Originally Posted by C&G in FL
don’t go to Prince Edward Island on the Confederation Bridge (or by ferry).
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Carl that's not quite true since it costs nothing to GO to PEI either bridge or ferry but you pay to leave
__________________
Adrian (and Beth)
We are all travellers in the wilderness of this world, and the best we can find in our travels is an honest friend.
Robert Louis Stevenson
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03-31-2020, 02:10 PM
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#33
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Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Edmonton, Alberta
Trailer: 1979 Boler B1700
Posts: 14,935
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I find it interesting how many people are convinced that they need two tires on each side of the trailer for reliability, but are perfectly happy with only one tire at each corner of the tow vehicle... there's no demand for tandem truck axles, or even dual wheels. Front tires are always singles and except in very rare cases there is only one front axle, so should we all live in fear of a front tire failure? In commercial trucks, tandem axles are used even in the rear only when the axle load exceeds what is allowed for one axle (about ten tons).
Trailer tires are more likely to fail than motor vehicle tire, due to low quality of construction, overloading, underinflation, and being smashed into curbs. On the other hand, I've never having had a flat on any trailer, and seeing that people who do have tire failures on single-axle trailers typically have no problem handling them, this is a redundancy that has little value to me.
Also, when one tire fails on a tandem-axle trailer, the other one on that side is then overloaded, and can be expected to fail as well (although later, when you're not expecting it).
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03-31-2020, 02:26 PM
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#34
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Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: North Vancouver, British Columbia
Trailer: 2009 Escape 17B 2020 Toyota Highlander XLE
Posts: 17,136
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To add, if a tandem tire fails and you don't notice it immediately, the shredded tire can pulverize the wheel well.
__________________
What happens to the hole when the cheese is gone?
- Bertolt Brecht
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03-31-2020, 02:28 PM
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#35
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Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Edmonton, Alberta
Trailer: 1979 Boler B1700
Posts: 14,935
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Quote:
Originally Posted by C&G in FL
If you want to cross the US fast, you can go coast-to-coast on interstate highways without paying a single toll..
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Also true in Canada: there isn't a single toll road required to cross Canada coast-to-coast (but of course it takes a ferry to get to islands off the coasts). I think people who live in areas where toll roads are common worry more about those tolls than the rest of us, perhaps not realizing that most areas don't have any toll roads or bridges. Even in the Vancouver BC area, only some of the bridges had tolls, and even those tolls have since been removed.
The Confederation Bridge tolls only add $8.25 per axle, but the two-axle tow vehicle is $48.50 to start with, so I agree that whether the added trailer is single axle ($56.75 total) or tandem ($65.00 total) doesn't matter much. If your trip unfortunately has you leaving Prince Edward Island by ferry (which is substantially more expensive than the bridge), then the ferry fare presumably depends on overall vehicle combination length, regardless of the number of axles.
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03-31-2020, 02:51 PM
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#36
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Commercial Member
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Hillsboro, Oregon
Trailer: 2014 Escape 21 - "Felicity"
Posts: 2,945
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Never had a blowout, flat while driving, or a low spare tire. I've always run a tire monitor system and head for a service place when I hear a low tire alarm warning alert that repeats after I reinflate the tire. Also carry an air compressor.
__________________
Charlie Y
Need custom storage to your design? Don't drill holes!
www.RVWidgetWorks.com
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03-31-2020, 03:54 PM
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#37
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Site Team
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Mid Left Coast, California
Trailer: 2014 Escape 21
Posts: 5,155
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the GG Bridge is an extreme case, tolls are southbound (into SF from Marin) only...
2-axles (car, pickup truck) - $7.35
3 axles (tug + single axle trailer) - $22.05
4 axles (tug + dual axle trailer) - $29.40
those are all the discounted 'fastrak' prices.
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03-31-2020, 04:11 PM
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#38
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Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Edmonton, Alberta
Trailer: 2013 19' & 2013 15B
Posts: 2,636
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian B-P
...Also, when one tire fails on a tandem-axle trailer, the other one on that side is then overloaded, and can be expected to fail as well (although later, when you're not expecting it).
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A few years ago, I was following a truck pulling an obviously overloaded flatbed trailer (precast concrete pipes) in my small town. While the trailer was making a sharp turn in front of me, three of the trailer tires popped (from scrubbing?) one after the other, with the sound of the blowouts sounding like rifle shots and scaring the crap out of me and my son. I had never seen anything like that before.
__________________
2013 19' \ 2013 15B, 2020 Toyota 4Runner TRD Offroad
"It is better to remain silent at the risk of being thought a fool, than to talk and remove all doubt of it." - 1907, Maurice Switzer
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03-31-2020, 04:17 PM
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#39
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Fraser Valley, British Columbia
Trailer: 2012 Escape "Classic" 5.0 SA
Posts: 554
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I had a 1972 Boler that I bought second hand in 1986. I used it every year until 2009 when I bought my 2005 Escape. I had the same tires on it for the duration of ownership and never did the bearings. I never had a flat or blowout or bearing problem. When we went on a trip we had to unload the trailer to get into it! The kids bikes, lawn chairs and all our camping equipment was piled in the isle and practically to the ceiling. When I sold it the guy said he would replace the tires as soon as he got home to which I replied, "Why they've still got lots of tread on them." .............. he then proceeded to give me a lesson on tires and bearings.
I now do my Escape bearings every two years, change my tires every five and have a good handle on the weight I'm putting in it. Plus, I count my self lucky that I didn't have a problem in my Boler years!
Barry
__________________
Photography website: https://bjustice.zenfolio.com
2012 Escape "Classic" 5.0 SA / 2017 F150, 2.7 EcoBoost 4X4 Supercab
Former trailers: 2005 Escape 17B / 1972 Boler 13'
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03-31-2020, 04:25 PM
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#40
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Central, Pennsylvania
Trailer: Escape#5 2022 E19
Posts: 26,268
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I recently talked with the couple that split their delivery with mine for my 2014 Escape, they were thinking of upgrading but when discussing with them what they need to do I found out they still had the original 2013 tires. Some people do not realize how lucky they can be.....
__________________
Jim
Sometime life gets in the way of living.......
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