Tire Pressure Towing

Going to be towing to West Virginia from New York State with my 3rd gen Tacoma Sport with towing package. My trailer will be about 3200#s. Using a WDH. Should I increase my tire pressure for this trip for towing this weight?

 

I’ve been towing boats, travel trailers and other trailers for 50 years and have never adjusted my vehicle tire pressure for towing. Some do inflate up when towing but I think they are a small minority. Airing them up will make them run a little cooler but there are no other real advantages I’m aware of. I don’t think it’s necessary to increase your vehicle tire pressure but others may disagree.
It is however of critical importance to run your trailer tires at the max inflation as shown on the tires.

 

Tires do require more pressure with load, but not a huge change.

I would run 32 front and 40 psi rear while towing.

 

I agree.

 

I agree. When you inflate beyond the tire manufacturer's maximum specification you do not increase the tire's capacity (load rating).

EDIT: you will find useful info here:

The Tacoma Towing Bible

 

I run mine on a bit more PSI than most anyway (38-40 PSI) so I'd not change anything unless the trailer were heavier. If you typically have less air in them I'd air up. A 3200 lb trailer + a WDH means about 500 extra pounds on the rear of the truck. If you are carrying anything else in the truck you could be close to your max payload. I wouldn't be running 32 PSI with that much weight.

Most P rated tires call for 44 PSI when hauling close to the max load, and most Tacomas max out at around 1200 lbs. 32 PSI will give a softer ride, unloaded, but when you start adding weight increasing air pressure is vital to your safety. Too little air means excessive heat and tire blow outs. That is part of the reason I keep mine at close to the max pressure. I don't have the time to air up when I need to haul something heavy in the truck. Easier for me to just keep it there.

 

500 lbs? How are you calculating this? I thought a WDH spread the load between the front and rear axles of the tow vehicle. The normal tongue load of this trailer should be 320-480 lbs (10-15%). With a WDH, the load is distributed forward, reducing the load on the rear axle. This is well within the tow capacity and load carrying capacity of this truck. And I thought, well within the capacity of normal tire pressure.

Do you notice increased towing performance running max pressure? 38-40 PSI sounds like a lot for normal driving. Do you have problems with abnormal wear on your tires?

 

My front or rear end feels squishy when I forget to air up before I tow my toy hauler. It's around 5k loaded, though

 

1. Never air up more than the max PSI listed on the tire sidewall.
2. The maximum load per tire, also listed on sidewall, is only at the max PSI.

So pulling anything heavy, max tire psi should be used or the tires get squashed to much and create a lot of heat. 10000 miles later, the tread fly's off for "no reason". No, you melted the glue last year and it finally broke. Just ask ford and their 26psi recommend pressure on exploders years ago.
So air up at least the rears. Put fronts to your liking to minimize sway. Which stiffer rears also help control.

 

Which brings up an interesting question. I have a travel trailer (2500lbs or so) and the tires call for 50psi cold. I set it at 50psi, and head north from Florida. It’s hot out, and eventually my trailer tires got up to 60psi and about 110 degrees. (I have a TPMS on the trailer).

Do I;
1. Deflate the tires back to 50psi then continue the trip? Or leave them alone?
2. Set the tires at about 48psi, and they creep up to about 54psi during travel. (This is what I did and was more comfortable with it).

I may be splitting hairs, but still would like to know

TB2

 

Hi there. Was doing some towing research for my Tacoma and saw that this was never answered so I thought that I would reply in case anyone else wonders. You should always set pressure when tires are cold. This is important as it allows for the increased pressure when the tires heat up. They will cool down after your trip or in the evening when temps drop and bring the pressure back towards the cold pressure reading.

 

Yes but the question(s) was do I need to be concerned that the pressure increases within the tires so much during the trip? Or do I set them so that it "averages" 50psi for the whole trip?

TB2

 

I run something similar towing my 3500# teardrop on road/freeway conditions. 34 Front / 40 Rear on the stock Toyo Open Country 265s my Sport came with. Haven't had any issues running these pressures.

 

Set for 50psi, cold, if that’s what it calls for. The 50psi max stamped on the tire is to avoid over/under inflation for max load. As you know, the heat generated during the trip will increase the cold max psi by 10* or so but that’s not enough to be a concern. The tire makers take this into account when they determine the max cold inflation psi for trailer tires.

 

This is what I was saying. Outside temps will make a difference, but it won’t be huge. For example, I just hauled a trailer that was probably about 2000lbs loaded and my truck was loaded with a lot of gear. I had installed some air bags last week to get my rake back, and I aired up to 35 in the front and 40 in the back. I watched my pressure for the purpose of this post and the front got as high as 37 and the rear was at 43. I was hauling this setup in ambient temps of around 15 to 20 celcius for a distance of almost 900 kms. Hope that gives you some valuable info. Also, if you are worried about the pressure you can put less in at the start. A few psi won’t make a big difference.