Camper trailer tyre pressures

I run BFG 245/70 R16 on my Campomatic - at about 1200kg, I use 35psi for the sealed and around 28psi on gravel roads. If the roads get rougher I just slow right down - at 28psi, I can see them flexing quite well and reckon that is the bottom limit for gravel and stones - could go lower of course for a slog in dry sand.

Hi Greg,

Saw an interesting part of a 4wd DVD recently that explained how to accurately set the pressure in your camper trailer.

Firstly set the pressures of the vehicles tyres first so that the footprint is of the same length on both the front set and rear set of tyres (I use 40PSI on the road and 24PSI off road as a rough guide). Take this footprint measurement then let your camper trailers tyres down so that the footprint is the same length. This will mean that all 6 tyres have the same footprint which is essentially what you are after. If you check the pressures of all the tyres you will find that the front, rear and camper will all have different pressures due to the distibution of weight etc however once you have done it once, you will know the tyre pressures for each set of tyres and can setup quickly without the need to measure again.

Hope this explanation makes sense.

Regards
David

Tyre footprint can be easily measured, best to do on any firm surface.

Try this method; ,, trial and error, till you have it mastered
Get 2 rods/sticks/bits of wood and a tape measure.

Place one rod ( ect ) at front of tyre,, the other at rear of tyre ,
,,,,,,,Take care to just touch tyre, at both ends..,,,measure distance between rods.

Let tyres down on vehicle first, say to 25psi ( dirt/gravel ),,, 15 psi ( sand )
Do this on all tyres, and adjust pressures to get distance the same all round, including the camper.

" Voila " all footprints the same.

Works a treat, and dosen't matter about weight on vehicle or trailer

Note ;... rods should measure the same distance, either at the tyre, or at the end of them.
Cheers Mate
Bucky

The rule I was taught when I did my driving courses with the Army was to keep the trailer tyres the same as your rear tyres. That is if you run 40 PSI on bitumen then 40 PSI for your trailer, if you run 25 PSI on dirt then 25 PSI for your trailer.

Whilst we didn't use campertailers, our trailers were always loaded to the hilt and I have always used this rule.

It is the same rule that you should have the same sizes rims and tyres on your trailers as your vehicle and have the same track width.

Hope this helps.

Karl