What Limits the Speed of a Trailer

Question:

Being that the wheels are a lot smaller than what you are running on your vehicle, will long distance highway travel with higher speeds lead to berring and or hub premature failure? If so could you be able to run a larger wheel say a 15in?

asked by: Kirk M

Expert Reply:

What limits the speed a trailer can go is the tires. Trailer tires are only rated to go 65 miles per hour. If you are traveling fast enough that bearings in good condition begin to damage themselves the trailer tires are probably already in the process of failing.

Trailer tires are built with a thicker sidewall, to handle vertical loads, that get hot enough to fail when you exceed 65 miles per hour.

Going to a larger diameter wheel/tire will not give you the ability to exceed the speed rating of the tire.

expert reply by: Jameson C