I have a 2001 Sundowner 8008 Sunlite trailer that I purchased in 2006.  I bought the trailer in South Carolina and it had been used maybe 6 times.  It was like brand new.  Here is my problem.  Yesterday was the 2nd time I've had a blow out on the trailer (both times back tires).  The tread looks fine on the tires, and I always check to make sure they have the proper amount of air in them.  I'm just wondering if these tires are to old and I should replace the other two now.  The trailer is on a slight incline which maybe putting to my weight on the back tires.  I can not lower the gooseneck portion any lower or I would risk hitting the sides of the truck bed.  Any thoughts here or should I take it in and have it looked at.  Oh...the trailer has Good Year tires which are rated for trailer hauling.

Thanks

There has been several discussions on the age of tires, and the resulting failures when they are used. A search will bring up the details. Basically, when a tire exceeds six years old, it becomes a liability regardless of its visual appearance.

Goodyear tires are an excellent brand. If the ones on your trailer are the original OEM equipment, the age could be the reason for your failures. If your trailer is very high on the ball, and the front axle is not carrying an equal amount of weight, the rear tires could be overloaded. It might be worth your time to inspect the actual rating of your tires, to determine if they are adequate for their usage. Either situation or both could be the cause of your problems.

Gard

If that's a 2001 trailer, then it may have tires built in 2000. If they are GY Wranglers, then the belts are breaking in the tread then blowing out. Tires are old and rotten, time to replace.

http://www.horsetrailerworld.com/forum/thread-view.asp?threadid=9194

http://www.goodyear.com/rv/tirecare/tire_age.html

http://www.goodyeartires.com/kyt/readingATire/

DOT Number

All tires sold in USA must have the "DOT" ((Department of Transportation), or tire identification number, moulded into the sidewall. Our tire has a DOT number of GHYT 4501. The first two characters after DOT indicate the manufacturer; the second two characters indicate the plant where the tire was manufactured.

Next you may see an optional string of three to four characters. Our example does not include this code. Most manufacturers use these to record company specific information about the tire, and, if necessary, use them as a guide when issuing product recalls. Because they are company specific, these codes are not standardized and are meaningful only to the manufacturer.

The last three or four digits give the date the tire was made. For all tires built after 1999, this will be a four-digit number with the first two digits giving the week number, and the last two giving the year. For many tires built previous to 2000, the date indicator will consist of three digits, the first two giving the week number and the last giving the last digit of the year. In our example tire, the last four digits of the DOT code are 4501, so our tire was made during the 45th week of 2001.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=11

I change my tires out at 5 years. I got a set of Uniroyal Laredo AWP's that have been on a trailer for two years and have cracks running all the way around the sidewall. Never even been close to being loaded nor have they been run underinflated..... Two of the tires have a crease the run the full length of the sidewall, 360 degrees. These two tires are worse than the other two...... Anyway, going to take them to the dealer this week to see if there's any warranty on this type of sidewall degradation. These tires may have 4000 miles on them, and have never been up on curbs and all the turns have been long sweeping turns, none of this jacking it around to the point that it looks like you're going to rip them off the rim. Both sides of the trailer get an equal amount of sunlight.... Go figure.

You may want to weigh that rear axle. If the trailer is running mighty high in the front, you may be overloading the rear axle. This is the problem with torsion axles. Floating leaf spring axles are more forgiving on trailers that ride high in the front, there's a certain amout of pivot between the leaf springs that you don't get with the rubber torsion.