Trailer Tyre Pressures for Offroad Work
Our latest trip has seen us spend three months up in Central and northern Australia doing some pretty rugged stuff in the Kimberley, easier travelling on Cape York, with some interesting cross country desert travel (no tracks) south of Balgo in WA.

When I'm in rocky country or on sand - whether that is on a beach or in the desert – I run the tyre pressures on the trailer much lower than the tow vehicle's tyre pressures. For the 7 days of rugged rock escarpment and sandy river crossings we experienced in the Kimberley the tyre pressures (cold) on the TVan were always on 10-12psi (70-85kPa).

In the cross country section of our desert sojourn and with the threat of staking a tyre always present and big dunes non-existant we ran the tyre pressures a little higher - at 15psi (105kPa) cold.

On Cape York when we ran a long soft west coast beach for 30km or so, tyre pressures on the TVan were 10psi (70kPa). In comparison the tyre pressures on the Pajero for that beach run were 18-20psi (125-140kPa).

Why so low? Well the trailer tyres are carrying a lot less weight for starters. They are also just rolling along with less chance of a puncture than a driven wheel. At these pressures they float over the sand easier and roll and bounce over the rocky bits.

Of course, when you head back onto a dirt road or the black top you need to re-inflate your tyres as speed and low pressures are a recipe for disaster as far as tyres are concerned.

Thanks to Viv & Ron Moon