Trailer tire side by side flats

Yes.

 

It could depending on weight

 

I had a blowout in a straight truck one time and rolled a quarter mile to a good spot to pull over. In the middle of nowhere with an exit 2 miles away. I was tempted to drive it up to the exit but at the same time worried i might blow the other tire on that side. Truck was very heavy, over gross. keep in mind this was a 2-axle 33,000 truck.

In a violent blowout I worry about all that shrapnel hurting the tire next to it, and the tire is then carrying double the load too.

 

Might as well just thump them all.

 

Err, most likely not... more like 33% more.

If the load is distributed equally across the axle, then 4 tires are each carrying 25% of the load. If you remove one tire and the load is still distributed equally, then each tire is now carrying 33% of the load, which is also 33% more than each was carrying before. However, due to suspension configuration it may be possible for the single to be carrying something more than one-third of the axle load, but likely not as much as one-half.

If you're talking a closed tandem and the load is equally distributed across 2 axles and 8 tires then the increase is theoretically less than 15% per tire if you lose one.

 

Yeah that makes better sense. Still scary on a heavy little truck with one rear axle.

 

Did that with a forklift coming north on PA Turnpike from Philadelphia, in the left lane doing 70.
BOOM. and it was a ride - getting over into right lane, and on right shoulder.
I read the good tire to be sure of load rating, and pounds it carries, looked it over for damage,
and continued at a slower pace to destination. Got rid of that tire. Put 4 new ones on.
"Stressed" is a good word; I could not trust that single tire again, even with no damage.

 

Better check your figures. If the load is evenly distributed side to side, each side of the axle carries 1/2 of the axle's weight. If there are 2 tires on each side of the axle, then each tire carries 1/2 of their side of the axle's weight, or 1/4 of the axle's weight. If one tire on one side of the axle blows, the weight inside the box doesn't shift. Each side of the axle is still carrying 1/2 the weight...only now while one side distributes its half to a pair of tires (1/4 of the axle weight each), the other side has only 1 tire supporting that half of the axle weight. You have doubled the weight that single tire is carrying when you lose the tire it was paired with.

The ONLY ways each tire will carry 1/3 of the axle weight is if they are all centered in the middle of the axle or if they are all evenly spaced across it (left, center, right). As long as you have tires only at the ends of the axle's, each end will carry roughly half of the weight of the axle.

 

Inside flat tires can also rip a hole in the airbag if you try and keep running at speed. More downtime you probably don't need.