Trailer tire date code help
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 126
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From: South Strafford VT
Trailer tire date code help
My daughter is looking at a used gooseneck trailer. I want to be sure the tires are recent or will insist that they be replaced. I checked for date codes on a almost new tire on our car trailer and it’s DOT 4N4J. Another one is 7YAA.
Anyone know how to read these???
Thanks
JB
Anyone know how to read these???
Thanks
JB
Melting Slicks
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I suspect you are looking at the wrong characters. Tires made between 1971 and 1999 had an 11-character DOT code, and the last three digits (numbers) were the date; 9 and 10 were the week, and 11 was the year. Beginning with 2000, it became a 12-character code, and the last TWO digits (numbers) were the year.
Look for the last four numbers (last three if before 2000) of the DOT code for the week and year of manufacture.
Look for the last four numbers (last three if before 2000) of the DOT code for the week and year of manufacture.
Last edited by Mike67nv; Jul 20, 2018 at 01:55 PM.
Team Owner
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From: Huntsville AL
The characters you have indicated are the code for the manufacturer plant (1st two characters), plus the code for the tire size (last two characters).
A DOT stamp should have the following format:
AABB ABCD 1204, which breaks down as follows:
AA = Manufacturer plant
BB = Tire size code
ABCD = Optional Manufacturer construction code
12 = week of manufacture
04 = year of manufacture
Tires manufactured before the year 2000 will have a 3 digit date code, something like 124, which would be 12 = week of manufacture, 4 = last digit of year of manufacture (1994, 1984, 1974).
A DOT stamp should have the following format:
AABB ABCD 1204, which breaks down as follows:
AA = Manufacturer plant
BB = Tire size code
ABCD = Optional Manufacturer construction code
12 = week of manufacture
04 = year of manufacture
Tires manufactured before the year 2000 will have a 3 digit date code, something like 124, which would be 12 = week of manufacture, 4 = last digit of year of manufacture (1994, 1984, 1974).
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 126
Likes: 15
From: South Strafford VT
Thanks guys. I found the correct codes on the other side of the old tires on our car trailer. Those were from 07 (uh oh).
When I checked out the gooseneck they were right there as described and were early 2014, a good thing!
When I checked out the gooseneck they were right there as described and were early 2014, a good thing!
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You need to also check what mileage they have on them, and if they have been stored under cover, out of the sun, and not in a high ozone area. Last year I blew a 2014 tire on my enclosed car trailer, it had 20K miles and was not well protected during storage, so be careful.
Last edited by mikelj; Jul 21, 2018 at 10:50 AM.
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Tires on my trailer were over 10 years old even though they were like new. Since I was going on a 5000 mile trip with my C7 Z06 in it I wanted to be sure I was ok and replaced all 4 of them....better safe than sorry! By the way, my trailer is garaged out of the elements except when I am using it.
Last edited by firstgear; Jul 21, 2018 at 11:08 PM.
