13 inch wheels on HF trailer?

[Barak]

Hi,
I am thinking of upgrading the 12" wheels on my HF 4X8 trailer and wanted to know if anyone has experience with this and any modifications needed.
I would like to put 175/80 - 13 wheels/tires on and based on some tire size charts and the current clearances with the original tires, it looks to be too tight of a fit.

1 - My first concern is tire clearance from the frame - currently it looks like around an inch with the original 5.30 - 12 tires. With the 13" tire, this clearance will be virtually gone so my question is; can I insert spacers between the hub and wheel? I have seen 5/16 spacers that would still give me enough thread on the bolts. Can I go with thicker spacers?
2 - I assume I need to get wheels that have the same offset (zero?) as the original HF wheels. Is this correct?
3 - I will only have about an inch of travel with the new tires before they hit the bottom of my Teardrop floor, and wanted to know if anyone has any idea how much the tires travel with original leaf suspension?, assuming mid-weight trailer and moderate bumps. Not such a big issue anyway since I am perfectly happy cutting in to the floor and building a taller wheel-well, but curious to know about suspension travel.

These are the wheels I'm looking at. (still need to confirm correct bolt pattern and inner hole diameter:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/131281894507?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT

Thanks!
Barak

[Jerry Bleeg]

I built a similar over the wheel trailer, and the way I set the height of the wheel well box was by bolting the fender bracket to the frame and measuring from the top of the tire to the bottom of the original fender. I did not leave the bracket of fender in place, it was only for a original engineered factory suspension travel measurement. I figured they engineered how much clearance was needed to avoid the tire hitting the fender when a pothole was hit. Another way to judge the suspension travel, is measure from the U bolt nuts to the axel bracket directly above the u-bolts nuts. This is the bracket many notch when they put the axel on top of the spring. I did not do this mod, and I have noticed where the u-bolt nut has dinged the bracket. Presumably from a bad pothole or something. So I bottomed out the axel of the original OEM suspension. I have a fairly light trailer, but there is just not much suspension travel in the HF frame. My thinking is to upgrade to a 12" Radial passenger tire in a year or two. Thats when my Original tires will have a good 8 years on them and be due for replacement because of rubber rot. Hoping the Radials help smooth out the bumps some.

Trying to go with a bigger tire and wheel on these HF builds is problematic. Lots of frame clearance issues, and it you dish your rim outward, you may over stress the axel and bearings. Honestly, the 12" tires work fine and you don't have to spend any more money on new and more stuff. Granted, the 12" caster wheels don't look as cool as the larger tires and rims, but they get the job done, and kind of disappear when you build over the wheels like you and I did. My advice is stay with the original tires and wheels and go have some fun camping.

BTW, nice job on your trailer. What is the contraption carried up front.

[Barak]

I built a similar over the wheel trailer, and the way I set the height of the wheel well box was by bolting the fender bracket to the frame and measuring from the top of the tire to the bottom of the original fender. I did not leave the bracket of fender in place, it was only for a original engineered factory suspension travel measurement. I figured they engineered how much clearance was needed to avoid the tire hitting the fender when a pothole was hit. Another way to judge the suspension travel, is measure from the U bolt nuts to the axel bracket directly above the u-bolts nuts. This is the bracket many notch when they put the axel on top of the spring. I did not do this mod, and I have noticed where the u-bolt nut has dinged the bracket. Presumably from a bad pothole or something. So I bottomed out the axel of the original OEM suspension. I have a fairly light trailer, but there is just not much suspension travel in the HF frame. My thinking is to upgrade to a 12" Radial passenger tire in a year or two. Thats when my Original tires will have a good 8 years on them and be due for replacement because of rubber rot. Hoping the Radials help smooth out the bumps some.

Trying to go with a bigger tire and wheel on these HF builds is problematic. Lots of frame clearance issues, and it you dish your rim outward, you may over stress the axel and bearings. Honestly, the 12" tires work fine and you don't have to spend any more money on new and more stuff. Granted, the 12" caster wheels don't look as cool as the larger tires and rims, but they get the job done, and kind of disappear when you build over the wheels like you and I did. My advice is stay with the original tires and wheels and go have some fun camping.

BTW, nice job on your trailer. What is the contraption carried up front.

Thanks!
The storage area in front will house my Paramotor (powered paraglider)
I did end up getting 13" rims and tires/wheels and installed them. I still have around 3/4 inch of clearance between the tire and frame so I think I can get away without an additional spacer. I will need to cut out a taller wheel well in to the cab but that won't be a problem since the top of the wheel well will be flush with some styrofoam I will use under the mattress.
It looks much nicer now, and the proportions are better. I'll post some pics soon.
Thanks,
Barak