Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I am looking at the red trailer 5x10 with the 13 inch wheels. Do you all run the 13's or do you try and upgrade to 15's. And if so how big of hassel is it?

Hello

Reddiver wrote:Hello

Howdy.

Give it a little more time, most people are still working. The reason you probably don't have a lot of responses yet is the 13" wheel combo isn't that common. The most popular sizes are 8, 12, and 15 wheel setups.

The 8" wheels use 4 bolt spacing. 12" wheels use both a 4 lug spacing and 5 lug. I'm not sure about the 13" wheels, but I think they're available in both.

Offsets are another problem. Just because a wheel will fit on a hub, doesn't mean it will work on the trailer. The wheel may be too close and rub on the frame w/o proper offset.

Sorry I don't have an answer for you, but I didn't want to think you were being ignored.

Hi RedDiver as Steve mentioned dont get
discouraged you,ll get the answers.

Is that a prebuilt trailer frame your speaking of with 13,s? Some run 14 inch tires . Im not really clear as to what trailer your speaking of.. Would you have photos of it? Maybe that would also help to get your question replied to .

Many run 14,s and 15,s.

I have 14,s with Smoothie Rims on mine.

Classic Finn

Hi Steve,
Looks like everyone is sorta slow today.

People do use the smaller wheels. One of Harbor Freight's trailers have 12" wheels that people use. Toypusher even makes fiberglass fenders for 12" fenders.

I sorry I can't be helpful in discussing changing wheel sizes.
Trailer frame info is generally discussed in the Trailer & Chassis Secrets section. You might try a search (at the top) & see what you find.

There are advantages in bigger wheels, but whether it would be worth the effort, that I couldn't tell you.

Hopefully my answer helps a little.

When I started I didn't see any replies, now you have 3 all at once. Hopefully one of "experts" will come along with more detailed answers. One of the best is Madjack, but I think he's on vacation right now.
Martha

Sizing up shouldn't be a problem. You just need to get the same bolt patern and spacing on a 15-inch rim. You would problably want to go with a 15 X 5.5 or a 15 X 6 width at the most. That would keep the offset close to the stock wheel's.

I have 13-inch wheels on my TD, and I'm fine with them. I wouldn't want to go smaller, but I don't feel a big desire to go larger.

It's really a matter of what you think you would like. If you build a large TD, you might want the wheels bigger to look more in scale.

Anywho, going up from 13 to 15 is doable, and shouldn't be too much of a hassle, once you know what you want and get the bolt pattern and spacing of the stock set-up.

Thanks guys sorry about be inpatients. I am going through the usual mind games I play with myself at the beginning of a project

And Gals sorry Martha

13's are a major 'upgrade' from 12' as you can mount some 'real' tires on a 13 inch rim - Probably no need to change up to 14 or 15's if it already comes with 13's

You're already way better off than if you had 12's and lots of folks are using 12's with no problems . . . . at least on small, lightweight trailers

Don

Steve, The Red Trailer 5x10 costs about as much, maybe even more, as getting a custom trailer built for you. I also figure it's a least 100 lbs. heavier than a custom 5x10 trailer frame built with 2"x2"x1/8" steel tubing. If you go custom the cost difference between 13", 14" and 15" wheels is pretty insignificant so you can choose whichever size you prefer, too.

Well, whutever.

I have 13" on my flexride axle. Saw no need for larger. Aesthetics. Whut's that?

g

Dan Imming wrote:Do you consider the KUHMO brand to be "real tires"? I've put thousands of high speed (65 to 70MPH) miles on our 1961 Trailorboat running KUHMO 758 tires (155/80TR12) without incident or second thought. NO, they are NOT standard trailer tires but, YES, their load capacity and construction is 100% redundant to the run-of-the-mill crap I've gotten in the the typical 4.80 x 12 size

Sure, I guess those are 'real tires' - Do they fit OK on the skinny HF rims?

I wouldn't waste my time comparing them to the Chinese made 4.80 X 12's though - If I was 'stuck' with 12 inch wheels (and couldn't easily upgrade) then I would at a minimum have a pair of quality made 5.30 X 12's on my trailer . . . . if I was planning to use it on the freeway - And I would still carry a spare ot maybe even two

Big recall out now on millions of Chinese made tires . . . . doubt they even bother to include the trailer tires though

I don't intend to make it sound like you can't safely pull a small, lightweight trailer with 12 inch tires on it, BUT if you're starting out to build something, why skimp on the 'foundation' and then spend a fortune on everything else is my point. The difference between a $300 or $400 HF trailer and a $600 'real' trailer are just too numerous to mention and for me at least, that extra couple hundred would be the best money you could ever spend on your project - You get a much sturdier frame, a better axle, real tires and wheels . . . . just a way better deal all around, IMO

If you were custom building a trailer frame and running gear specifically for your tear, would you seriously consider 12 inch wheels for any reason? Since I'm building from scratch, it just seemed prudent to design the trailer to use the same wheel/tire as my car . . . . one less spare tire to carry around

Don

The Kumho Power Star 758 certainly looks like a "real tire", but tires in the 12" size are rare, this particular product notwithstanding.

The specs say the 758 tire in this 155/80-13 size needs a 4.0 to 5.0 inch wide wheel; I have no idea how wide the HF rims are.

This is a car tire, but owners of somewhat larger trailers are reportedly quite happy with the Kumho Radial 857, which is a commercial truck/trailer tire.

Yep, Kumho are not some 'nasty' or dubious tyre maker. I ran a set of their tyres on my Morris Minor (OK, 80mph flat out ain't much of a test!) and liked them. Kumho are becoming a popular tyre supplier here for rallying (=dirt/forest racing, like Pikes Peak) which is no mean feat.

Andrew

Real men roll on 8's.