How close is too close?

[benzu]

How close is everyone's tires to the outside walls.

The place that I purchased my axle from kind of screwed up and made the hub to hub too short. I'm just starting to put the floor together and i'm realizing that the wall will be about 3/4'' away from the inside tire. Dicount Tire also screwed up when they sold me the tires.

I asked for 15 x 5 and they gave 15 x 7. I'm thinking of going back today and swapping them out to the 15 x 5 that should give me some more clearance.


Mike

[Airspeed]

I have about 1" clearance and haven't had any problems,I have taken it down some bumpy roads and the tires haven't touched yet. If you think you might have a problem you could put some spacers between the hub face and the rim, Most tire shops should have or be able to get some for you. Aaron

[benzu]

Thanks Aaron I'll check that out. I may just change my tires to the 15x5 from 15x7 I know that should help.

mike

[48Rob]

I would do my best to get a minimum of 1.5" inside, and out.

Less will work, and some may have no trouble...but an overloaded trailer, low tire pressure, and going around a few corners can close that gap very easily...

Rob

[benzu]

Thanks Rob I'll try to achieve that.

Mike

[Ken A Hood]

Is it a spring or torsion axle? Torsion axles rotate up/down and don't need as much sidewall room. Spring axles meanwhile flex causing the axle to "bend" requiring more room for the tires.

On the frame I have (torsion axle) there's just over an inch to the fender side

[benzu]

Ken, I have a torsion axel so I'm safe there.

Mike

[caseydog]

I would think that 3/4 would be okay on a tire that only goes up and down. My car tires run closer to fixed objects than that, and it has to deal with a lot more movement than a trailer axle/tire.

When you say 15 X 7, are you talking wheel or tire? On a trailer, you don't need a lot of witdth on either one, but a wide wheel with a narrow tire is a bad idea, as is a narrow wheel and a wide tire.

I'd go with a 5.5 wide wheel, with about a 195mm section width on the tire, or less. A 5.5 inch wheel with a 185 or 195-75-15 tire should work.

You can also get a wheel with more of an outward offset. Does the axle manufacturer specify a proper offset for the wheels?

In the end, if your tire ends up closer to the TD than you are comfortable with, you can put a 1/4-inch spacer on each side -- maybe even a 3/8. Just make sure you have enough stud sticking out to get a lug nut on safely. This does the same thing as using a different offset, but with any wheel.

Also, a true "trailer" tire will have less sidewall bulge (generally) than a passenger car tire. A lot of car tires have really soft sidewalls.

[benzu]

Wow! Thanks Casey for all that. I do have trailer tires which can I say are expeeensive! And when I say 15x7 I am talking about the tire not the wheel. The spacers sound like a good idea.


Thanks again,

Mike

[caseydog]

Mike, check your PM.

And, one good thing about Discount tire is, they will take things back if you aren't satisfied. I buy a lot of tires from them, and on a few occassions, I just did not like the way the tires they recommended performed (I'm very picky), and they took them back for another choice.

I had one set that I did not like after I put about 5,000 miles on them. I went in for my free rotaion, and the guy asked me how I liked my tires, and I told him I didn't, but it was too late now -- I should have done something sooner. He looked at my car, and the brand/model of tire, and said, "that's not a good tire for a car like yours", and took them back and gave me 100% credit toward a better set of tires. Gotta like that.