Clearance between wheels and side of trailer?

[wridley]

I have the floor of my build sitting on the frame and noticed that there isn't much clearance between the wheels and the side of trailer. I have built the floor wider than the trailer so it is overhanging on the sides. I have no problem with having to build wheel wells into the side if need be but was looking for some guidance as to what sort of clearance other people have?

Here is a look of it so far.



Thanks!

[Arne]

One inch is probably the minimum I'd go with... how much do you have?

If you are using springs instead of a torsion axle, and hit a large bump with one wheel, that wheel will move in towards the frame as the axle raises...

If I'm not being clear, put a pencil on a table and raise one end, that should make it clear.

[Alphacarina]

I had a similar problem when building on an HF frame - My solution was 1 inch wheel spacers. The billet aluminum spacer bolts to the hub with the lugs on the HF hub and it has a new set of lugs that you bolt the wheel on with. I got them on eBay for about $60 for the pair

ebay clicky

Like those - You can get them in just about every combination you want - 4 bolts to 5 if you want to use 5 bolt wheels, 4 bolts to 4 or 5 bolts to 5 and in every bolt circle imaginable

Don

[madjack]

...you need at least an inch...with just an inch, you could have clearance problems hitting a MAJOR pothole at speed(maybe/kinda/sorta)...more than an inch would be better, more than two, starts to look strange....
madjack

[wridley]

Thanks for the info..... Now I need to decide whether to go with the spacers ($$) or build a small wheel well in the sides. I only have 3/4 of an inch clearance right now. Interior width is 4.5 feet so a small wheel well won't be too bad.

[jerryf]

Willy,

Here's my 2 cents worth. Get the wheel spacers. Say you spend $50 plus shipping. That's $25 per wheel well. How much time and expense (maybe not much expense) would it take to build the wheel wells and what is your time worth. Time you could spend on something else on your build. Just something to consider.

Jerry

[Alphacarina]

If you already have 3/4 inch of clearance, you can buy much cheaper 1/4 inch spacers to get you out another 1/4 inch - You might have to replace the studs in the HF hubs with longer ones to be able to run a 1/4 spacer though and that would probably get you back up near the $50

For me the fenders made the decision really easy

I wanted to run 13 or 14 inch tires on my HF trailer . . . . plus my 9 inch aluminum fenders looked terrible with the puny 12 inch HF wheels. My tires were no where near centered in the fenders I wanted to use, so adding an inch with the spacers made them look perfect . . . . and it gave me the needed clearance from the trailer wall - I only had about 1/4 without the spacers

Another thing - Shoud you one day want to run a 13 inch wheel and tire so you can go with just 25 or 30 pounds of air to get a smooth ride for your trailer, the spacers will allow that - If you tried a 13 ion there now, you'd be rubbing the sides

Check your tires, check your fenders, compare $50 to the added work of building inside fenderwells - It's almost a no-brainer

Don