Upgrades for 8 inch tires?

BCHauler

Adventurer
I recently have posted about a trailer I was building out of a 15' travel trailer frame. It was just too big for my needs so I have now acquired a junk 'sixties tent trailer instead. The box is 6'x8' and it has 8" wheels. Towing it home, the trailer really skipped and bounced around on the rough local roads. The axle is 2000lb rated 4 bolt. I gutted the trailer and, for the time being, will be using it to haul the kids bikes and misc supplies while camping with our truck camper.

My question relates to the wheel size. Can I easily install bigger wheels and tires on the axle? Not wanting to invest much in this setup, are there wheels from another vehicle that will fit, ie. Mustang? My thinking is that the tiny stock wheels and tires are causing the jumpy behavior.

My other thought is that I have the 3500lb axle from the other trailer at my disposal. It is a 5 bolt with 15" wheels, plus it has the bonus of having brakes. The only issue is that it is wider that the tent trailer axle. The wheels would still be under the trailer box, but the bigger axles' spring mounting flanges are wider set. Can I move the spring mounts inboard and still be safe? The trailer will never see more than 1000lbs at the most. TIA
 

BlackWidow

Observer
Hello I recently built a new frame for my PUP and looked into upgrading the wheels first. You should be able to get larger wheels You will need to make sure that the new wheels will not rub on the frame or any where else for that matter. If you check the bolt pattern that should give you info on other wheel fitments but be warned that auto wheels have different offsets the trailer wheels so that will be a factor if you are able to use auto wheels try to put one on the trailer before spending any money on the wheels. If you do not have to move the spring perches to far inward you should be ok. Do you know how far you will need to move them? another option is to have the axle shortened. But don't let them cut it in the center and re weld it... It will eventually break. Hope this helps.
 

redthies

Renaissance Redneck
I can't remember if there is a Canadian Tire in North Van, but if not, the one in Squamish carries all kinds of trailer wheels and tires. Look at their online catalog. I am pretty sure they have a few different sizes in that bolt pattern in stock. Probably 12 and 14" wheels. They are inexpensive too. Otherwise, you should be fine relocating the spring perchs on your other axle, as long as you aren't moving them more than a few inches each.
 

BCHauler

Adventurer
Thank you for the responses. I have looked at Canadian Tire and at Princess Auto. They do indeed have 4 bolt wheel assemblies up to 13", my concern is that they have a larger center bore hole. The 8" wheels have a 2.5" hole and the larger sizes seem to be 2.82". Would this be a problem?

As far as the other option, the axle exchange, the 2000lb axle has 48" spring centers and is 57" backing plate to backing plate while the 3500lb axle has 60" spring centers and 71" backing plate to backing plate. So, to use the bigger axle, each spring mounting flange would need to be moved inboard 6". Is that too much or is it feasible?
 

tclaremont

Observer
I ordered a custom built 3500 pound axle without brakes and it only ran me a touch over 120 dollars with shipping. My suggestion is to do it right instead of doing it twice.
 

navigator

Adventurer
another possibility is to switch out the hubs to a 5 bolt (5X4.5 pattern). There is a good chance you can get a 5 bolt hub that will swap in and that pattern matches a lot of jeep and ford options as well as your standard trailer rim pattern.
 

broken1

Observer
You should be able to do a wheel swap as long as there is clearance. I went from 8s to 12s.
IMAG0112.jpg

The difference was good enough for me. Give this \/ a sec it is a gif that shows the change.
trailergif.gif


More axle clearance, better angles, better look, etc... I had to change the fender mounts, but other than that all changes were for the good. Also helps those little bearings spin quite a bit slower... in your application if it isn't already spring-over-ing and flipping the axle should give you enough clearance I would think.

It's been trail tested as far as I go and so far, it is all good.
IMAG0118.jpg


As to the bouncing, throw some weight in it. If it's empty I'm not surprised it is a regular jack rabbit... no shocks, just springs and no real mass to resist them. Like a spring board...
 

BCHauler

Adventurer
Thanks for the info and the pics. Were the center bore holes the same size on the 8" and 13" wheels?
 

jeep-N-montero

Expedition Leader
A bit about trailer wheels:

ALL 4 lug trailer wheels are the same 4x4inch pattern, the Mustang 4 lug are not compatible.
I have never seen a 13in trailer wheel in a 4 lug pattern, there aren't ANY on here http://www.easternmarine.com/12-and-13-Trailer-Tire-Rim/ as someone mistakenly posted.
Almost ALL trailer axles 2k lbs and under use the same bearings and you can easily swap out 4 lug to 5 lug hubs.
All small trailers use self-centering lug nuts, so the hub bore is irrelevant.

I'm sure more will come to mind later, and google is your friend!
 

broken1

Observer
To be honest I didn't check with a micrometer, both fit, were not hub-centric the lug nuts hold them centered, and by my remembrance they were identical in the center hole diameter.
 

BCHauler

Adventurer
I typed 13" by accident. I meant 12" as the previous responder had shown.

Lug-centric answers my other question. Thanks.
 

milowag

New member
The Eastern Marine does not have a 13 inch 4 bolt tire/wheel combo, but they do have a painted wheel only listed. And the Northern Tool catalog (or northerntool.com) has a couple of 13 inch tire/wheel combos with a 4x4 bolt pattern, both load range B and C.
 

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