Attn: Anyone Who Knows About Trailers

[Smity42]

My dad is out somewhere in the middle of f*cking nowhere, with his sailing boat on a trailer with pissy little 8" wheels on it. Apparantly the wheels have not held up well to the trip out there (and he still has further to go!), so he wants to put bigger wheels on it for the trip back.

He asked me to find out what the options are for him.

So whats the go? Are these wheels likely to be a standard PCD etc so he just needs to find bigger wheels with the same PCD. What would it be?

Or does he need to replace the hubs? Do all trailers have the same stub axles or does he need to find out what his has?

Any help would be appreciated, I know nothing about trailers other than how to hitch them up to cars and tow stuff with them

[mad082]

ok, it really depends on the type of wheels he has, but generally the 8" wheels are simply held on by a single nut as the centre of the wheels acts like a normal hub does. this will mean that he will need to buy hubs. there are a few different stub sizes though. generally they are 1 of 2 though. 39/40mm or 45mm. the smaller of the 2 is classed as holden bearings, the bigger ford or slimeline bearings. by simply measuring the inside diameter of the bearings you can usually work it out.

the next issue will be choosing what PCD wheels he wants and getting hubs to suit.

all the while he will have to be mindfull of 2 things.

1: will the bigger wheels fit under the mudguards

2: will the axle be long enough for the hubs to stick out far enough from the chassis of the trailer so that they tyres and rims don't rub on the chassis. i know that with my trailer, which was designed for ford wheels, but only stock steel wheels with pretty much a 0 offset wouldn't take the wheels off my magna due to the wider tyres and approx 40mm difference if offset. they would rub on the chassis before the tips of the axle studs poked through.

then there is the minor issue of the fact that the ID plate on the trailer will have specified that it is only supposed to have 8" wheels, but i highly doubt that the police would take any notice, as long as the wheels don't look stupid (which i'm guessing they will).

the easiest option may be buying a set of 10" wheels for the trip home. they will be a fraction better than the 8" and then when he gets home look at upgrading it to bigger wheels, because it will pretty much need a complete overhaul.

[Smity42]

Cheers mate, great info