Distance between front and back trailer tires

[KMeek]

I am looking to buy some new taller trailer tires to raise my 5th wheel height a bit. Does anyone know if there is some minimum distance that should exist between the back of the front trailer tire and the front of the back trailer tire?

 

[Steve Campbell]

I do not know if there is a minimum distance...

The closer the axles are together, the less "scrubing" of the tires when you turn. The closest I have seen any tires on a trailer is about 1 1/2" apart. Personally I would like to see about 3" between the tires.

 

[SLVRBLT]

KMeek-

I changed to 16" wheels (from 15") and to 245-75R-16, E rated tires on the trailer this spring. I did it mostly for the load bearing issue, but also gained some height that I needed to make the trailer level with good bed clearance.



I have 2-7/16" clearance between the front and back tires. I've pulled about 1K miles since the change and am really happy with the change. Trailer rides and handles better with less sway in cross winds. Go for it!



Dave

 

[Jammar9082]

SLVRBLT: I want to change my 15 inch tires and rims to 16 inch. I have 6 hole on 5 1/2 inch circle rims on Dexter 3500 pound rated axles under a 29 ft Carri-lite. Were yours the same spacing and how hard was it to find 16 in. rims? What width were the 16 in. rims? I went to Colaws Trailer Salvage in Carthage, MO yesterday looking for used rims and was told they are not readily available as they sell most of the trailer frames with the axles on it.

 

[SLVRBLT]

Jammar-



The tires I put on are a touch over 3,000# capacity at max. inflation. The biggest rated 16" white spoke rims I could find were about 2,800# capacity rims. (new ones) To get over 3,000# capacity rims I had to go to a forged aluminum wheel made by Eagle. They are 8" rims. It turned out to be a pretty pricey change, but I've got all the carrying capacity I can get on it now. If I remember correctly, my spacing on the 6 lug hubs are the same as yours. The guy at the local tire store told me the spacing on 6 hole 15" and 16" rims is pretty standard for almost all hubs.



I had a lot of tire trouble on a 6 week trip last summer with the 15" wheels and tires. The worst being a blowout that tore up a lot of stuff on the trailer. I swore after that fiasco that I would put the biggest tires and wheels on the trailer that would fit!



I had no trouble selling the 15" tires and wheels that came off during the swap.



Dave

 

[Jammar9082]

16 in tires and wheels

Thanks for the info, SLVRBLT. I have not had tire problems yet but am concerned about the tires. I just bought this RV and I can't find the dates on the tires nor did I get a difinitive answer as to the age of the tires when I bought it. One tire is starting to show cracks in the sidewall and another developed two, inch long cracks over the weekend trip so I am going to replace them. These are Carlisle USA Trail, bias ply and are running about 63 % of rated load dry and about 76% fully wet ( Scale weights). My thoughts were to increase the tire size for added insurance that the tires would never be running at full capacity and hopefully not fail and also increase the RV height to better match the truck. It is difficult to develop protection when there are new tires that are failing.