Posted 2005-04-24 8:25 AM (#24239) Subject: Aluminum Wheel Solution
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 333
Earlier I had asked where the best place to get aluminum rims for my trailer might be. I got a lot of nice emails about possible solutions, but I ended up keeping my plastic wheel covers I had bought at an auto store.
The problem was that my hub didn't want to keep taking the covers off the wheels to put air in the tires. So I had longer stems put in. At dinner with some friends, we were talking about the problems of always taking off the covers. One other person who had covers said they used stem extenders. I found some at an auto store and that fixed the problem for about 3 bucks!!!!
So now I can live with the covers (they look nice and dress up the trailer over the steel wheels that came with the trailer).
Thanks all for your ideas.. and I thought I would share this solution for those that might be thinking about how to make their older trailers look pretty spiffy (for their use or for sale purposes).
Posted 2005-04-24 10:35 PM (#24253 - in reply to #24239) Subject: RE: Aluminum Wheel Solution
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Posts: 2689
Didn't want spinners, eh ?
I was thinking a set of tire flies and spinners would be Kool to cruise around downtown "Bawston". I could pin the top doors open and hang the horses' tails out, maybe paint one tail red and another one green... ?
Yeah !
Posted 2005-04-24 11:12 PM (#24257 - in reply to #24239) Subject: RE: Aluminum Wheel Solution
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Posts: 492 Location: saint louis MO
For all those who would like to change the wheels on their trialers it ma not be as simple as it should be. The first problem is the bolt pattern. If you have a 6 bolt wheel you probably have a 6 by 5.5 bolt pattern. However, if you have a 5 bolt wheel you mnay have a 4.5, 4.75, 5.0 or even 5.5 inch pattern. For instance my trailer which is an old steel gooseneck has a 5 by 4.5 inch bolt pattern. This is a very common pattern amounst regular auto wheels. However, trying to find a wheel that will fit over the hub, a wheel that has a big enough center hole, can be a real problem. Also, the "offset", the measurement that has the wheel in position from outside to inside of the wheel well is important also.
Posted 2005-04-25 7:25 AM (#24261 - in reply to #24257) Subject: RE: Aluminum Wheel Solution
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Posts: 2689
Originally written by rimshoes on 2005-04-24 11:12 PM
For all those who would like to change the wheels on their trialers it ma not be as simple as it should be. The first problem is the bolt pattern. If you have a 6 bolt wheel you probably have a 6 by 5.5 bolt pattern. However, if you have a 5 bolt wheel you mnay have a 4.5, 4.75, 5.0 or even 5.5 inch pattern. For instance my trailer which is an old steel gooseneck has a 5 by 4.5 inch bolt pattern. This is a very common pattern amounst regular auto wheels. However, trying to find a wheel that will fit over the hub, a wheel that has a big enough center hole, can be a real problem. Also, the "offset", the measurement that has the wheel in position from outside to inside of the wheel well is important also.
The other thing worth understanding is that they are designed to NOT fit.
This is part of a master plan to protect us from ourselves by not allowing us to put 500 lb rated rims under 10,001 lb rated trailers (-:
{or 26,001}
Posted 2005-04-25 2:51 PM (#24291 - in reply to #24239) Subject: RE: Aluminum Wheel Solution
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Posts: 333
Thanks for reminding me that the wheels have to support the trailer and horses. The extended stems I had put on the wheels didn't clear the plastic wheel covers I had, but the extenders I put on the stems did. I think I paid around 14.95 for the covers... and if I were going to sell a trailer that had a bit of rust on the rims (not ones that were unservicable as that would be dishonest), I would do that to make the trailer look more polished. In fact, that was how I got the idea, from a trailer a friend bought.. the dealer had put the wheel covers on and did that snazz the trailer up. I got mine the next week.
Aluminum Wheel Solution
