Date: Mon, 26 May 2008 23:08:55 -0700
Reply-To: Scott Foss - Shazam <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Foss - Shazam <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject: Re: Small gear trailer for vanagon- any ideas?
In-Reply-To: <008c01c8bfa8$503487d0$0101a8c0@gp207joel>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
It's because small tires and wheels are cheap.
I'd want 'fairly normal' ..........or close to , tire and wheel size on
a trailer,
so, just like you say, when you're vanagon is going 60, your tiny tires
and wheels are not going 180 !
I'd want at least a 20 inch tall tire/wheel combo i'd think , on a small
trailer.
I have 15 inch wheels and 'real' car size tires...... on my utility
trailer, but i think it's bigger than you have in mind too.
It's important btw,
to have actual trailer tires. They're stiffer and have less rolling
resistance than car tires. Car tires on a trailer have noticeable drag .
in fact, the now common 184 R14 C that is really a D load rating -
identifyable by a very high load rating, 1,800 lbs or so, and 65 psi
max pressure -people are running these on vanagons now.............as
the actual 185 R 14 C is hard to find now..........
Les Scwab Tires tells me that makes a fine trailer tire,
and they are SO STIFF too. Man.
a set of 4 on a vanagon is all right.
(btw, i have three near perfect "Jupiter's" in this rating and
stiffness. I need one more to make a set..
You can not mix them with lesser rated tires, and they ones i can find
don't match quite, and a lot of them seem to have very 'not evolved'
tread pattern either. so if someone has one Jupite 185 R14 C but D load
rating, i need one, or I'll sell ya these 3 )
It so happens that my trailer will take a Mecedes 14 inch wheel for a
spare tire, and that's the same 5 bolt pattern and diameter as a Vanagon
wheel. Heck, i might make one using Vangon rear hubs .
oh..............a Parking Brake on a trailer - !!
rare and SO HANDY !! Safety issue even.
I like a dedicated spare for my trailer. Mounted at the front of the
trailer.
'the axle' on a trailer is a pretty basic part.
Usually just 'the axle' ............and two small leaf springs, and no
shocks - oddly .............what's up with that ?
but for anyone that fabricates...........or if you can score used or
take-off trailer axles.........
as long as the axle isn't too long.........
also.................the spinddles - it would not be impossiblei don't
think, to mount a bigger hub on a give size spindle using different
bearings.
Or even just larger diameeter wheels with the right bolt pattern to fit
the flange...........
but you wouldn't want to go oveloading small bearings desinged for less
load and a tiny wheel.
I'm sure there is just what you want.
it's finding it, and it being affordable is the issue !
scott
www.turbovans.com
owner of 3 trailers actually - and four axles in all. No shocks
anywhere either .
joel walker wrote:
>> choose from. Also when you purchase Make sure you find out what
>> bearings it uses and buy a spare set and take along the tools to
>> swap them on the side
>> of the road. You will be glad you did. the trailer tires are usually
>> much smaller and will spin 3 times faster then your Bus tires.
>
>
> which brings up a question i've had for a looong time:
>
> why are small trailer and camper trailer tires soooo small??!!
> even the boat trailers (which are almost as common in these parts as
> pickup trucks!) have tiny tires!
>
> cause they are cheap?? but they are important ... why can't they be
> the same size as car tires?? at least 13 or 14 inch rims??
>
> better yet, how hard would it be to put an axle on a small trailer
> that took vanagon 14" steel wheels? that way, if worse came to worst,
> you could take the tires off the trailer, leave the trailer on the
> side of the road. and limp/drive into town in the bus.
>
> but i've seen only one picture of any buses pulling trailers with
> same-as-bus sized tires. i THINK that Westfalia used to make some
> trailers that had bus-sized tires, but they never imported them over
> here.
>
> anybody seen any trailers with larger tires?
>
> joel
>
>
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