wheel question

[burndup]

Both my boat and trailer cost me a whole $200. Its a 1966 larsen 16', fiberglass, and will only weigh about 600lbs (so I understand) once I remove the 300lb Mercury 1500 thats killing the transom.

Until another motor shows up, the only one this boat will see is my little Mercury 4.5 I'm gonna save the 150hp for the next boat!

Anyway, I have one tire thats an old bias ply, and actually looks good. The other tire is a passenger car tire with THE biggest blister on the sidewall, I SO badly want to shoot it with the pellet gun to see what it does.

Anyway, I have a pair of the old-school Crager SS mag wheels, with some decent tires on them. (car tires, obviously) Recall these are the ones that take the special lug nuts with the washers, (which I have) as they fit any 5-lug from 4.5 to 5.5.

Is there any reason why I would be strongly advised NOT to use this sort of wheel under such a light load?

I realize that I should ideally be using trailer tires, but all my trailer gurus concur that the light load makes this irrelevant.

Thanks

 

[gcboat]

Re: wheel question

Just shooting from the hip here but I think you'll be just fine with that light of a load.

 

[briguy2817]

Re: wheel question

What's wrong with the old rims? Do you just want to update the look or are they so rusted that they are junk?

I have never been a fan of the "fit all rims". That bolt hole will actually wear out the studs on the axle. Even if you get it nice and tight, there is some movement that eventually it eats away at the studs, then they break.

I have 7 trailers at work that have "P" series tires on them and have never had a problem. The most these tires carry on these trailers is about 400 pounds max. I'm not saying to do it but I don't see why it wouldn't hurt with such a light load.

I would replace both tires with the same style(bias or radial). Another thing is you didn't mention what size rims you have. If you are putting 13's on it, I would get trailer tires. 14's or 15's I think you'll be alright with the "P" tires. Providing you don't load up the trailer too much, you should be good.

Of course this is all my opinion and what I would do. I'm sure I'll catch some flack from others, but, again, this is my opinion.

Brian

 

[burndup]

Re: wheel question

There's not much wrong with the old rims... Chrome is a bit rusted through, but this is California rust... stuff the rest of you guys would call "minor surface oxidation."

Yeah, 15 rims all around.

The wheel movement, in relation to the studs was what was on the back of my mind. The other disadvantage with the Cragers is that there is no access through the center cap... no getting to the grease fitting on the bearing saver on the hub, unless the rim is pulled.

Okay, well, these will make good "driveway" wheels, and maybe a few short lake trips, but I'll look into a more permanant solution.

Thanks!

 

[JoeCrow]

Re: wheel question

Cragers should be fine under a 600 lb load
Don't shoot the blister.....
"You'll put your eye out kid"

 

[reelfishin]

Re: wheel question

You can remove the Cragar center cap on most rims.
My biggest concern with those rims is side load breakage but it don't sound like that will be a concern with your load.
You may want to check the center hole clearance too, some trailer hubs require a larger center hole in the rim than do many cars.
Uni-Lug bolt patterns are known to loosen and create stress on both the rim and studs, I took all the ones I had to the junk yard years ago.
Most Uni-Lug rims require a shoulder type lug nut not a tapered seat lug nut as used on most trailers, those types are less susceptible to lug and rim failure.
They must be used with the proper washers however.
Also, you want a wheel that has as near a zero offset as you can find. Many performance wheels will have too much or too little offset which can create fender or frame clearance problems as well as undo stress on the wheel bearings with heavier loads.

The biggest problem with passenger tires is that the side walls do not provide much side to side support and often can add to sway problems on some trailers. They also do not have the carrying capacity that a proper trailer tire has. In your weight range, I doubt you will have any problems.

 

[Benny1963]

Re: wheel question

the only thing bad about the car tires are they have soft sidewall compared to trailer tires bias ply 6or 8 they tend to wallow through turn but i used some 14s for a yera or two with no probs .leave off your center caps and put bearing buddies through the hole you could cut center cap to fit around bearing buddies

 

[reelfishin]

Re: wheel question

I just saw a guy this weekend with a 57 Chevy pickup with Cragar SS wheels towing an old wooden boat all restored on a trailer with matching wheels, he had removed the center caps, sawed off the exposed lip and had stainless bearing buddies showing through the center. By sawing off the lip which the cap fits over and polishing the edge, it looked factory. The trailer was an old Tee Nee with the styled, rounded fenders too which looked pretty sharp.
He had a super small set of 13" tires on them so they would fit and look right in the original wheel wells too. Truck and trailer were also painted to match.
The low profile tires he had probably did ok since there's little sidewall to flex.