barato2
Commander
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2010
- Messages
- 2,956
hi all---weird Q here, but please tell me if it's been covered before and i'll search harder.
i'm building a boat and trailer for fishing on the west coast of Baja California and similar rural areas of Mexico. Getting to some of the good spots involves mucho washboard dirt roads (try 100 miles of road you have to travel at 10-15mph) that have a rep of "eating trailer tires for breakfast and truck tires for lunch." Not just the washboard, but embedded sharp stones and parts that fell off previous vehicles on the road. general recommendation of those who travel here a lot is to carry 2 truck spares and at least 2 trailer spares.
i'm thinking of skipping the goodyear Marathons, Carlisles, Hecho-en-China's, etc entirely and just getting a used set of wheels from an older Jeep (5 x 4.5" bolt circle) so i can mount 235/75-15 or larger Load Range D offroad LT tires to deal with these conditions. lots of these on my local CL for under $100/set for bare wheels, and $3-450 for ones with usable-for-now tires. IOW, less than 2 trailer wheels and tires in 205/75-15 once you add shipping. existing wheels on my trailer are poop so would likely need replacement anyway. trailer is tilt model and i'm welding on a sliding tongue extension, so height of the package shouldn't be a problem for launching. boat is an 18' Starcraft aluminum skiff, full-up weight maybe 1500-1700# before fluids and tackle boxes, so i like the 2400ish # load capacity of Load Range D's so tires aren't too heavily loaded..
my main Q is this: i know wheels with the wrong offset are hard on wheel bearings and will make them fail prematurely. but how prematurely? are we talking something that will kill bearings soon enough that i'm likely to be replacing bearings mid-trip, or is it just that they may last 1-2 years instead of 3-4?
would appreciate any input anyone has...good, bad, indifferent, why you think i'm an idiot for thinking this way, whatever. or if you know of other problems with this plan besides wheel bearing life expectancy, lay it on me. i'd rather learn the bad news BEFORE i drop the $ on a set of wheels and tires. thanks!
i'm building a boat and trailer for fishing on the west coast of Baja California and similar rural areas of Mexico. Getting to some of the good spots involves mucho washboard dirt roads (try 100 miles of road you have to travel at 10-15mph) that have a rep of "eating trailer tires for breakfast and truck tires for lunch." Not just the washboard, but embedded sharp stones and parts that fell off previous vehicles on the road. general recommendation of those who travel here a lot is to carry 2 truck spares and at least 2 trailer spares.
i'm thinking of skipping the goodyear Marathons, Carlisles, Hecho-en-China's, etc entirely and just getting a used set of wheels from an older Jeep (5 x 4.5" bolt circle) so i can mount 235/75-15 or larger Load Range D offroad LT tires to deal with these conditions. lots of these on my local CL for under $100/set for bare wheels, and $3-450 for ones with usable-for-now tires. IOW, less than 2 trailer wheels and tires in 205/75-15 once you add shipping. existing wheels on my trailer are poop so would likely need replacement anyway. trailer is tilt model and i'm welding on a sliding tongue extension, so height of the package shouldn't be a problem for launching. boat is an 18' Starcraft aluminum skiff, full-up weight maybe 1500-1700# before fluids and tackle boxes, so i like the 2400ish # load capacity of Load Range D's so tires aren't too heavily loaded..
my main Q is this: i know wheels with the wrong offset are hard on wheel bearings and will make them fail prematurely. but how prematurely? are we talking something that will kill bearings soon enough that i'm likely to be replacing bearings mid-trip, or is it just that they may last 1-2 years instead of 3-4?
would appreciate any input anyone has...good, bad, indifferent, why you think i'm an idiot for thinking this way, whatever. or if you know of other problems with this plan besides wheel bearing life expectancy, lay it on me. i'd rather learn the bad news BEFORE i drop the $ on a set of wheels and tires. thanks!
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