......tires....
I am a new member but have been lurking for about 6 months so.....at the risk of being kicked out, I have a tire question. I purchased a new to me 2009 31 foot Keystone Hornet TT in September 2013...
Forum Discussion
To add to what Lowsuv posted above there are some mechanical things to work through. Each camper is different.
Bump clearance between top of tire and inside bottom of fender. Dexter axle recommends you need a minimum of 3".
In my case my original setup was a lower riding camper from day one at the factory even on a slide trailer. I never had 3” I had 2.5”. I had already dealt with a small amount of lift when I went to a rubber equalizer, the rubber eats us some bump clearance so I lifted and then lost from the rubber to come back the same 2.5.
Then the LT tires came, I made the jump to 16” LT's after much considerations. It was either load range E in 15” in ST and my brand of choice to be a Maxxis or go 16” LT and BF Goodrich Commercial LT LR E and deal with the clearance. You can see in my post you went to I had to deal with this height, because of my prior lift work dealing with the rubber equalizer and then changing from a Dexter to Trail Aire rubber Equalizer I worked a combination.
Some campers are set up on 3.5” or even more tire to fender clearance and do not have the issues I had. Maybe you will be one of the lucky ones if you choose to go this route. I myself did not want to do and over/under lift (axle flip) as that would gain 4” more height and then I have to deal with 1 more step to get into the camper.
However an axle flip may be an options for you if you are up against clearance. Bottom line: 3” bump clearance is recommended. 2.5” works and is used by some trailer manufactures. If you approach 2.25 or less given the situations and weight loads you are on the edge of a hit. 2” and odds are very high you will hit just doing normal camp grounds, up and over. If you are less than 3", do the loaded suspension test for clearance as I showed in my post. Do not have a hit as that is a real bad thing.
Another heads up is left to right clearance. Trailer wheels have zero offset on purpose. Means the inner web of the wheel that bolts to the brake drum rides on the center of the tire. You have to keep this feature if you change rims. The bearings are not sized for and over hung load off center.
And you have to watch the width of the new tires. The inside of the tire may crash the frame, the outside my hit and inner wheel well. This all depends on what tire you are buying and how your camper is setup. All are different.
Clearance between the tires. This is another one to watch out for. My axles were set up with springs/rigid equalizer to only have 32” between axles . Many are setup on 33” spacing or some even more. The 33” trailers have it easier to not have to worry about the 2 tires touching on the center. In my case I had to work through this, and in this case the only practical thing was to get a 16” LT that was not too big in OD to create less than 1” between the tires. I was able to hold the 1 to 1.1” and I was on the edge. This gap changes as the suspension flexes both larger and a little smaller.
As you can see this was work in the size tire. Some have made the jump to LT and had no clearance issues as their rig was setup with lots of clearance from day 1. Or in my case, I had to work at it to fit all the needs. You will need to sort through for you, how you work through this.
Good luck
John
Bump clearance between top of tire and inside bottom of fender. Dexter axle recommends you need a minimum of 3".
In my case my original setup was a lower riding camper from day one at the factory even on a slide trailer. I never had 3” I had 2.5”. I had already dealt with a small amount of lift when I went to a rubber equalizer, the rubber eats us some bump clearance so I lifted and then lost from the rubber to come back the same 2.5.
Then the LT tires came, I made the jump to 16” LT's after much considerations. It was either load range E in 15” in ST and my brand of choice to be a Maxxis or go 16” LT and BF Goodrich Commercial LT LR E and deal with the clearance. You can see in my post you went to I had to deal with this height, because of my prior lift work dealing with the rubber equalizer and then changing from a Dexter to Trail Aire rubber Equalizer I worked a combination.
Some campers are set up on 3.5” or even more tire to fender clearance and do not have the issues I had. Maybe you will be one of the lucky ones if you choose to go this route. I myself did not want to do and over/under lift (axle flip) as that would gain 4” more height and then I have to deal with 1 more step to get into the camper.
However an axle flip may be an options for you if you are up against clearance. Bottom line: 3” bump clearance is recommended. 2.5” works and is used by some trailer manufactures. If you approach 2.25 or less given the situations and weight loads you are on the edge of a hit. 2” and odds are very high you will hit just doing normal camp grounds, up and over. If you are less than 3", do the loaded suspension test for clearance as I showed in my post. Do not have a hit as that is a real bad thing.
Another heads up is left to right clearance. Trailer wheels have zero offset on purpose. Means the inner web of the wheel that bolts to the brake drum rides on the center of the tire. You have to keep this feature if you change rims. The bearings are not sized for and over hung load off center.
And you have to watch the width of the new tires. The inside of the tire may crash the frame, the outside my hit and inner wheel well. This all depends on what tire you are buying and how your camper is setup. All are different.
Clearance between the tires. This is another one to watch out for. My axles were set up with springs/rigid equalizer to only have 32” between axles . Many are setup on 33” spacing or some even more. The 33” trailers have it easier to not have to worry about the 2 tires touching on the center. In my case I had to work through this, and in this case the only practical thing was to get a 16” LT that was not too big in OD to create less than 1” between the tires. I was able to hold the 1 to 1.1” and I was on the edge. This gap changes as the suspension flexes both larger and a little smaller.
As you can see this was work in the size tire. Some have made the jump to LT and had no clearance issues as their rig was setup with lots of clearance from day 1. Or in my case, I had to work at it to fit all the needs. You will need to sort through for you, how you work through this.
Good luck
John
