Need 15 inch wheels?

Jimmc wrote:
I am transitioning from a small single axle Casita trailer to something larger. The older Casita trailers came with 14 inch wheels which most people found pretty marginal for loads approaching 1500 lbs. I think you could only get C rated tires for that wheel size. Many people, including myself, updated to 15 inch wheels and load rated D or more tires. Now, I plan to upgrade to a trailer that will end up weighing twice as much loaded and get two axles. It seems like most of the trailers this weight still come with 14 inch wheels and the the same issue would arise from a pure weight viewpoint.

Is that right or is there some compensating factor in the dual axles that make 14 inch wheels and C rated tires okay?

My suggestion is to do what I did on my Funfinder. It came with 14" ( tandem axle ) wheels and load range C ( 50 psi ) tires. I switched to load range D ( 65 psi ) Kumho 857 tires. These are "commercial, light truck" tires that Kumho also markets as trailer tires.
The wheels that came on my trailer are suitable for 65 psi.

This change netted me a set of tires with a total of 480 pounds more load carrying capacity ( 120 pounds more per tire ) , and I also noticed that these tires make the trailer tow in a more stable manner. I "think" ( guessing here ) the added stability is due to the fact the since these are higher pressure tires, they have less sidewall flex.

I also noticed they run cooler, at least as best I can measure the temp with my IR non-contact thermometer.

I got mine Kumho's from Tirerack, but any Kumho dealer has or can get them for you.

In the case of my trailer, going to a larger diameter tire is not an option, as I do not have adequate clearance for anything bigger.