Push Rod

I had a double blow-out on my stock trailer the other day, and since I was planning on doing so anyway, I upgraded my 15&quot; rims to 16&quot; steel rims. This is where the dumb question comes into play: When I got the rims, the centre hole was about 1&quot; too big. The stock rims fit the hub centres like a glove, just like a car rim with a lip. So I asked about the 1/2&quot; of space between the hub centre and rim lip, and the boys at the tire shop all told me not to worry about it, that the lugs bear all the weight. Now I felt dumb. I thought that rim centre beared the weight, and the lugs just held the tires<br>in place. But the tire shop swears thats the way the new trailer rims are supposed to fit.<br><br>Are they smoking something funny? Or do the new trailers fit like this? Do I need a different hub to allow the rims to fit in this fashion? I have visions of lugs shearing off and tires squirting out the side of the trailer, flattening nuns on the side of the road, and causing my poor market-bound calves to lose weight from the stress of it all....<br><br>Any insight would be appreciated...<br><br>Rod

Nevada

Your old rims were what is called &quot;hub centric&quot; your new rims obviously are not. There are such things as non hub centric rims that bear only on the lugs, and yes they are common.<br><br>Can't speak to your particular application, but it sounds plausible to me.

P Kennedy

The lug nuts on your wheels are not flat but ball shaped and will center the wheels on the hub, if the wheel nuts are flat then you must use pilot hub centered rims. I prefer pilot hub centered rims with either stud system because like you said the wheel has more support. Rv's traditionaly use the rim they sold you while stock trailers quite often use a pilot hub for better weight bearing capability in HD applications. I would look for better quality rims, your tire shop has or should have a rim catalogue showing both styles to fit that axle. PK

Push Rod

[quote author=P Kennedy link=board=11;threadid=8907;start=0#85754 date=1041137831]<br>I would look for better quality rims, your tire shop has or should have a rim catalogue showing both styles to fit that axle.[/quote]<br><br>This is one of the problems we ran into after I questioned them about the rims. This is an old 16ft Keen stock trailer with some offbeat 7000 lb axles. When we went snooping, we couldn't find a rim with the proper sized hub centre.<br><br>So give me your honest opinion. Say with a max load of critters at 10K (5 big cows) and the trailer weight of 3500 lbs, are these non-hub-centric wheels gonna take it? Or do I go back to my 15&quot; rims?<br><br>Rod

Lary Ellis (Top)

I think you are probably ok with what you have, those Sheep can't be all that heavy and a good deal of the trailers on the road today are like that.<br><br> For peace of mind you could go back to the others. But so many of the new wheels are all just held by the lugs anymore.

pappyman

Your lug nuts do hold the rim to the hub....just be sure to retorque your lug nuts after the first 100 miles...and do a eyeball check of your lug nuts each time you load along with your normal pretrip inspection...my trailers have hubcaps that I leave off for the first 1000 miles so I can retorque my lugs

bulabula

What was the compelling reason to change to 16&quot; wheels/tires? I'm reminded of that old saying, why fix something that isn't broke?<br><br>I've never looked, but I am sure lugs come in different grades; if a wheel is lug centric (I would hope it has stronger lugs) rather than hub centric (where the lugs hold the wheels to the hub and not support the weight)? That is a rhetorical question.<br><br>If you were running tri-axles, I'd stay away from the new wheels. The high side torsional forces have been known to stretch and pull the lugs apart in tight manuevering causing you to potentially lose a wheel. I've seen it more than twice - the wheels came off on the road. All were on large boat trailers, and an argument could be raised that the immersion in the water (great lakes - fresh water) contributed to the lugs failing. But I doubt it. On an RV/work'ing trailer, throw in a little winter salt for corrosion to work, and you've got even more things to think about.<br><br>Tandems? I dunno. Wheels/lugs/hubs, its all a system; you start making changes, they'll affect the other parts of the system.<br><br>I have hub-centric wheels on my 3 axle trailer and wouldn't change a thing. On the road away from home, peace of mind counts for something too.

Dieseldude4x4

I couldn't remember how mine were so I went out in the cold and took a picture just for you. These are on my 30 foot goose neck. They are 16 inch wheels and are not centered on the hub, but on the lug nut/wheel studs. I have had over 13000 on this trailer not counting the weight of the trailer. Hope this helps.

Dieseldude4x4

This is a close up that may be a little better.

Shovelhead

Rod I think one of the main advantages of &quot;hub-centric&quot; wheels is once you get the wheel 'hung' on the lip of the drum, you only have to spin it to get the lugs to line up instead of trying to support the entire weight of the tire and wheel and start the lugnuts at the same time.

P Kennedy

Like the other guys replied you shouldn't have any problems just watch them and properly torque them. It is unusual for #7000 axles to have 15&quot; wheels. Most axles #6000+ are 8 stud 16&quot;, most 235/85/16 load range E tires are good for about #3000lbs X 4 = #12000. PK

Push Rod

[quote author=bulabula link=board=11;threadid=8907;start=0#85803 date=1041169981]<br>What was the compelling reason to change to 16&quot; wheels/tires? I'm reminded of that old saying, why fix something that isn't broke?<br>[/quote]<br><br>A few reasons:<br><br>1) Bigger tires typically ride and pull better. I'm used to having at least 16&quot; wheels on my trailers. The 15's on the tag-along used to bounce like mad, even when properly inflated. <br><br>2) Wanted a little more trailer height. My stock trailer is much too low for the 03, and I don't like that 8&quot; drop I had to put on the ball. Now I can raise it up to 6&quot; and still maintain a level load.<br><br>3) I'm cheap. I needed new tires, and I have a pile of 16&quot; 10-ply tires (for my flat-decks) in excellent shape sitting in the garage, looking for a home.<br><br>Rod

P Kennedy

Pushrod I'm not sure but if Tirecraft is your tire dealer they are by company policy supposed to torque the wheels with a torque wrench and give you a call back in 100 miles to retorque free. PK

j28s

My .02 cents worth: You should be ok. I do know that in racing (my hobby) it isn't a good thing to do. It has to do with the hub fitting the wheel snug (no movement at all when the lugs are tight). But if the wheel doesn't fit the hub (to big) then additional stress (ever so slight movement) can cause the studs to break (up and down movement as well as side to side movement). Then again we're going down a race track at 170mph plus and pushing 2 to 3 g's (left and right turns). I have one guy break off two studs (only four on the wheel). He said he could feel the wheel wobble and came back into the pits to see what happened. We fixed it and he didn't have a problem again (put on two new studs).<br><br>Bottom line, odds are that you will be ok. You may want to torque the lugs before each trip, but you should be fine.

Alan_Reagan

With what j28 was saying, I've seen three boat trailers with rims that completely sheared the studs off the hubs. I somehow have assumed this had something to do with the braking system on these trailers. I have never figured it out. One of the trailers was mine. It was a tandem axle with a GW of about 10K. The other two were our Coast Guard trailers each grossing about 11K. I know the studs carry the weight but there either must be different grades or the trailers need the hubcentric system to help carry the weight. I have no idea what causes this to happen but it is something that I'm very aware of when towing now.