15" tires on a Northern Tool 5x8?

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15" tires on a Northern Tool 5x8?

Postby wgwhitacre » Thu Feb 11, 2016 6:27 pm

Hello, Team

I am sure I am asking a question that has been asked before, but here goes:

I am building a 5x9 trailer on the classic Northern Tool bolt together 5x8 trailer. It seems like this a pretty common trailer and I think many of you may be familiar with it.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/ ... _200612541

The trailer comes with some pretty wimpy looking 12” tires. I, being a total ignoramus regarding trailers, thought that I could simply take of the 12” tires and put on some cooler looker 14” or 15” tires. Not the case.

It turns out that if I put on 15” tires it would leave me with an inadequate amount of frame clearance.
I know that a lot of people here have fixed this by buying Dexter torsion axels. I called a Dexter dealer today and they told me that the axle would cost $270 + and require me to get electric breaks. This is more than I was planning on spending and seems to make things a lot more complicated.
Northern Tool sells axles for less than $100, and they don’t seem to require electric brakes.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/ ... er-springs

Has anyone ever done this? Can I use these? If so, what size should I get for 14” or 15” tires?

Thanks for your help. Sorry if these are dumb questions but I have no idea what I’m doing.

Bill
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Re: 15" tires on a Northern Tool 5x8?

Postby Woodbutcher » Thu Feb 11, 2016 7:00 pm

I did it. You will need wheel spacers that have the same bolt pattern as your trailer hub. Then get the same bolt pattern as your new wheels. I believe the bolt pattern on the NT trailer is 5 X 4.5, but verify that. I think I used 1" thick spacers, but not sure. Try to get wheels with zero backspacing.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Wheel-Spacers-1 ... bC&vxp=mtr
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Re: 15" tires on a Northern Tool 5x8?

Postby Redneck Teepee » Thu Feb 11, 2016 7:10 pm

You may also need to change out your idlers or hubs to a 5 bolt pattern if they are currently 4 bolt to fit the larger rims/tires, I'm not real familiar with these northern tool/harbor freight trailers but I have seen both bolt patterns.

If they are 5 bolt already you could use spacers as long as the needed room is minimal. Hope I was of help :)
http://www.amazon.com/1-25-Wheel-Spacer ... B00DIFQ3UK
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Re: 15" tires on a Northern Tool 5x8?

Postby Alan_H » Thu Feb 11, 2016 8:58 pm

The NT Trailer has 5 X 4.5" pattern hubs.
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Re: 15" tires on a Northern Tool 5x8?

Postby wgwhitacre » Thu Feb 11, 2016 11:33 pm

Thanks guys! Great information. :thumbsup: :applause:

This website is awesome.
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Re: 15" tires on a Northern Tool 5x8?

Postby KCStudly » Fri Feb 12, 2016 3:29 pm

wgwhitacre wrote:This website is awesome.

'In-n-it?' :lol:
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Re: 15" tires on a Northern Tool 5x8?

Postby TomMaj » Sun Jun 18, 2017 6:46 pm

How are the wheels and bearings holding up. Looking for reports as I'm doing the same thing. My NT trailer's 12" wheels have performed OK but just look too out of scale small. I bought 14" wheel and tire combo and it required a 2" spacer that I'm going to order today. Overall, the outside diameter increased from 21" to 27" and the weight seems at least 50-60% more per wheel/tire.

http://schmuckipedia.com/blog/uncategorized/building-a-teardrop-camper/

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Re: 15" tires on a Northern Tool 5x8?

Postby Woodbutcher » Sun Jun 18, 2017 8:52 pm

Just got back from a 4K mile trip with mine. So far my NT trailer with wheel spacers and 15" tires has about 24K trouble free miles on it.
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Re: 15" tires on a Northern Tool 5x8?

Postby Dale M. » Mon Jun 19, 2017 9:40 am

What wheels and tires... Trailer wheels usually have neutral (zero) back spacing meaning area where wheel bolts to hub is centered in wheel,,, Many automotive wheels have varying amounts of back spacing.... Its also possible to find online wheel manufacturer and have custom wheels made up with a negative back spacing so the actual rim and tire sets further out and give you the clearance you need with out the need for spacers or replacing axle.. We did all the time on out race cars...

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Negative part of custom wheel it changes how the bearing load is on hub.. Generally bearing load is designed for a wheel whose bolts face is in line with center of hub and bearings (zero offset)... By moving "rim and tire" out some (negative offset) it changes how bearing load is applied and *may* cause bearing to wear out some what sooner (or not)...

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Re: 15" tires on a Northern Tool 5x8?

Postby Pinstriper » Mon Jun 19, 2017 12:31 pm

Dale M. wrote:What wheels and tires... Trailer wheels usually have neutral (zero) back spacing meaning area where wheel bolts to hub is centered in wheel,,, Many automotive wheels have varying amounts of back spacing.... Its also possible to find online wheel manufacturer and have custom wheels made up with a negative back spacing so the actual rim and tire sets further out and give you the clearance you need with out the need for spacers or replacing axle.. We did all the time on out race cars...

Image

Negative part of custom wheel it changes how the bearing load is on hub.. Generally bearing load is designed for a wheel whose bolts face is in line with center of hub and bearings (zero offset)... By moving "rim and tire" out some (negative offset) it changes how bearing load is applied and *may* cause bearing to wear out some what sooner (or not)...

Dale

Wouldn't that also be true when using spacers ?

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Re: 15

Postby Dale M. » Tue Jun 20, 2017 7:10 am

Pinstriper wrote:
Dale M. wrote:What wheels and tires... Trailer wheels usually have neutral (zero) back spacing meaning area where wheel bolts to hub is centered in wheel,,, Many automotive wheels have varying amounts of back spacing.... Its also possible to find online wheel manufacturer and have custom wheels made up with a negative back spacing so the actual rim and tire sets further out and give you the clearance you need with out the need for spacers or replacing axle.. We did all the time on out race cars...

Image

Negative part of custom wheel it changes how the bearing load is on hub.. Generally bearing load is designed for a wheel whose bolts face is in line with center of hub and bearings (zero offset)... By moving "rim and tire" out some (negative offset) it changes how bearing load is applied and *may* cause bearing to wear out some what sooner (or not)...

Dale

Wouldn't that also be true when using spacers ?

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Yes... But considering mile used and quality of bearings and weight of "load" either spacer or wheel offset solution may not be real issue...

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