I am looking at replacing trailer tires on a small trailer as the ones on it are getting old. The size in question is 5.3-12.
I wouldn’t mind getting a little heavier and more rugged than the cheap 2 ply tires I see everywhere. These are convenient as they are mounted right on the rim when you buy them but I am considering having something new put on rims. The trailer came with two older tires already on the rim that I would only use for spares at this time. I can see concentric cracking on the sidewalls so their time has come and gone. I figured those could have a new tire mounted and the ones currently on the trailer could become spares.
I am more concerned about a more rugged tire due to the use on rough roads where punctures or slicing due to rocks is a concern and not the load carrying capacity. The use quarried limestone on most of the gravel roads here and some use river rock. River rock is mostly chert which fractures like glass. The quarry rock has chert inclusions which cause the same problem.
I am no expert on trailer tires and am open to either re-using the old rims or buying new tires pre-mounted. This trailer uses 5 lug rims.
I might buy 3 tires, have the extras replaced, then have another put onto one of the rims currently in use, if there is a better option that doesn’t come pre-mounted on the rim.
Recommend buying from a trailer dealer r manufacturer including marine suppliers. Though the loads on my trailer never exceed 500 pounds, I would not consider two ply tires.
Yes, if you are going off road a spare would seemed to be wise. You can get a bracket to attach the spare to the trailer tongue. Some prefer a complete wheel/tire/hub with bearings package as a spare.
Check the space between the tires and fender, you might be able to go to a larger diameter.
There isn’t much room. I might be able to go to a 13 inch but that would be it.
For 8 ply tires, I only see TWO in the current size. There is a Kenda which I have seen many times. There is a Deestar which I am sure is what I would call a “Happy China” brand. Both of these seem to be rated well and Kenda doesn’t seem that much more expensive.
The sky is the limit for 6 ply tires. There are so many options I am not even going to list them.
My current tires say 3 tread plies and 2 sidewall plies. Is this considered a 5 ply tire?
I am not an expert on trailer tires at all but want to do it right, not just buy on price. The one and only time I cheaped out on tires, I ended up regretting it. NEVER buy Douglas from Wal-Mart!!!
Here are the two 8 plies I found.
Get the stock size for the first-gen Corvair, on 13" rims.
I read a horror story on a Corvair forum where a tire place told a Corvair owner they would sell the Corvair OE size for use only on trailers.
https://corvaircenter.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=815424
Don’t forget to lube the bearings.
For crying out loud. Corvair size tires? Any good trailer place or tire shop will know what tires to reccomend and they could not care less about Corvair tire size.
That is the tire size used on the lightweight trailers sold at Harbor Freight.
This is not a car hauler, no need for 8 ply tires.
Dad has an.older cousin to the hf trailer and ordered new tires through Discount tire a few Years ago. For up to 1,000lbs payload they’ve been great. But our gravel road packs down to dirt quickly. $200 on sale at Fred Meyer around 2000.
This is a small trailer but not quite that small. I definitely wouldn’t haul anything heavy. I guess the 6 ply is the way to go as that setup seems to be very common. My concern is more about rock slices and punctures rather than hauling capacity.
I did that already. This is new to me but I was happy to see a standard grease fitting and a spring-loaded piston of sorts that feeds it to the bearing as needed.
Bearing buddy is a common brand of those automatic bearing greasers. I have those on my boat trailers. They do an awesome job of keeping constant pressure on the bearings and keeping water out.
I bought some pre-mounted trailer tires for my landscaping trailer last year from Tractor Supply. I think they were Kenda brand 14". Among other things, I haul a 2 up ATV on some backwoods trails in Maine using that trailer. Same as you, I steer away from the budget stuff on things like this. I don’t need to get stuck off the beaten path… Funny thing though. The first month I owned it, I took some landscaping timbers to the transfer station and got a bunch of nails in my brand new tires. Now I refuse to back all the way in to unload. Those roofing guys are the worst offenders!
