Trying to find old tyres

If you've enough clearance for the width, probably 195 x 15 van tyres might do the job, though most modern medium sized vans are now on 16" rims I think there's plenty of them still using 15" sizes. Plus the van tyres are made to carry more weight. Nip down to your local van hire place and have a look at the sizes fitted or check with your local tyre depot.

Martin

The size and description makes me wonder if they are Volkswagen Kombi rims and tyres.

I have spent a while phoning around and the general view is that these tyres are no longer manufactured for trailers. I may find one for a fork lift, but then the 25mph speed rating may cramp my style when towing :-)

So, the problem I have with any other 5 stud LR fixing (certainly the Defender rims) is that because they sit over the drum, the wheel fouls the side of the trailer. Does anybody know of a 5 hole rim on a LR / Defender PCD that has a flat centre but will take radial tyres?

Cheers

Peter

I have spent a while phoning around and the general view is that these tyres are no longer manufactured for trailers. I may find one for a fork lift, but then the 25mph speed rating may cramp my style when towing :-)

So, the problem I have with any other 5 stud LR fixing (certainly the Defender rims) is that because they sit over the drum, the wheel fouls the side of the trailer. Does anybody know of a 5 hole rim on a LR / Defender PCD that has a flat centre but will take radial tyres?

Cheers

Peter

How odd this post looks like I typed it?

Anyway..... Check the offset of a set of cheap and cheerful 8 spokes. Or move the suspension unit out on the trailer.

Lee D

I have spent a while phoning around and the general view is that these tyres are no longer manufactured for trailers. I may find one for a fork lift, but then the 25mph speed rating may cramp my style when towing :-)

So, the problem I have with any other 5 stud LR fixing (certainly the Defender rims) is that because they sit over the drum, the wheel fouls the side of the trailer. Does anybody know of a 5 hole rim on a LR / Defender PCD that has a flat centre but will take radial tyres.

Yes, what's wrong with the rims you took off the trailer?

Martin

They are split rims and nobody I have spoken to is convinced that any other tyres will be suitable.

Cheers

Peter

Try some of the places that do horse trailers/boxes. Horse owners spend a fortune on their horses, but are tight as (whatever Nige would say) when it comes to the trailers, so may still need otherwise unsourceable (?) tyres.

Split rims, at least normal SDC ones, don't need special tyres. I don't understand the comment.

Is this simply a 'funny' size issue?

I should think any commercial tyre of similare size would suffice so long as you fitted tubes and protective gaiters.

Martin

How do we turn that into a modern tyre spec ? Is it 7" wide, 15" Radius ? What aspect ratio are they from these numbers.

Steve

I have physically taken the tyre to two local tyre places who have inspected it, phoned round and drawn a blank. I have spoken to more tyre places (vintage, modern, car, agricultural and commercial) that I care to remember on the phone, none of them could help. In each case I asked if there was an equivalent I could use.

Bear in mind this is not my area of expertise, so I have to be guided by what I am told.

I have been told that the tyre size that is on the rim at present is not available anywhere in the UK. The only one they found was for a fork lift and it had a speed rating of 25mph.

I have also been told that there is no equivalent tyre in radial.

I have also been told that not many tyre places are competent to put tyres on split rims.

That is where I am!

What is a "normal SDC split rim"?

Cheers

Peter

Notionally 27" rolling diameter, 6" wide, on a 15" rim. Which gives a supposed 100% AR.

That 15" rim for a trailer is a killer. The biggest I've found so far is

Steve

but was misspeaking

Unless there's something very special about the trailer, I'd forget the whole thing, and let the seller worry about how he's going to get rid of it with no wheels. What's the chance that he's looked after the wheel bearings, if he can't even keep it properly shod?

If the wheels are so odd:

How will you get a spare wheel?

Even if you find a source of tyres, what will you do if you shred a tyre on a long kourney, if tyres aren't readily available?

If the tyres are old and obsolete, are the hubs, too? Can you get brake spares? Has it even got auto-reverse brakes, and a damped tow hitch? Both essential, imho, particularly if the trailer is as enormous as the tyre rating suggests.

Is it even a standard 50mm ball hitch?

I had a several crappy old trailers, then finally bit the bullet and bought two decent secondhand ones: a 10ft Ifor Williams and a tiltbed Bateson. My only regret is not getting an even better tiltbed, and a tipping trailer to complete the set. It's only with my present Rangie that the towing vehicle is worth more than the trailer, and the values are converging fast.

What sort of legal considerations govern wheels/tyres for trailers in the UK?

Kevin,

All very good arguments! Although, it does have a standard hitch and overrun brakes (albeit they need servicing) - but you are right I have no idea about spares for it.

I bought it because it has a low load bed which will be ideal to move around some of my miniature railway locomotives (which can weigh up to

Cheers

Peter

Steve

Which is smaller than the wheels on the small Sankey trailer that I've got. To fit 205 x 16 tyres on that I use Series 3 LWB rims which take the wider tyres away from the sides of the trailer. The point being; How big is this trailer?

The only wheels I've seen with L/R pcd and flat centres are the old Austin/Morris LD and FG type which were fitted with a 7.50" x 16" tyre, but which you could cut the centre out of and weld or have welded into a 15" rim for a spare.

You would probably have been better buying a modern small plant trailer, something like an 8' x 5' Ifor Williams type.

Martin

I build 7.25" locomotives to narrow gauge outline. The one in question (a variation on the Tinkerbell) design can be seen in the right hand picture on the front page of my website -

To get them on I use a transfer track, that's why the low load bed is ideal.

Cheers

Peter