Today I removed and then replaced a tire on my Overlander. (was repacking bearings) Is there a secret to getting the tire on and off in the confined space of the wheel well? I jacked up my trailer as high as my Ford truck jack would go,,,,it was hard as heck to get the wheel out from under the side skin and nearly impossible to shove it back up in the well and then raise it and align it with the bolts.... Is it because the trailer needs to be jacked up higher? Or are 700/15's too big? Is is almost as if the tire is too wide....Thanks again Z.
__________________ A chief event of life is the day in which we have encountered a mind that startled us. -Emerson
Burning Man ~ Black Rock Desert Nevada 2005 & 2006 -Zstream
Today I removed and then replaced a tire on my Overlander. (was repacking bearings) Is there a secret to getting the tire on and off in the confined space of the wheel well? I jacked up my trailer as high as my Ford truck jack would go,,,,it was hard as heck to get the wheel out from under the side skin and nearly impossible to shove it back up in the well and then raise it and align it with the bolts.... Is it because the trailer needs to be jacked up higher? Or are 700/15's too big? Is is almost as if the tire is too wide....Thanks again Z.
It's because the axles are shot.
When the rubber rods solidify, the tire will not drop down as far as it originally did.
Does that mean that when I install new axles...the trailer will sit higher?
If the axles are shot, yes.
There is a lot of stuff on the forums on determining if your axles are shot. Do a search. The basic rule of thumb is if the torsion arm has an upward angle it's shot, it it is horizontal you are living on borrowed time, if it has a downward angle, it's OK. As you jack the tire up the angle of the torsion arm should drop and you should have to jack up the trailer a few inches before the tire comes off the ground. If the tire immediately comes off the ground the axle rubber is rigid and the axle has lost it's shock absorbing ability. If the axles are rigid road shock is transferred to the coach which is a BAD thing. How are you jacking it up? you should be jacking up the fish plate or jacking points not on the axle itself.
With the trailer loaded what angle are the arms? above 5 degrees? to the negative? then yes they are shot. Also keep in mind wheel wells are cut lower on the older trailers as well. My 72 was a real pane to change the tires when I went to the ST225/R15 LRD. My axles was about 1 degree up when it was loaded. according to QDS then they where just fine.
Maybe the trailer was designed for 7-14.5 tires, like my '59? These tires were about 2" smaller (27"), but had load ratings up to 12 ply. They were called mobile home tires. They last forever. I still have a pair. Kumho still makes them.
When I switched to 225-R15 ST tires, I enlarged the wheel openings about 2" to accomodate the larger tires.
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Proper tire size. 700/15? 6ply
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