Best wheels & Tires...

[Andy R]

I would like to buy some new wheels for my 1961 Bambi. I would like to have some "baby moon" type hubcaps if they are available anywhere? What wheel do you recommend? I have a new Henschen Dura Torque axle that is a 5 lug on 5.5" spacing. I would like to put as serious "off road" tire as possible on my little trailer. I live at nearly 10,000 feet above sea level in the Colorado Rockies and plan on taking her to the top of some serious mountains. Don't worry, I won't hurt her! Are there any tires that might be a bit better for a worn out dirt road? Woudl it be to my benefit to get tires rated for a heavier load, so they can with stand the torture of the load bouncing around on them? Are there any tires that have a heavier sidewall?

Thanks in advance!

[Jim W]

Andy at Inland RV sells wheels that I believe is rated at 2600 lbs. Have you looked at Andys web site at the junk yard wheel, that will convince anyone to buy strong wheels. When your shopping, I'd make sure the wheels you buy are rated for as much weight as you can get. I don't know what your Bambi weighs, but with the roads you mentioned, I want strong wheels. As far as the tires go, I don't know weather radials or bais ply would be best. Bais ply TT wheels are 8 or 10 ply, which would be stronger than radials. Maybe some one will have some good information to offer. Do you have a spare tire for your TT? Sounds like you may need one.

[FrankR]

I seem to remember that a wheel attachment pattern of 5 holes on 5 inch center will fit both Ford and Dodge trucks. The choices of wheels is quite large. The factors to be considered are, number of axles, wheel pattern, wheel diameter, wheel offset, wheel load range, steel, alloy,and type of hub cap. Most off road equiptment use tall wheels with less rpm per mile, and can be moved over rough terrain. Most suggestions here will be mostly opinions and possibly not all options. Tire options are endless. All the tires with a high ply rating don't flex much to dampen the rough trails. The wheel that is 7 inches wide and 15 in diameter is a good trade off for all road conditions.
A trip to the local tire and wheel shop would be a good investment of time. On the net, there are many tire and wheel sources. Usually a local tire and wheel shop will mount some trial sizes.
Frank

[thenewkid64]

Andy,

Here is a link to a vintage site that has detailed instruction on axel conversion. The also lists his sources for wheels, and baby moon hubcaps.

http://www.vintageairstream.com/floy...partslist.html

I can't make a reccomendation on tires/wheels but I thought this might be info you could use

[Inland RV Center, In]

Andy. Oversize tires and wheels usually won't work, unless there is adequate clearance between the tire AND wheel well, especially when hitting a good bump. Inadequate clearance can result in cutting the tire, causing a blowout, or, an actual fire. Super heavy duty tires, at very high inflation, can cause excessive road shock to the shell, causing many other problems.
Andy