Anybody upgrade to 13 wheel on the Harbor Freight trailer? Is it worth it

Has anybody switched over from the 12" to 13" on the HF trailer?

Ive been looking to buy some tires and figured it might be a good time to buy bigger wheels. If I do decide to get wheels and tires the cost is about $120 more then just buying 12" tires.

Is it worth $120 to get 13" wheels? Is the difference really noticeable?

Found this on the forum and is kinda telling me NO, its not worth it, but I want to hear some people who have actually done it.

3” tire sidewall calculations.


There are 5280 feet in one mile then...

#1 A tire/wheel combo with a diameter of 18" (12"wheel-3"tire sidewall) will rotate approx 1120 times in one mile. This combo will make 59 more rotations per mile than the #2 combo or an additional rubber/road contact of 278 feet per mile.

#2 A tire/wheel combo with a diameter of 19" (13"wheel-3"tire sidewall) will rotate approx 1061 times in one mile. This combo will make 53 more rotations per mile than the #3 combo or an additional rubber/road contact of 264 feet per mile.

#3 A tire/wheel combo with a diameter of 20" (14"wheel-3"tire sidewall) will rotate approx 1008 times in one mile. This combo will make 48 more rotations per mile than the #4 combo or an additional rubber/road contact of 251 feet per mile.

#4 A tire/wheel combo with a diameter of 21" (15"wheel-3"tire sidewall) will rotate approx 960 times in one mile. This combo will make 43 more rotations per mile than the #5 combo or an additional rubber/road contact of 236 feet per mile.

#5 A tire/wheel combo with a diameter of 22" (16"wheel-3"tire sidewall) will rotate approx 917 times in one mile. This combo will make 40 more rotations per mile than the #5 combo or an additional rubber/road contact of 230 feet per mile.

#6 A tire/wheel combo with a diameter of 23" (17"wheel-3"tire sidewall) will rotate approx 877 times in one mile.

 

There's a theoretical decrease in tire wear with the larger tire due to both the decreased RPM and the increase in contact patch area resulting lower contact pressure with the road surface. However, the real difference is that you can get a little more load capacity with the larger tires. That varies with the type and ply rating of the tire, so you can probably get a higher load rating if needed without changing size. However, you need to consider that the trailer frame itself probably can't stand much more than the standard 12" tires.

 

A tire that was 1700 feet in diameter would only turn once every mile and would probably last forever. You would need to check with Harbor Freight to see if those would fit your trailer.

 

I've drug a similar small trailer equipped with 12' wheels all over the eastern seaboard, occasionally with days over 500 miles. Speeds up to ~80. Never a problem so far.

When I built the trailer I went through the same decision process, decided to go with 12'.

 

Did you put radials on it?

 

Dude, do you have to work with other people for your living?

 

When I got the trailer one axle was slightly damaged it was an easy fix but I decided to buy a whole new axle altogether and also hubs since I will occasionally haul 2 bikes.

The axle I got is actually a 2000 lb its more heavy duty. Any 4 lug x 4 inches will fit.

 

I've contemplated this myself a few times, mostly thinking of bearing life since I don't put a lot of weight on the trailer...

 

Im only thinking of going onto a 13" if the stability/drive is noticeably better. As far as a 13" tire holding more weight then a 12" is not an issue cause I've seen 12" radial tires with the same load rating as the 13"

Basically I'm asking this not because I'm worried a 12" won't hold the load but rather if the 13" will have more NOTICEABLE stability.

Here is the site I found the tire. It has a load capacity of 1610 per tire
http://www.etrailer.com/dept-pg-Tires_and_Wheels-sf-Tire_Only-pt-Radial_Tire-pc-13_Inch.aspx

 

Don't think so, can double check at home. They were cheap.

They look like this:

 

Mine with the 12" tires is plenty stable. Most of that comes from proper loading, anyway, not tire size. Since my trailer is more or less a homebuilt I loaded it and started measuring tongue weight, then started moving the axle until the weight was correct. Tongue weight should be 10-15% of your total load.

 

this is my bigger concern as well.

I have not had any issues with the 12" wheels over the last couple years, but it's rare that I haul 2 bikes.

I wouldn't mind going 5-10 mph faster though.

the warning sticker on the trailer says 55mph max. I try to keep it under 70mph (indicated, which is really more like 65). Might be a little less concerned with 13" wheels, but eh...

rather than switching to 13's, it might be cheaper to just buy an additional spare 12" rim/tire combo.

 

Me and my twelves roll down the road, no joke.



Travis, just went and checked and they are bias ply. Duro brand.

 

My grandpa pulls a little trailer behind him with pretty small wheels ( wanna say 8 inch wheel?). Goes to cali every year, goes to SC all the time. We repack his wheel bearings before every long trip and he's never once had a failure, we've yet to even replace a bearing. He hauls a couple hundred pounds in it.

 

the "standard" HF most of us use is listed as 1190 lbs. capacity, I think.

So even 2 sportbikes shouldn't be pushing that. One barely makes it break a sweat.

I moved my bike all the way over to the right side and built a big wooden box that sits on the trailer next to the bike, and provides additional semi-weather-proof storage. The bigger deal is that I can throw an EZ-up, tool box, wheels, etc. in and not have to worry about strapping them down to anything. I try to put as much as possible in there to keep the weight even on the trailer, but i've never noticed any problems with sway or anything.

 

You know what is funny about this thread?

I bet a few of the people pulling a harbor freight trailer with 12" garden tractor wheels on it are the same people who spend way too much on shit for their bike because "only the best for their baby"

A sponsor and i were talking the other day, and he was at one of his customers house. Dude was asking about pitbull stands, and pitbull trailer restraints because "only the best for his bike". At the time of the conversation, the Nissan GTR he was working on was on $20 autozon stands, and he was wanting to put the trailer restraint on a $200 trailer


Random. Just made me think of it.

 

Why use anything else? For the teeny trailers the 12" wheels are fine.

 

RPMs on the bearings is the main concern I would have on the smaller wheels.

 

I would think having pitbull trailer restraints is more of a convenience thing.

I made my own trailer restraints and have basically they basically work the same way as the pitbulls

 

My small trailer is a snowmobile trailer that I've had since the 80's. Like nearly all snowmobile trailers that get thousands of miles with pretty heavy loads, it has 8" tires. Mine is still running on the original bearings. It's never had snowmobiles on it since I've owned it, but it's made a lot of trips to motorcycle races all over the midwest and even made a trip to Daytona with three bikes on it, one of which was a 600 lb. Honda CB900C. The bearings are actually pretty lightly loaded on these small trailers. If you ever have a bearing problem, it's because they got moisture in them. Regrease them once in a while and don't worry about the RPM.