Putting 14" wheels on 16 ft Scamp

[Connie Estep]

Does it generally work to swap the 13" wheels on 16ft scamps for 14"wheels? I called the Scamp company to see if there would be any problem mounting a 14' spare on the back and was told it was no problem to mount the spare but he didn't know if there was room for 14" wheels on the axle. I know at least some people are doing it but wondered if this generally works.
Connie

[Gattopuin64]

I put 14" wheels on my 16-ft Scamp with no problem. I trimed about an inch or 1 1/2" of fiberglass from the wheel well space to ensure I could get the new tire and rim mounted. This was a waste of effort.
TIRES ST 205 / 75 R 14, Load Range C, 1760 lbs @ 50 PSI

Purchase tires and rims at Discount Auto and had them balanced at no extra cost

I plan to install 14" tire after I get my new Scamp 16-ft SD/FB in early September.

[Radar1]

We added 14" tires to our 2005 16' Scamp a few years ago. I was prepared to trim fiberglass from the wheel wells to make them fit, but tried putting them on first and there's enough clearance on ours that I didn't feel a need to trim any fiberglass.
Ours has an Al-Ko axle, not sure if the more prevalent Dexter axles would be the same.
We are on our third set of 14" tires and have had no problems and have traveled from Key West to SW CA to Alaska and Acadia National Park, so have been over many road conditions and many miles.
The main reasons we switched to 14" tires is that the 13" in the D range are hard to find without pre-ordering (hard to do if you need one while traveling), plus the 14" tires have capacities more suited for the 16' Scamp weights when loaded (13" load range C tires are only 1360 lb capacity per tire even though the Scamp GVWR is listed as 3500 lbs).

[Radar1]

Originally Posted by Gattopuin64

I plan to install 14" tire after I get my new Scamp 16-ft SD/FB in early September.

Henry, Won't Scamp put 14" tires on your new one if you ask? Seems the 19' Scamps now come with 14" tires standard and the wheel well area might be the same as the 16'.

[Jann Todd]

Originally Posted by Connie Estep

Does it generally work to swap the 13" wheels on 16ft scamps for 14"wheels? I called the Scamp company to see if there would be any problem mounting a 14' spare on the back and was told it was no problem to mount the spare but he didn't know if there was room for 14" wheels on the axle. I know at least some people are doing it but wondered if this generally works.
Connie

If there is room to put 15 inch tires on your Scamp you'd be wise to do it. Trailer tires are hard to get in a 14". We have a Casita and are going to 15's the next time we need tires. It has 14's now and have had trouble getting them sometimes. You can get better quality tires in a 15 also. There is a new US made trailer tire you may check into. They don't blow out as easy. Read about them in the last Trailer Life magazine.

[JudyG]

re - 15" tires
I'm too new to know, how much clearance is enough?

[Jann Todd]

Originally Posted by JudyG

re - 15" tires
I'm too new to know, how much clearance is enough?

Call Scamp and ask them or ask a reputable tire dealer not a cheap discount tire place that employs just anyone to mount tires. I don't know how much clearance is needed. I know I have enough room to go to 15's because a lot of Casita owners have done that and it only adds 1 inch in circumference.

[Connie Estep]

Originally Posted by Radar1

We added 14" tires to our 2005 16' Scamp a few years ago. I was prepared to trim fiberglass from the wheel wells to make them fit, but tried putting them on first and there's enough clearance on ours that I didn't feel a need to trim any fiberglass.
Ours has an Al-Ko axle, not sure if the more prevalent Dexter axles would be the same.
We are on our third set of 14" tires and have had no problems and have traveled from Key West to SW CA to Alaska and Acadia National Park, so have been over many road conditions and many miles.
The main reasons we switched to 14" tires is that the 13" in the D range are hard to find without pre-ordering (hard to do if you need one while traveling), plus the 14" tires have capacities more suited for the 16' Scamp weights when loaded (13" load range C tires are only 1360 lb capacity per tire even though the Scamp GVWR is listed as 3500 lbs).

Radar--thanks for the weight statistics that is quite a difference!

[Joe Romas]

Originally Posted by Jann Todd

I know I have enough room to go to 15's because a lot of Casita owners have done that and it only adds 1 inch in circumference.

This Casita owner of a 1999 17' SD had a slight clearance problem when going over bumps when I switched to 205/75r15 tires that are smaller then the 225/75r15 that most use.

I ended up fashioning a 1.5" lift that gave me the needed clearance.

These trailers are hand built and are not all the same and such blanket statements don't work

Joe

[JudyG]

thanks for the input - gives me a bunch more to think over