Question for Scamp 5th wheel owners: 14" Tires?

[peterh]

I put our trailer away for the winter (sniff) last Sunday. When I was chocking the wheels I noticed the curb-side tire has a huge bulge in it. We're lucky we didn't have a blow-out on the way home from the Northern Oregon Gathering (NOG)!

So I have to replace the tire. What I'd really like to do, though, is upgrade our 13" tires to 14" tires with higher weight and speed ratings.

Are there any Scamp 5th wheel owners out there who've already done this? Did you need frame spacers to fit the larger tires under your trailer? Can you post a picture?

Thanks!
--Peter

[Donna D.]

I put our trailer away for the winter (sniff) last Sunday. When I was chocking the wheels I noticed the curb-side tire has a huge bulge in it. We're lucky we didn't have a blow-out on the way home from the Northern Oregon Gathering (NOG)!

So I have to replace the tire. What I'd really like to do, though, is upgrade our 13" tires to 14" tires with higher weight and speed ratings.

Are there any Scamp 5th wheel owners out there who've already done this? Did you need frame spacers to fit the larger tires under your trailer? Can you post a picture?

Thanks!
--Peter

Peter you should have stopped by and talked to me at the NOG. I'm running 15" tires on my Scamp and couldn't be happier. Yours sits up plenty high... unless you've done something to get the trailer lowered since the last time I paid any attention.

[peterh]

Peter you should have stopped by and talked to me at the NOG. I'm running 15" tires on my Scamp and couldn't be happier. Yours sits up plenty high... unless you've done something to get the trailer lowered since the last time I paid any attention.

I wasn't planning to replace the tires or rims for another year or three, Donna. I was just putting chocking its wheels at the storage yard after cleaning it up, blowing out the lines and winterizing when I noticed the curb side wheel had a nasty bulge in it. It wasn't there when we left the NOG earlier that day.

This is one of the problems my trailer has: we have a big refrigerator, water heater, microwave and sink on the curb-side, so there's a lot of weight on that little 13" rim tire. (It's how Scamp built the trailer.) I think that's what did it in. Going up in size and weight capacity on the tires and rims is the smart move.

Could you post a picture of your trailer's frame and axle attachment? If I'm going to put bigger tires on I want to lower the frame a little; right now it has an extra 5" under the frame to accommodate the height of the last owner's tow vehicle, and going up a tire size will mean a) buying a ladder or b ) removing some frame extenders.

--Peter

[Nita F.]

Peter,

We have a 97 Scamp 5th wheel deluxe that came with the 3" riser and some off-brand 14" tires. In March 2007 we replaced them with Kumho 857 205/R14 radial trailer tires. It is 8 ply rated, Load Range D, 2271 Lbs. max load at 65 psi. We had to buy new rims for the higher psi and installed metal valve stems. After about 5,000 miles we are still pleased with them. We bought them from Tire Rack. Here is the Kumho link:
http://www.kumhotireusa.com/specifictire.d...d=3&pid=857

Good luck on your search.
Nita

[Donna D.]

Could you post a picture of your trailer's frame and axle attachment? If I'm going to put bigger tires on I want to lower the frame a little; right now it has an extra 5" under the frame to accommodate the height of the last owner's tow vehicle, and going up a tire size will mean a) buying a ladder or b ) removing some frame extenders.

--Peter

Sure I'll try to get some pictures over the weekend (disposable camera!), but nothing special was done to raise the trailer, other than a 3500# axle with 45 degree down angle. That raised it enough to fit the 15" tires perfectly.

[peterh]

Thank you Nita and Donna!