From 14" to 15" Wheels and Tires

[angerlo]

I changed from 205 75 R 14" Good Year Marathons to 15" Maxxis tires and 15inch wheels after several blowouts on my '97 3023 TM. The following website was most helpful in measuring the rims to get an exact similar rim one size larger. The site is:
https://www.rsracing.com/tech-wheel.html
This site on wheel technical information discusses how to measure bolt patterns and how to measure back space. The backspace (distance from highest part of bolt circle to top of outer lip of wheel) on my 14" rims was 3.5inches. This means my offset was "0" as indicated in the Backspace to Offset Conversion Chart. I purchased two 15" wheels by searching for them on the Internet. Look for Trailer wheels.
The M 8008 ST Radial 205 75 R 15 Maxxis tires (part No. TL15703000) are 1.1" taller than the 14" Good Year Marathons. They are 8 rather than 6 ply and rated to carry a load of 2040 lbs at 60 psi and a load of 2150 at 65 psi. At 65 psi is load range D. I sure hope these tires are a better fit for our well engineered and cared for TM. Load range for the Good Year Marathons was 1760 lbs per tire.
Since I have had at least one, perhaps two blow outs due to poor valve stems made in China, I opted for all steel valve stems. They are solid and available. (Nappa Part #90-416 Tubeless Clamp-In Tire Valve TR 416
1 and 1/4" lenght, Fits .453 and .625 rim holes).
Hope this info is helpful to anyone looking for a tire-wheel upgrade.
Happy camping!

[Wavery]

Thanks and welcome to the forum........that's very helpful information.

[RejoiceWay]

Thanks for the posting. We just ordered a lift kit yesterday and will be converting to 15" soon, so this information will be very helpful. Really appreciate sharing you experience!

[Wavery]

Originally Posted by RejoiceWay

Thanks for the posting. We just ordered a lift kit yesterday and will be converting to 15" soon, so this information will be very helpful. Really appreciate sharing you experience!

You may find this thread helpful for the lift kit installation.
http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...t+installation

You will find that your axle is welded to the frame. Be prepared to cut those welds. I used a 4" angle grinder with a steel cutting wheel. Also, carefully mark the location of the axle by scribing a mark down the frame and the axle with a square up against the trailer floor. Before tightening your new bolts, be sure that the scribed mark lines up by again placing the square against the trailer floor and lining up the scribe marks.

I would recommend having the lift spacers welded to the frame after installation (to keep it from moving fore & aft on the frame). It shouldn't be necessary to weld the axle to the spacer.

[RejoiceWay]

We'll be sure to check out this link when we receive the kit. It'll probably be a while before we get the kit installed, but will let you know who it came out.

[tgpmd1]

Originally Posted by RejoiceWay

Thanks for the posting. We just ordered a lift kit yesterday and will be converting to 15" soon, so this information will be very helpful. Really appreciate sharing you experience!

RejoiceWay,

May I ask about how much the lift kit from the factory was with shipping?

Thanks!

Theresa

[Bill]

Are you sure you need a lift kit? By 2006 (the year of my TM), I think every TM that left the factory had a lift pre-installed. It might have been in the form of a lift "kit" (a length of rectangular steel tube bolted between the axle and the frame on each side), or it might have been in the form of a higher-angle axle.

Adding a lift kit to a trailer that is already lifted won't hurt anything (assuming you can still get it into your garage), but the higher center of gravity and increased wind resistance are not necessarily good things.

Bill

[RejoiceWay]

This lift kit w/harware was $40, but we had ordered a bunch of other stuff so can't say what the freight costs would have been just for the kit. We did end up taking it to a shop and had it installed at a cost of $187.50. When we took it to the shop we had printed out instructions from this forum and they really appreciated the detail.

[tgpmd1]

Originally Posted by Bill

Are you sure you need a lift kit? By 2006 (the year of my TM), I think every TM that left the factory had a lift pre-installed. It might have been in the form of a lift "kit" (a length of rectangular steel tube bolted between the axle and the frame on each side), or it might have been in the form of a higher-angle axle.

Adding a lift kit to a trailer that is already lifted won't hurt anything (assuming you can still get it into your garage), but the higher center of gravity and increased wind resistance are not necessarily good things.

Bill

There is no lift kit and it has what appears to be original 14" Good Year tires. When we bought from the original owner, they advertised and we bought what we thought was a 2005, but that's when they ordered it from the factory. It was a 2006 model on the title.

Thanks for the original post angerlo. Since so many TM owners have shifted to 15" and metal stems, seems the number of wheel problems has diminished. Don't know which factor was most important, but the results seem positive. Good luck with yours...