Upgrading to Larger Tire on Trailer with 3-1/2 inches of Fender Clearance

Updated 10/13/2017 | Published 10/12/2017

Question:

Hello, I read a qanda on your site that said y’all could advise how much larger of a wheel could go on a trailer with 3 pieces of info: 1 I have 3.5 inches of clearance from top of tire to fender. 2 I have 3.5 inches of clearance from tire to trailer. 3 The current wheels are 5 lug and the size is 4.80-12 tubeless

asked by: Jason A

Expert Reply:

In order to have enough clearance for your trailer to travel over bumps in the road, you will typically want to have at least 3 to 4 inches between the tire tread and the fenders. You will want at least 1 to 2 inches between the side wall and inside of the wheel well.

With this in mind, you do not have much room to work with in terms of mounting a larger diameter tire without the risk of having some clearance issues. To move slightly up in size and capacity, I recommend looking at a 5.30-12 size tire like the Kenda K353 Bias Trailer Tire # AM10066. This will be only slightly larger in diameter but will have a higher load capacity of 1,045 pounds at 80 psi when compared to your existing set. This tire will also mount to your existing wheels without an issue.

I have attached a short video demonstration on this tire that you can also check out.

expert reply by: Chris R