Largest Trailer Tire Size for a 12" Wheel on Utility Trailer

Published 10/03/2019

Question:

Hi, I have a small utility trailer with 2000 lb load rating. It came with 4.8x12 tire 5x4.5 bolt pattern. I use the trailer only for local pickups of mulch, topsoil, stone traveling less than 5 miles round trip on back roads. I basically want to switch the tires to the widest combination that I can get. The reason being that the narrow tires I currently have sink into the grass making ruts when the trailer is loaded and moved around the yard. Obviously the tire would need to fit the fender and clear the frame. Are there any wheels that are set up with the correct offset to mount wider tires on smaller trailers? Any suggestions.?

asked by: Tim R

Expert Reply:

The largest size tire that you can fit on your current wheels is the Kenda Karrier S-Trail ST145/R12 Radial Trailer Tire # AM10140. This has an overall diameter of 21.3" and a section width of 5.7" meaning that it is about 0.5" larger in diameter and 0.8" wider.

I can definitely help you to find bigger tires than that if that's what you're wanting but before we can determine the biggest tire you can install I'll need to know how much fender clearance you have as well as how much clearance you currently have from your tires to the trailer frame. We recommend having at least 4" of fender clearance to account for suspension travel and then having at least 2" of clearance to your trailer frame. If you let me know your current clearance it will give me a good idea if we can go bigger, how much bigger we can go, and if you'll need to make any other adjustments to do so.

expert reply by: Jon G