How to Measure to Determine Bolt Pattern of a Trailer Wheel

Updated 11/11/2013 | Published 11/08/2013

Question:

What does it mean to have a 5 X 4 1/2 inch 5 lug pattern?? Need to know if this spare tire holder will work for me. I have a 15 inch wheel with 5 lugs to put on a 2 inch wide X 4 inch high tongue frame.z

asked by: Gary H

Expert Reply:

The bolt hole pattern of a wheel can be easily determined in one of 2 ways. First, on a 5-lug wheel you can measure from the center of one bolt hole directly across the center of the wheel to the exact center in between the 2 bolt holes across from it.

Or you can measure from the center of one hole to the center of the next hole. If it measures 2-5/8 inches the bolt pattern is 5 on 4-1/2. If it is 2-3/4 inches the bolt pattern is 5 on 4-3/4. If it is 3 inches the bolt pattern is 5 on 5. And if it is 3-1/4 inches the bolt pattern is 5 on 5-1/2.

I have included a link to an FAQ article to the right that shows how to measure from bolt pattern. A 5 on 4-1/2 is most common, 5 on 5 is a distance second, and both 5 on 4-3/4 and 5 on 5-1/2 are rare.

expert reply by: Michael H