trailer with 12 inch wheels

should i be concerned with using 12 inch wheels for trailering long distances?

They'll heat up/overheat quicker and easier than bigger wheels, so you'll need to keep the speed down.

Originally Posted by jerseydrew

should i be concerned with using 12 inch wheels for trailering long distances?

I was a bit apprehensive myself... and don't know if I'll do it again, but I did tow my 954 to Grattan (1,800 miles round trip) on 12" trailer wheels at speeds up to (and maybe a bit over ) 80 MPH. I did repack my wheel bearings and install new bearing buddies before my trip.

Wow, that is quite a trip just to go to Gratten.

My trailer has tiny wheels. I did put on bearing buddies when it was new and make sure they are full of lube, but I've had no problems. I've put thousands of miles on it. I sometimes do 80 with it for a couple of hours or more. It does get warm, but not hot. Just warm to the touch. It doesn't keep getting warmer and warmer. It reaches a steady state and just stays there. After all, it does no braking, no force goes into that tire expect for holding up the weight of the trailer and the bike. Once you're up on the interstate, it's just coasting.

I do make sure that the lug bolts are tight, the bearings are well lubed, and that the tire pressure is high. Those tiny tires have a recommended pressure of what, 65 lbs? The higher the pressure, the cooler they will run. I run it close to the maximum, I think 5 pounds under. It also tows lighter.

In case someone out there is interested...

The bearing buddie is a spring loaded cylinder full of lube that continually pushes lube into your bearing. It fits where the bearing dust cover would go. It has a zerk fitting to let you fill it up with a grease gun.

Maybe I need to look into those bearing buddies for mine, guess it would help with my 14" also.

A friend turned me on the Bearing Buddies. He'd had a bearing failure in his trailer, and it was a major pain. He's had no failures since installing them. They are often installed on boat trailers, because they get backed into the water with the bearings submerged.

[SomeStrangeGuy]

jerseydrew: what is a long distance? and how much weight? etc.

I have a dwarf rail trailer w/12"s I use for my YZ and some other junk and tow it behind my civic...it's taken the KLR a few miles as well (which weighs more then my 954 did) and my trailer is a total POS. It's done 90+ with no issues for sustained periods of ~60miles or so highway. But I check the tires/bearings often and always have a spare on hand as well. Bear in mind as you go up in tire size - spare size also needs to be carried in that equation.

I have one of those Harbor Freight bolt together trailers that came with 8" wheels. When one blew a tire I put 12"s on and have never had a problem. I replaced the 12"X4.8" tires with 12"X5.3" tires this summer as the old ones were wearing out! The trailer/12" wheels are 11 years old and I am always sustaing 75mph+ while trailering. Keep the bearings packed and the pressures correct and they will last.

basiclly i bought a 4x8 trailer with a gvwr of 2000lbs. i plan on putting 2 liter bikes on it to go to bike week in florida and then to myrtle beach. that is pretty much it. so the florida trip will be about 2400 miles and then the SC trip should be about 1600 miles round trip