Viper Trailer - metric spare tire.

[Jeff Jones]

Robert, did they just replace the tire (keeping the rondar wheel) or the entire tire / wheel? 

I wonder if they could find a domestic hub with standard bolt patten to fit on the rondar axle / spindle?  If so, no need to replace the entire axle.. just get new hubs, new tires and your gold.  Right? 

150.00 for two tires and the labor -> they did you right.   

Drew - 10000 miles is a lot of time on a set of small trailer tires.   Better go knock on wood my friend ;-)

WOW!  I took my trailer to a local trailer shop. Replaced the mini cooper tires with real trailer tires (the skinny kind) and had the bearings repacked for $150! Apparently the bearings are automobile bearings! Luckily these guys are really good and figured that out. My trailer rolls like a champ now.

[Justin Scott]

Good option Dave.

By the way...  if your live in Texas your price for a spare tire is $ 185.00...     Looks like several options are more expensive over here.

Got to love rondar!   

Just goes to prove that everything is bigger, better and costs more in Texas.
If anyone is looking for a spare wheel for the original Triads. Mine has gone awol, so look for it roadside somewhere on I95. Just adding to Viper debris (altho Olaf still reigns in that department) 
 

[Robert Bernard]

Robert, did they just replace the tire (keeping the rondar wheel) or the entire tire / wheel? 

My wheels were rusting out and would have probably failed by now. They replaced the wheel and tire with an off the shelf wheel and tire. the bolt pattern lined up perfectly. The guy even knew what the bolt pattern was from just looking at it.

[Tim Carter]

Robert, did they just replace the tire (keeping the rondar wheel) or the entire tire / wheel? 

My wheels were rusting out and would have probably failed by now. They replaced the wheel and tire with an off the shelf wheel and tire. the bolt pattern lined up perfectly. The guy even knew what the bolt pattern was from just looking at it.

Robert, see if they can give you specifics so it can be posted for the rest of the masses.  Everybody will have this issue @ some point in the future  :)

[Jay Harrell]

Drew - 10000 miles is a lot of time on a set of small trailer tires.   Better go knock on wood my friend ;-)

I added up my regatta travels since 2007, and I've done about 14,000 with my Viper - but not all on the same tires.

[Darren Gilbert]

Does anyone know the weight of the trailer alone?

[Paul Young]

The dimensions of the axle spacing that you need are as follows;

The mounting points for the current axle are 59" apart, and the two mounting bolts on each side are 6 1/4" apart fore and aft. The face of the hub ( where the wheel sits) to the centre of the mounting bolts are 10" each side. The axle is rated to 750 Kg total weight ( trailer and boat) and is a soft sprung torsion beam. This is very important as the whole point of the suspension is to provide a decent ride to the boat.

If you decide to make changes you should do so for good mechanical reasons, rather than just becuase the sizes arn't good ole' US of A. We choose the torsion axle for two reasons, one is the softer springing protecting the boat, and the other is that the wheels run in parallel and symmetrically. Most trailers with independent units have the wheels toed in or out slightly, which is why the tyres and the bearing wear far more quickly becuase of the load being applied sideways into the bearing rather than vertically. Another factor is that typical $50 cheap nylon corded tyres overheat and become misshapen. The same applies to fitting wider wheels, and bigger tyres, they all increase bearing wear significantly.

Heavy single dock boxes are also to be avoided if at all possible, fit a smaller one to each side to keep things balanced, and symmetrical in a loading sense.

So if you use proper radial car tyres, set up on a beam axle with decent german made automotve quality bearings, and you get the wheels balanced ( just like your car wheels are), and you follow a few basics like keeping them greased and not putting them into the water when they are red hot from a long trip,  you will get a minimum of 25000 miles plus out of the tyres and the bearings will do 100 000 miles without issue. If you really spoil it by hosing it with fresh water every time and have the bearings repacked with grease every so often, then they will last indefintely.

There are stocks of bearings and wheels in container heading towards each coast as we speak so spares are not a problem for the standard wheels and axles going forwards. If you think the spare wheels are expensive, I am sorry but they cost us $112 each at todays exchange rate, and we simply cannot supply decent ones any cheaper commercially.

I hope that this helps

Paul Young.

[Drew Harper]

I priced out a slightly larger, bias ply tire from my local trailer guru. He said we should try to remain with the radial as it tows much better at speed. Cost for a radial, once again slightly larger but will fit on the existing bolt pattern was $94 unbalanced on a painted wheel, $112 on a galvy wheel.

I've asked Paul to source metric bearing buddies for us.

[Dan Tucker]

If anyone is looking for a spare wheel for the original Triads. Mine has gone awol, so look for it roadside somewhere on I95. Just adding to Viper debris (altho Olaf still reigns in that department)   

Mine is somewhere on the NJ Turnpike sb. I look for it every time I drive south, but haven't seen it yet!

Picked up a new one in St. Pete last winter for around $75 I think.

[Olaf Bleck]

Any reason not to buy a US set of wheels and drill the appropriate bolt circle between the metric ones?

I suppose one would have to be reasonably accurate so the wheel's not off-centered...  should be do-able though.

[Drew Harper]

US wheels fit fine. Just need to buy the sets from West.

Problem is in the smaller wheels they don't offer radials...just bias ply. The radials ride much better at speed than the bias plys.

I suppose there are bigger tires that will fit on the same bolt pattern with radials...that'll involve new fenders.

[Drew Harper]

Here's a spot in South Carolina. Looks like $65 a tire.

http://www.vipernoir.com/tires.php

[Drew Harper]

http://minimal-motoring.com/

He has Falken 145/80 B10 tires in stock at $87.50 each.  This is a radial mini-cooper tire.