match the vehicle or trailer tire?

[grogie]

A quick word on trailer brakes. If you have them you don't have to use them. If you do not have them, well you can't use 'em :ylsmoke:. There are many benefits of brakes, I can go into them if you like. A few posts prior someone mentioned a situation where they were glad they did not have brakes. I just wanted to mentioned that with a brake controller you can turn it down so no power is sent to the trailer with just a flip of a switch or turn of knob (depending on the model of controller).

Well I suppose there is a situation for everything, but do you recall the story about being glad no brakes?

Several times I've experience my trailer's brakes were wet in the morning and were super sensitive, so I did turn down the controller until they shortly dried out. I wouldn't tow a trailer with my Jeep TJ without brakes, period.

 

[toymaster]

Well I suppose there is a situation for everything, but do you recall the story about being glad no brakes?

Was not me, I am aware how to operate trailer brakes and controllers. I was trying to stop the spread of seemingly incorrect information. The information, as I said in my post, was in another's post....

.....The parking brake is really nice but a couple of off camber sections I have towed across I was glad there were not brakes.....

 

[SoDakSooner]

My setup:

New here, kind of have the same dilemma. Grogie, if you don't mind me asking, what is your trailer setup? I like the looks of it. Do you have a build thread? I have grand designs of designing and building a teardrop at some point, but had a little northern tool trailer dropped in my lap for free recently. thought i would get my feet wet modifying that by doing some reinforcing and building a new box for it, and it looks to be about the size of yours.

Thanks in advance.

 

[rnArmy]

Little 4' trailers like you can get from Harbor Freight or Northern Tool are fun to build up and customize to suit your needs. Mine started out as a 4' trailer I got from HF.
I'm running 33" tires (285/75/16") on my (four cylinder) TJ; if I put the same tires on my trailer, it might look cool, but it would be very expensive (@ $200/each, especially since I'd want to run a spare on the trailer too), and would be more weight to pull. As it is now with 235/75/15" tires on the trailer (@ $75/each), I've got at least 4" more clearance under the trailer's axle as I do the Jeep's Dana 44 pumpkin.
I've also got a new axle ordered for the trailer (I slightly bent the spindle on the 1500lb axle that's on there now); a 3500lb axle with electric brakes (also have a Tekonsha Prodigy P3). There have been times on wet roads the trailer's tried to tell the Jeep where to go; I think brakes on the trailer might help in those situations.
Build thread: http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f27/...ype-trailer-ultimate-build-up-thread-1180456/

 

[teotwaki]

+1 for electric trailer brakes.

As mentioned a controller such as Tekonsha's makes brake management extremely simple yet versatile. On downhills with poor traction I can set the trailer to drag a little behind me, keeping the trailer straight. In off-camber situations the controller can be backed off if needed and in panic stops on freeways the trailer has always stayed in line with my traffic lane. I think mechanical parking brakes might be nice but I can manually switch on my trailer's brakes as they can run off of the trailer's batteries. I just pull the cable on the runaway trailer switch if needed.

 

[gaap master]

Like several others on this thread, I took the matching approach...




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[colorado matt]

ok Tekonsha's brake controller is in my amazon wish list ... P3 model I think .... had a chat with someone at redneck trailer supply and while they were somewhat helpful I was given a name of someone there that was on vacation that I was told to talk to .... will know more after talking to him about rims .... still having a hard time figuring my axle width based on backspacing ... no one can seem to tell me if rims will fit or go with trailer rims and street tires ... or spacers needed to clear hubs ... was told to bring in a rim to the shop and test fit .... mad money is tight with no snow in the forecast to up the piggy bank ... would love to have money in hand to buy/order what I want when I go to the shop with the rim .... lots of great rigs and trailers ... slow and steady ... I will get there .... Matt

 

[VanIsle_Greg]

The Tekonsha Prodigy P3 is an excellent controller. I have just the basic Tekonsha brake controller in my XJ, and it is ok...it works. I had the P3 put into my WK and it so much better on so many levels. It functions for a large variety of trailer sizes and I almost never have to adjust it once set up.

My trailer loaded is about 900#, and brakes help in just about every situation I can think of or have been in.

Oh and as mentioned above, tire diameter is key... same wheels and tires is not that big of a deal. I have BFG AT on my trailer and Hankook MT on the XJ. Same bolt pattern and able to get the XJ out of trouble, this is important.

 

[SoDakSooner]

View attachment 333148View attachment 333149
Little 4' trailers like you can get from Harbor Freight or Northern Tool are fun to build up and customize to suit your needs. Mine started out as a 4' trailer I got from HF.
I'm running 33" tires (285/75/16") on my TJ; if I put the same tires on my trailer, it might look cool, but it would be very expensive (@ $200/each, especially since I'd want to run a spare on the trailer too), and would be more weight to pull. As it is now with 235/75/15" tires on the trailer (@ $75/each), I've got at least 4" more clearance under the trailer's axle as I do the Jeep's Dana 44 pumpkin.
I've also got a new axle ordered for the trailer (I slightly bent the spindle on the 1500lb axle that's on there now); a 3500lb axle with electric brakes (also have a Tekonsha Prodigy P3). There have been times on wet roads the trailer's tried to tell the Jeep where to go; I think brakes on the trailer might help in those situations.
Build thread: http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f27/...ype-trailer-ultimate-build-up-thread-1180456/

Thanks for the info rn. I'll take a look.

 

[grogie]

New here, kind of have the same dilemma. Grogie, if you don't mind me asking, what is your trailer setup? I like the looks of it. Do you have a build thread? I have grand designs of designing and building a teardrop at some point, but had a little northern tool trailer dropped in my lap for free recently. thought i would get my feet wet modifying that by doing some reinforcing and building a new box for it, and it looks to be about the size of yours.

Thanks in advance.

Sorry for the late reply. The build thread is here: http://tventuring.com/trailerforum/thread-163.html

 

[chiplee]

Sorry for the late reply. The build thread is here: http://tventuring.com/trailerforum/thread-163.html

You're not late. I'm late.

Lots of opinions and all are good reasons. I'm still running the 30x9.50 15s AT tires on the Kamparoo and they've served me well. The kamparoo technically has more ground clearance than my 80 series with 315s so I'm good there. My reasoning for not matching wheels are:

- running 315s on the trailer would add more weight and I'm already fairly gutless at attitude
- a little less rotating mass = easier to stop
- can find trailer tire sizes just about anywhere.
- just about every hardware store and big box store carry the trailer rims
- don't need to put a huge lift on the trailer just to accommodate large tires.
- 315s are $$$ vs some C rated AT tires sizes 30x9.5 or 235x75
- function usually wins over looking pretty, for me.

I have essentially the same Kamparoo, and we can't really match trailer tires to the truck due to the fact that the body of our trailer rides almost completely above the tires. These jeep trailers almost all have the tub between the tires, making it possible to run 35's on the trailer and still have a level (vice tongue low) trailer. I can't stand a trailer not riding parallel to the road so I'm actually downsizing my Kamparoo tires from 31" to 29". Previous owner had a 3" block lift on the axle (3500lb upgrade), which I swapped for a 2". All in an endeavor to get it to ride flatter.

Seems close here, but it's not exactly right in profile view on flat ground.

 

[97kurt]

I heavily considered getting street friendly tires for the same reason.