Aftermarket Trailer Rims

[Rilez]

I was thinking of getting new rims for my single axle boat trailer...not because they're necessary, but we don't have a lake place so we have to trailer it and a single axles worth of 15" or 16" are pretty inexpensive, especially if I use stock size so I don't have to buy new tires. I was thinking of either sticking with exact same size rim that was stock (15") or possibly just upgrading an inch for looks, but nothing that's going to take new fenders or lower profile rimes. Also, I was intending to just pick them up through etrailer or somewhere similar since they have some nice looking options for relatively inexpensive.
Question I have is I currently have the standard silver rims that came on all those trailers back then with a bearing hub...Can I replace these with rims that don't have the hub? I have attached pics of the stock rims & a couple that I've seen that would fit my style...one of them has a cap, the other doesn't appear to come with one. I'm assuming the one that doesn't, the red piece on my stock rims would stick through & look dumb or am I missing something? Can you buy just a cap to cover that or is that something that will come with the rim & I just missed it in the pictures?

Stock Rims.jpgRims 1.JPGRims 2.JPG

[HFarr]

You don't want to make it too hard to get to the grease fitting on your hub. But to answer your question, if you don't buy center caps with your new rims, then yes your hub will show. You could paint it black to match the new rims, or order center caps to cover them. Just make sure they will fit over your current hub. Some center caps snap on from the outside, and some are made to slide in from the back. The second one will make it harder to get to your grease fitting.

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[TXSurf4]

HFarr is spot on and just to clarify your Hub is not going anywhere it is not part of the rim but rather part of your axle assembly. You can do as he said and either paint it or but the center caps to cover it. I could be wrong but I feel like most trailer rims these days just have the snap in or bolt on center caps for ease of maintenance.

[larry_arizona]

Most modern Boatmate trailers use the vault system that doesn’t require adding grease.


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[Rilez]

Most modern Boatmate trailers use the vault system that doesn’t require adding grease.


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I'm guessing that's a newer thing though right, not back in 05? It looks to me like my trailer has traditional bearing hubs.

[larry_arizona]

Perhaps you can add vault system or drill hole in wheel center cap to all access to grease zerk


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[RUGER761]

As Larry mentioned, drill a hole like most RV wheels have in their center caps. They are roughly 1" - 1-1/2” or so then use a black rubber plug to cover the hole up. Keep in mind fender clearance if jumping up to a 16" wheel and make sure you can get a high enough load capacity low pro tire to handle your single axle load.

[MJHSupra]

I'm guessing that's a newer thing though right, not back in 05? It looks to me like my trailer has traditional bearing hubs.

Yea, I think the mid-2000 Boatmate trailers had something call the "gold series" oil bath bearings. If you have your tag/trailer number, you could contact Boatmate to get specifics on the axle.

As mentioned, be careful when switching wheels. New and old boats need to have proper clearance with fenders. Even on my 2018 I cannot install the upgraded wheels w/o different fenders. Not a big deal, but it gets pricey. The std wheels have more weight capacity vs the bigger/low profile ones. Since I trailer my boat, I'm good with that.

[Rilez]

Yea, I think the mid-2000 Boatmate trailers had something call the "gold series" oil bath bearings. If you have your tag/trailer number, you could contact Boatmate to get specifics on the axle.

As mentioned, be careful when switching wheels. New and old boats need to have proper clearance with fenders. Even on my 2018 I cannot install the upgraded wheels w/o different fenders. Not a big deal, but it gets pricey. The std wheels have more weight capacity vs the bigger/low profile ones. Since I trailer my boat, I'm good with that.

The fenders is a good thing to keep in mind, but it's just a clearance thing right? I'm thinking either sticking with 15" or upgrading only to 16"...if I upgraded, my assumption was to ensure I don't have to get new fenders, I'd just need to get slightly lower profile tires...obviously I'd have to check the load capabilities of the tires, but just to ensure I'm not missing anything...I'm assuming the rim + tire just needs to "fit" within the fender & allow a little space for suspension bounce down the road, is that accurate or is there more to it that I'm not considering?

The current tires seem really out of proportion on the large size based on the rim. Just looks odd to me. I'm assuming that's because of load capacity, but I'm also guessing some real cheap tires were put on.

[Rilez]

Someone online mentioned they feel locking nuts are of the utmost importance on a boat trailer when going after market since it would be easy for a thief to put your trailer on blocks & take the rims while you're out on the lake...I'm not typically a fan of locking nuts as it adds one more thing that could go wrong if a tire blew on a trip. One of my wife's previous vehicles had them & the one time I balanced & rotated the tires, I couldn't find the key & had to pay someone to cut it off. I've never had anything worth stealing in the parking lot before, but I'm not sure I really see that as a problem...for any of you that trailer & have the newer setups with all the fanciness, is this really something I need to do?