Wheels & Track Width - Who's trailer matches their tug?

[Blinky Bill]

Hi all,

Every so often.......okay okay okay .....several times a week....... I look at new and second hand camper trailers in a kind of 'window shopping' 'dream-on', 'would be if I could be' kind of way. I imagine I'm not alone there right? 

While I'm well aware that some serious folk match their camper wheels to their tow vehicle and also the track width, I'm wondering how many simply don't bother. Or once bothered and then went "what the heck"!

I recall someone I know who went through that exercise and within a few years got himself another vehicle and nothing matched anymore anyways.

I guess I'm asking two things:
1. Would you be put off buying a good second hand camper trailer because the track width and the wheels, stud pattern, didn't match your tug?

2. When buying new would you pay the extra to have the axel, studs & wheels match your tug?

Just curious which of the 4 catagories people fall into:-
A) Who has done it & thought it was the mutts nuts.
B) Who did it and thought 'what a waste of time & money that was'.
C) Who hasn't done it but wished they had.
D) Who hasn't done it and it's never been an issue.

Personally I'm a 'D'. Which is better than the 'F' I usually scored on my at school report card. 

My CT was what I was after at the price I could afford and I've never found myself stuck wishing all the wheels were all exchangeable.

Care to comment?

If not just register an A, B, C or D.

Cheers - Wayne

[Tim - Stratford]

G'day Wayne,

Our first KK was setup to match the tug and then when we upgraded we did the same. Had to give it a bit of thought second time around as it ended up being an added expense- The allowance didn't quite cover it.

It is handy when negotiating 4wd tracks, obstacles and ruts but not imperative. As you mentioned what happens when you swap vehicles?

I see it as more of a convenience than a necessity but can't comment on the benefits when in sand where it may make a bigger difference.

Would I do it again? Probably 

Tim

Edit to answer question: 1 - No
                                    2 - Maybe

[Bird]

I guess I'm asking two things:
1. Would you be put off buying a good second hand camper trailer because the track width and the wheels, stud pattern, didn't match your tug?

2. When buying new would you pay the extra to have the axel, studs & wheels match your tug?

1 - no
2 - wheel studs yes, axle width no.

[Manjimike]

Interchangeable wheels is probably the priority
 

[noel_w]

I guess I would be a D.
Had a GQ patrol as the tug & bought a Trackabout Safari 2nd hand. Tug and CT have 16" wheels but 75 series tyres on the tug & 70 series on the CT. Roughly the same track width but have never measured. I know when I go through soft stuff the wheels line up near enough. I didn't intentionally go down this road to have things line up, it just ended up that way
I have spares for both the tug & CT the same and in a pinch I could get out of trouble if I put one of the CT wheels on the tug to get to the next town.
I have contemplated putting 75 series on the CT but then may have issues with tent height. I would prefer to stay with 75 series on the tug as it suits it well.
I'll be keeping the current setup for quite a while I think.
I would just add that it would be heaps better to have matching wheels & tyres if you were a regular hard core outback tourer. At the moment I am not in that league so I will leave it as is.
I wouldn't go the extra expense to have the track width match but wheels & wheel studs yes.

[D4D]

B for me, remember when you turn the identical track benefits are removed. I think there is a difference between matching track and matching wheels. I wouldn't bother matching track but I would bother matching wheels.

[crackacoldie]

I had the track, wheel,stud and tyre size matched to the cruiser when we brought the camper, however, now I have a different car so that was an expense out the window.

  Cracka

[gqcamper]

I didn't bother with the wheel track bit i do have interchangable rims with same tyres as patrol. 

[Blinky Bill]

I didn't bother with the wheel track bit i do have interchangable rims with same tyres as patrol.

Interchangeable rims - What is that?

Please excuse my ignorance here if I'm way off target. But are you saying you just match the tyre size? And so in the need of a replacement you would just take the same size tyre of a different stud pattern and away you go.

Cheers - Wayne

[gqcamper]

Sorry ,interchangable as camper wheels will fit on vehicle

[cardinal28]

Its peace of mind to have interchangeable wheels and tyres with the trailer and tug and have less spares to carry. Without thinking about interchangeability before purchasing the camper, it has also to be noted that with different offsets etc that the tug wheels might not fit the CT and visa versa.

  Graeme K

[Manjimike]

Interchangeable wheels is probably the priority
 

Altho',  I have just bought an NL Pajero with 16" alloys that I pick up tomorrow, so probably won't go this way as I expect it will cost me a fortune 
 

[Redcherokee]

D.   Didn't bother trying to match on the recent camper purchase, as a vehicle change in the next year or two is a real possibility.

[db]

We got the wheel / tyre size and stud pattern matched and the offset is similar to that on the paj.  Was going to get pajero wheels, but the hub wouldn't fit the paj wheels .  Track isn't matched.  Hopefully the wheels from the camper can go on the car in a pinch (must get around to checking )   

So A I guess.

[Top.ender]

When doing research for the new camper I couldnt believe how difficult some manufactuers said it would be to match 100 series hubs on the C/T.Matching the hubs wheel size and tyre size is a benefit you,ll be appreciating long after the cost is forgotten.When it comes to tracking if your going to buy a mainstream C/T ie Jayco or Goldstream you wont have a choice,the tracking of any C/T is important more so in soft sand,but having said that we pulled ours through some pretty soft stuff with relative ease.Thats my 2cents
p.s I,m a A   

[Top.ender]

Interchangeable wheels is probably the priority
 

x2

[Garry H]

Interchangeable wheels is probably the priority
 

X3

have matched the wheels on the 2nd hand camper, and have towed thru deep sand, and even if the track width was a match probably still wouldn't have got thru on my own anyway (Border track SA),
if you are relying on the track width as being the edge you need then you probably need a better back up plan

[Silvo]

i didn't bother matching track, or wheels.

i don't carry extra spares for either my prado or the camper for long trips into remote areas either.

i decided a while ago to get a TPMS and use this as an early warning system against severe tyre damage. on my first trip out to the SA Desert it paid off and i haven't really considered it a waste of money since. it saved 3 tyres on that trip.

i do have the ability to take the wheels of the camper and move them onto the prado if i really had to as the stud pattern is the same, but that was just by co-incidence.

[Brett]

I have picked up another set of Landcruiser 200 Series alloy rims for a steal. (No they are not stolen just very very cheap  ). So we will be matching rims and tyre sizes for the 200 and the Robust. I'm doing this more for the looks then need for extra spares but it will be convenient anyway.

[JCOJ]

The manufacturer couldn't match Pajero wheels to the camper and I didn't even ask what the track was as I don't really care.

I have good LT tyres on both the Paj and Camper and have never had a puncture on either (I'm pretty anal with tyre pressures though!)

I wouldn't let either track or stud pattern put me off buying the camper I wanted.

[Maîneÿ . . .]

1. Would you be put off buying a good second hand camper trailer because the track width and the wheels, stud pattern, didn't match your tug?

(1) Maybe, bought a boat and never thought about it with the Toyota, it was woeful to tow in the city, streets etc, because the trailer wheels were hitting the sides of roundabouts unless I drove out far left to avoid it happening.
Changed vehicles and wow - everything is perfect, the trailer wheels follow the vehicle wheels 


2. When buying new would you pay the extra to have the axel, studs & wheels match your tug?

(2) Did that with the original Camper trailer from Southern Cross in Melbourne, everything matched so I only needed one set of wheels/tyres (only the axles did not match)

3. Just curious which of the 4 categories people fall into:-

(3) A

[cewilson]

Our Trak Shak matches the Defender perfectly - same width, same rims, same tyres etc. 

However when we tow it with the missus' Prado, none of it matches.


This hasn't stopped us from doing some good off-road trips with it, however the Defender does it a whole lot easier in particular on loose sand etc.


Saying all of that we keep vehicles for a long time, so it works for us......

[Mace]

I wouldn't let either track or stud pattern put me off buying the camper I wanted.

Fully agree.

That said, we got lucky.

Our Ezytrail rims and tyres are interchangeable with our Rodeo riding on 15 Sunraysias.  The Rodeo has 9.5R 15's, the CT rides on 235/75/15's.  Overall diamaters are pretty well identical. It tows like a dream and follows the Trucks tracks perfectly, although an extra 15kw wouldnt go astray.

I reckon Im an F.  Did it by accident and reckons it great.

 

Mace

[Malcur]

I have interchangeable wheels on the CT (same diameter, offset). I see a couple of advantages:
1.   Gives me extra spare in the event of an emergency. If all else fails I can use the wheels from the CT and I am still mobile. Mainly peace of mind as I haven't had that emergency yet!!

2.   When I got new tyres for the tug, I put the recycled tyres on the CT. Will probably do that again when the time comes.

I have changed tugs since I bought the CT and spent a few hundred dollars to have the CT changed to match (slightly longer axle to allow the same offset). I thought it was worth it.

I haven't measured the track to see if the tug & the CT match, although they appear to be pretty close.

Mal

[Skinnee]

We didn't with ours we just bought, am considering but won't do anything until I have taken it out a bit. My guess is it will be a waste of $$$ unless you are doing be remote sand driving and or don't have a lot of space for spares, but I could be totally wrong