Are wheel adaptors a bad thing?

I've got two really nice 5 X 114.3 wheels I'd like to use on my sailplane trailer which has a 4 X 100 pattern.

I've never used anything like this, don't know anyone that has. Are they safe? Are there drawbacks, hazards or issues no one will talk about?

Thanks, Dan

They're not ideal but they're safe...not much different from running wheels with a crazy offset. People run them on serious offroad vehicles, so they'll be fine on your light-as-a-fart sailplane trailer

what gameboy said … excessive spacers (which is essentially what these are) can put lots of stress on your wheel bearings, especially if you're stressing them to begin with … i.e. on a race car

this is a trailer … shouldn't be a problem

Thanks guys, it is light. (1900lbs. loaded)

At 4 ft. wide and 28 ft. long, maybe a little stance is a good thing on windy days.

buy them hubcentric if you can.

I ran 1.5" and 2" adapter/spacers while autocrossing a grand marquis.

I thought these would add a little class and look nice against the red fenders.

Just a thought, there are a lot of trailer hubs in the 5x114.3 pattern. Good chance there is one that will fit the spindle of your trailer. As a bonus trailer hubs are usually cheaper than decent adapters. Some examples here: http://www.etrailer.com/dept-pg-Trailer_Hubs_and_Drums-sf-Hub-sz-5_on_4~1|2_Inch.aspx

81cpcamaro wrote: Just a thought, there are a lot of trailer hubs in the 5x114.3 pattern. Good chance there is one that will fit the spindle of your trailer. As a bonus trailer hubs are usually cheaper than decent adapters. Some examples here: http://www.etrailer.com/dept-pg-Trailer_Hubs_and_Drums-sf-Hub-sz-5_on_4~1|2_Inch.aspx

Try this first.

I've run them on my car for 80,000 miles.

First:

Then:

914Driver wrote: Thanks guys, it is light. (1900lbs. loaded) At 4 ft. wide and 28 ft. long, maybe a little stance is a good thing on windy days.

Wow, I hope you use stabilizer bars on that thing...Seems like driving on a bridge and catching a gust of wind would almost roll you

It's quite stable. Just above the fenders, I installed a small square yellow light that lights up with each blinker. That should resolve the only problem I've ever had, lane changing among zombie drivers.

Related question: I understand that messing up the offset/ backspacing of tires can have various negative side effects. However, let's say for the sake of discussion that you have a vehicle with stock wheels 6" wide with 0 offset- thus, the hub face would be 3" back spaced. You decide to run an 8" wide wheel with 30 mm of offset, so you end up with 5" of backspace. You also decide to add a 30mm spacer, bringing the offset back close to stock (0) and giving a 4" backspace.

In this hypothetical scenario, there shouldn't be very much additional load on the bearings, correct? So at that point we're just discussing the relative strength of the spacer and it's suitability for road use, auto-cross, track, etc.

That's right.

Agreed Volvo.

New hubs would be a cheaper - safer - stronger alternative to spacers, but I was looking forward to the wider track.

As this is a German trailer with torsion suspension, what are the odds that the axle is metric and not English dimensioned? The hubs I've seen are all English sizes.

In reply to 914Driver:

Unsure. I have the same axle arrangement on my camper- it's a mid-80's Esterel, French, with some funky 4 bolt pattern wheel, and lug studs. Happily, they're 13" wheels, so tires are easy to find. I'm protective of the wheels, though.

When it come to wheel bearings, all are metric, so most likely are the spindles.