Matching wheels to the tow vehicle

[TWX]

Not long after I bought my '19 SLX-7 174BH Baja Edition, I became interested in changing the wheel bolt pattern to match the tow vehicle, my '15 Nissan Frontier crew cab longbed. I bought the Baja Edition trailer with the intent that I could get a bit more off the beaten path, and that includes taking steps to reduce the likelihood of getting stuck, and among that I wanted to be able to run bigger wheels and tires.

Today I finally made that change. These are the wheels that I'm using on the tow vehicle and subsequently for the the 174BH:

It's a 17 by 7.5 factory steel wheel that Nissan used as the spare on various years of Pathfinder, Xterra, and Frontier closer back to 2005, and has since brought back with the new D41 trucks. I got the pair from an auto wrecker, they were OE on a pair of '23 trucks that ended up in the yard, and neither had ever run on the road.

The trouble with trying to make the bolt pattern match is that the Frontier from 2005 onwards through the present is 6 on 4.5". This pattern is not especially common and is basically limited to the Frontier/Xterra/Pathfinder where they're platform-mates with my Frontier, along with mid-nineties through mid-noughties Dakota and Durango, along with the early Dodge Vipers.

I had spent quite some time trying to find trailer brake drums in 6 on 4.5", even going as far afield in my search as Australian products for their domestic market. Unfortunately nothing in this wheel bolt pattern was designed for a 3500# axle and spindle. I tried looking for undrilled brake drums next, to see if I could have a local machine shop drill them to my bolt pattern instead of the more common 6 on 5.5", but that did not work out either, no one would sell me undrilled trailer brake drums.

Lastly I attempted to find 6 on 5.5" trailer brake drums with flat mating surface rather than the weird scalloped design that all trailer brake drums seem to use. with a truly flat face I was willing to have a machine shop drill a new pattern for 6 on 4.5" in between the existing holes and moving the wheel studs to these new holes, but unfortunately the only manufacturer that I could find that made such a drum for a 10" diameter application with a #84 spindle was AL-KO, and their operations making those drums had discontinued them.

Eventually I ended up settling on using wheel bolt pattern adapters. For what it's worth, I am not happy about using wheel bolt pattern adapters, I think they're a kludge at-best and they do not allow for a wheel to be hubcentric, but supposedly they're rated to thirty thousand pounds per the response I got from the manufacturer, and given the factory wheel offset for a Nissan 17" steel wheel, they would make up the gap between the 0 offset trailer hub design and the ~30mm positive offset on the Frontier wheel. This also has the benefit of not using custom parts for the trailer-specific stuff, so if I needed to have a brake drum replaced on a road trip, I wouldn't be SOL on that and in a truly worst-case scenario could look for a 0-offset 6 on 5.5" wheel if I had a problem with one of the adapter-spacers.

The axle is made by Lippert, and I reached out to them to get information on a 6 on 5.5" drum to replace the 5 on 4.5" drum. They referred me to p/n 136214:

This is actually for Lippert's oddball 4400# axle, but uses the same #84 spindle, bearings, etc, as the 3500# axle uses.


So when I ordered a pair, I ended up with drums out of two different production batches.

I would have rather they came from the same batch but these are the breaks.



I also ordered these wheel spacers:

These are from EZAccessory, are 1.5" thick, have an 87mm ID for the center bore, and feature 14mm wheel studs. Even though both the old 5 on 4.5" drums and the new 6 on 5.5" drums use 1/2"-20 wheel studs, on measuring I found that the lugnuts from the existing setup won't work. They're too tall, they stick out proud of the adapter:

I didn't get a good picture of it, but I measured the bores for the wheel studs and they came in at 0.627". In looking up lugnuts I learned of "ET" or Extended Thread lugnuts, where there's a shaft that protrudes below the taper:

So I ordered a set of these as well. The close fit between the ET part of the lugnut and the wheel adapter will help center the spacer and provide more engagement.


...to be continued...

 

[TWX]

Continuing...


Today I did the actual work. One of the headaches in working on the Baja Edition trailers is just how high off the ground the frame sits. Even with a lift-extension my floor jack was basically tapped-out.

It was also problematic, trying to lower the trailer onto the jackstands. Basically I couldn't completely take the floorjack out of the equation. It worked well enough, but we did not get underneath of the trailer at all while it was supported this way.


My axle is one of the easy-grease/EZ-Lube axles, the cotter pin does this weird thing where it doesn't go straight across to avoid the lubrication channel. This may hold true for many or all Lippert axles.

The new drums came mostly preloaded, but the outer wheel bearings weren't included for whatever reason. As such I wanted to make very sure that my existing bearings (trailer has not been towed all that much, they were in good condition) would fit right, before I installed the adapter onto the drum.



Test-fitting the drum:

I chose to test-fit this one over the other because the outer 'snout' of the hub has a slightly larger diameter on this drum.


Test-fitting the adapter onto the drum:

This is merely snug at this point. Giving it a spin it seems to be properly centered with those ET lugnuts.


Test fitting the wheel:

So installing it, it felt a little too snug at the center bore. The Nissan center bore is 66.1mm. Pulling off the adapter and checking it, I got a measurement of the center bore of the bigger of the two drums at more like 66.5mm:

I didn't take pictures of it, but I used a coarse file to knock the paint off of the hub of the drum, and used that same file to chamfer the front edge just a tiny bit. Nothing crazy mind you, just enough to where I wasn't cutting into the wheel center bore.


...to be continued...

 

[TWX]

final assembly

After my mild filing to remove the paint, I backed-off the brake adjuster before reassembling and giving it a spin with a guide improvised to look for any sort of issues with out of round:

I'm not going to concern myself with an actual gauge to check runout, it's a tire. I was able to eyeball it and I've seen worse on factory wheels mounted directly onto hubs. It's certainly within acceptable limits.


So now it's time to take everything apart again and to torque the adapter to the hub.

I used my hydraulic press as a clamp, I used an old brake rotor as the underside to even out the pressure across the backside of the drum, and some copper ground bars as soft material to avoid damaging the hub side. I did not clamp tightly, only enough to prevent the drum from being able to rotate as I torqued.

I used a torque pattern that I got from Lippert. I applied loctite and torqued 30#, 60#, 90#, 120#. I did modify Lippert's instructions a little, they normally call for only three passes, but 120# was the max in their specification for a 1/2-20 lug so in the interests of hopefully not having a problem EVER with the aluminum spacer I chose to go right to the limit.

Reinstalled on the trailer:

I torqued the center spindle nut to 50# and then backed off roughly 1/4 turn as per Lippert's instructions, adjusting to get the hole for the cotter pin aligned.


Nissan Frontier/Xterra/Pathfinder 17" steel wheel installed:

I again followed the 30#, 60#, 90#, 120# torque guide. The 14mm wheel studs on the adapter are actually larger than the ones on the trailer, and they could probably have gone up to more like 150#, but I don't think that's necessary, the 120# is within Lippert's limit in their own guide for 9/16" wheel studs. A 9/16" stud is 0.5625", while a 14mm is 0.5512", so keeping with 120# should be fine.


Old for reference:

SO SOME CAVEATS:

• I am doing this at my own risk. This is by no means endorsed by any parts manufacturer that I used, nor do I even endorse it for others. If you choose to follow my lead, you do so at your own risk and against my recommendation.
• The wheel adapter along with the Nissan wheel's offset puts it pretty close to being right back centered on the hub. I do not anticipate any issues with loading the bearings in a funny way.
• The tires I'm currently using are not ideal for this. At some point I expect to need to buy better LT tires, but I had these available for a good price and they're three-peak-mountain snow rated, so I figure that could be helpful this winter.
• I did this now because my old tires were starting to show sidewall cracks. This might well be fine for a tandem-axle utility trailer being used in the city, but I did not want to run tires with sidewall cracks on the highway at highway speeds where a problem would be much worse. I probably could have reduced the sidewall issues if I'd covered the tires more consistently, but I didn't. This time I have put some covers (albeit poorly fitting) onto the tires, and I'll get some closer to a proper size when I can.
• I'm doing away with an on-trailer spare. I carry two spares on the truck. With all the wheels matching and the tire size being very close to what I'm running on the truck, I don't expect this to be much of a problem.
• Trailer now sits about 2" higher. The old tires were more like 28" diameter, these are close to 32". I eyeballed clearance, I'm confident that the bump-stop would be engaged before the tire could contact the wheel opening even with the bigger diameter.

Again, I don't recommend, endorse, or otherwise suggest anyone else do this, but this was something that I wanted to do for myself.

 

[Paul B-FRF]

I like people like you, make things work, probably when someone said it can't be done.
To me it looks perfectly safe in my thinking.
Paulb12

 

[TWX]

I like people like you, make things work, probably when someone said it can't be done.
To me it looks perfectly safe in my thinking.
Paulb12

We'll have to see what sort of longevity I get out of it. I'm mindful of something that works when initially tested or implemented versus something that works for the long term. I'm hoping that this works for the long term but I could see issues with everything from the steel wheels not being heavy enough gauge for what I'm asking of them to the extra height causing undesirable sway to difficulty with things like worse towing due to increase in unsprung weight. For the moment I've stashed the old parts in the workshop in case I have to put it back the way it was.



And for what it's worth the need to go to this extent is more a Nissan problem than a trailer problem, Nissan used 6 on 5.5" on the Titan and Armada and 8 on 6.5" on the NV1500/2500/3500 and used 6 on 5.5" on '04 and down Frontier, so they made the choice that ultimately made this more awkward. If I had 6 on 5.5 to start with then I could have switched the tow vehicle from a 30mm or so offset to a 20mm or so offset and it probably would have been close enough to what a trailer normally runs to where wheels would just work.

 

[Scott91370]

I think my biggest concern would be tire rub if/when offroad. But it looks like a simple leaf spring so if is is axle under an easy flip would give you 3-4 more inches of clearance.

NICE!!!

 

[TWX]

I think my biggest concern would be tire rub if/when offroad. But it looks like a simple leaf spring so if is is axle under an easy flip would give you 3-4 more inches of clearance.

NICE!!!

I gave that some thought. It is spring-over, the axle is already at the lowest point relative to the spring without resorting to some kind of lifting blocks, but I don't think it's going to be an issue as the Baja Edition bump stop sticks down and appears to be closer to the spring plate than the distance that the tire would have to come up in order to contact the wheel well.


When I was working on it, I noticed that the closest point is in the wheel opening molding itself:

the molding's furthest-most outside is out past the tire, but the inner part of the molding is lined up with the tire.


I think I could trim some though:

The purple represents the trailer wall/floor extent. The green is the outer part of the molding that should clear. The yellow is where the inner part intrudes slightly into the wheel opening below the floor/wall. I could trim some or all of that away to increase clearance if it proves to need it.


The tire is slightly closer to the front of the wheel well than the back, just a quirk of how a leafspring pivots on the fixed-eye.

 

[Scott91370]

Since the rear hanger pivots the tire/wheel will move backwards as it compresses which should also help.
I'm sure you're measurements are correct - as you stated the pics look different than in person.

I do look forward to a report after your first good outing though. And maybe a pic or two when you have it flexing good.

 

[richraeder]

My biggest concern would be premature bearing wear/failure. The hubs and bearings are not designed for the stresses that this wheel spacer will put on them.

 

[TWX]

My biggest concern would be premature bearing wear/failure. The hubs and bearings are not designed for the stresses that this wheel spacer will put on them.

It's not though.


Remember, the factory trailer wheel has zero offset. The Frontier wheel has a positive offiset that is nearly the same as the thickness of the spacer.

The brake drum has the green wheel studs. This is where the loading, from the perspective of the inner and outer wheel bearings and the spindle is located.


Because the wheel itself has a different offset than a typical trailer wheel, the final result is very similar to the original loading.


For what it's worth, if I had used another wheel with zero offset then I would agree with you, such a scenario would change the loading to put more of the wheel surrounding the smaller outer bearing.


My bigger concern is that I'm going from five wheel studs and lugnuts to twelve wheel studs and lug nuts, which was why I spent so much time taking apart and putting back together and torquing on the hydraulic press. I don't particularly like adapters but I saw no better choice where I wasn't going into totally custom parts territory.

 

[Florida Ranger]

When we wanted to do the same thing on another model Jayco trailer, we decided to change from drums to Disc brakes. And Yes there was a lot less problems doing this . Because lots of Boat trailer axles from lippert in this weight rating use disc brakes. At least here in Florida they do because salt water will eat up drum brakes in one summer season, and the disc can be purchased in stainless steel….

 

[TWX]

When we wanted to do the same thing on another model Jayco trailer, we decided to change from drums to Disc brakes. And Yes there was a lot less problems doing this . Because lots of Boat trailer axles from lippert in this weight rating use disc brakes. At least here in Florida they do because salt water will eat up drum brakes in one summer season, and the disc can be purchased in stainless steel….

Did you go to a nonstandard bolt pattern as well?


I did consider what I could do with Dodge Dakota parts, since the Dakota was 6 on 4.5" and I believe that the spindles were the same dimensions as on the earlier 5 on 4.5" Dakotas and a whole slew of other Mopars, but ultimately I didn't find any regular trailer parts in this bolt pattern for discs either.

 

[TWX]

So after dragging it for around a hundred miles it seems decent enough. The only thing I'd consider a negative is that the SL-rated tires, while within the weight limits of the trailer, are a bit light and are a little bouncier than I'd like.


Realistically the original tires were five+ years old and still had full tread on them, I don't expect to ever drive a set of tires down to where they're worn from use enough to be a real danger. Next set will probably be load range E, but hopefully it'll be several years until I have to consider tires again. I'll probably go for the narrowest 32" tire I can get too, to reduce rolling resistance when aired up, and allowing for more sidewall flex when airing down for rough tracks for better ground contact.

 

[Jayhawk 29]

You have certainly thought thru this modification. With the inferior metals that we are witnessing in the industry of all metal parts, even in the airplane industry, and with the rv manufacturers installing minimum parts such as axles, I would be more concerned with the fatiguing the spindles with added weight. JMO. How many times have we read about uneven wear with what we learn as overloading your units creating axle and bearing issues on the highway.

And for extreme offroading with sticks and staples rvs, as we witness the horror shows of the rv builds, I would probably pick a different and dedicated off road TT. I know some folks have a paid off unit and like to improve them of course without buying another one. But I would certainly begin with higher rated tires from what you describe that you have now and forced to upgrade with your modified setup.

 

[TWX]

You have certainly thought thru this modification. With the inferior metals that we are witnessing in the industry of all metal parts, even in the airplane industry, and with the rv manufacturers installing minimum parts such as axles, I would be more concerned with the fatiguing the spindles with added weight. JMO. How many times have we read about uneven wear with what we learn as overloading your units creating axle and bearing issues on the highway.

And for extreme offroading with sticks and staples rvs, as we witness the horror shows of the rv builds, I would probably pick a different and dedicated off road TT. I know some folks have a paid off unit and like to improve them of course without buying another one. But I would certainly begin with higher rated tires from what you describe that you have now and forced to upgrade with your modified setup.

For what it's worth it's been thoroughly on my mind that what I'm doing is, to an extent, off-label. This TT was bought gently-used during COVID-19 when I thought that we were going to have to do a cross-country trip for a burial before other circumstances forced a change of plans. I bought the Baja Edition from having witnessed the sorts of problems other people had when I'd been out in the rural parts of the state, I wanted something that I wasn't going to hang-up on the dirt roads.


As much as I've liked what I've seen in other people's trailers I expect that we'll use this one for as long as it does the job. I kind of treat the mods like I treat the mods I've done to my truck, I didn't do them to specifically go beat the truck on every rock and boulder I could find, but so that the truck could survive the experience when going off to see cool things out in the middle of nowhere. Same for this trailer really, just don't want to rip off the gray/black water drain or to bury the frame against the dirt if I have to cross something on a mildly washed-out road.

 

[Big1]

That is very nice thank you for sharing.