Looking to put 4 tires on a single axle pontton trailer.

[lith74]

Hello all, I am wondering if anyone has had any experiences with finding tires and rims to put four tires on a single axle, kind of like a dually rear end on a Ford or Chev truck.

What I have is my dad bought a partially home made tube style pontoon trailer. I am not fond of these style trailers to begin with. The trailer is a little too typsy for my liking. I was kicking around the idea trying to make the axle a dually axle. This has bolt on spindles as well. I can install tires that are 21 inches in height and still launch then retrieve the boat with no issues. Putting on smaller tires to get four tires on the same axle is an option for me even though it will cause more wear and tear on the bearings. Thats a trade off Im willing to take for some more stability. Your thoughts??? Thanks.

 

[H20Rat]

those trailers are tippy because the tires need to fit inside the tubes... Unless you are modifying the trailer to raise it up, I can't imagine duellies fitting without running into the tubes. And if you raise it up, you are just adding to the instability.

Anyway, ignoring those issues, yes it can be done, but unless you are only traveling a very short distance at low speed, you will chew up the bearings fairly quickly. You need to replace the hub and most likely axle to one that positions the bearings near the center of the mass of both tires. (which is why duelly rims are shaped they way they are, it lets you get the bearing out far enough that it supports both tires equally.)