[VAL] 14.5" tires, sagging springs, zerking the spring bolts

["Al G." <waymark1@xxxxxxxx>]

14.5" tires are readily available. They are mobile home/manufactured home
tires. Most any tire dealer can get them, and there are dealers in
recycled mobile home axles and tires.
I had a utility trailer made from a mobile home frame and it had 3 axles
of these tires on the doughnut rims they use. The tires are bias ply,mine
were  load ranges "H" and "L", 100 psi. New ones 2 years ago were $75
each. Good used ones with doughnut rims were $25 each.
These tires come in 7.00 x 14.5 and 8.00 x 14.5.
I still have one utility trailer with an old mobile home axle and it has
a pair of the 14.5" tires.
Somewhere I have read that doughnut rims that fit the same wheels are
available in 15".

The brake drum/wheel centers of mobile home type are not balanced. An
out-of-balance wheel with the kind of loading a mobile home puts on the
tires doesn't "hop". I don't know about the particular ones used on your
AS. The doughnut rims won't mount on most wheel balancers.

On spring sag - If your leaf springs are in overall good condition all
you may need is a new master leaf (the one with the mounting eyes in its
ends). Take the trailer to a good spring service, such as Nashville
Spring service in Nashville, Tennessee and they can do whatever is
needed.
You may be able to find suitable entire new spring assemblies at spring,
trailer and axle suppliers for less than having leaves made.
Don't install longer shackles. This is only a stopgap fix. I've seen
cars, back when cars had leaf springs in the rear, that had shackles that
nearly touched the pavement.

I noticed an annoying squeak on one of my trailers and traced it to a
spring eye/bolt.  A shot of grease every few years keeps the annoying
squeaking away.
Previously I drilled the equalizer bolts, the ones that get the most
movement, and installed zerks, on my flat bed utility trailer. If you do
this it requires chucking the bolt in a lathe and drilling it to get the
hole in the center of the bolt. Drill from the head end, not thru the
threaded end. Only a very small hole is needed, the smallest diameter you
can get a bit long enough to reach the center of the bolt, maybe 1/8"
Counterbore the outer part of the hole just deep enough for the zerk. If
you get drive-in zerks you won't have to tap the hole. Then cross drill
thru the center of the bolt to connect the center hole to the outside of
the bolt.
On my '52 Spartanette every spring bolt is equipped with a zerk fitting
from original and is drilled to the center.

All those who have rubber axles, don't go looking for spring bolts :-)
Al