Dayton / spoke wheels - swap out or not?

[tractchores]

I just acquired a 2 axle equipment trailer with spoke / dayton wheels. I need 4 new tires and probably a set of brakes soon. Should I spend the money to switch to the more common budd / lug nut type of wheel? My understanding is for brakes on the dayton style everything must come off. Is it cheaper in the long run to bite the bullet now? Anyone know what a brake job might cost on this style wheel?

Axles are 3500 lbs and wheels are 14.5" with electric drum brakes on one axle if that factors in.

Thanks.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Yes, dump that stuff now and get new.

Chris

 

[tractchores]

Any specific issues with them other than expense / complexity of brake jobs? This will be a very low mileage trailer so I want to keep expenses as low as possible.

 

[tractchores]

Just an update in case someone else has the same question I did in the future. After some research I found that the Dayton wheels are fine for regular use, a bit of a challenge to mount without wobble, but other than that fine. Replacing brakes is a bit more complex because the whole assembly must come off the axle, but you can buy complete brake assemblies just like a modern lug centric / budd wheel for $65. I did a quick check and it'd run about $700 with labor and parts for 4 sets of brakes.

To swap the dayton wheels for budd wheels is doable, but very expensive as you need to replace everything from the axle on up, so likely a couple thousand. It can be done cheaper if you get a whole axle from a junkyard. In my case I'm going to stick with the current wheels and discovered the brakes are adjustable, so I don't need to replace mine yet.