Boar Wheel Review by Whitney Knippling

The following review originally appeared in the February 2016 edition of Today's Horse Magazine.

Family owned and operated, the Boar Wheel team of professionals hail from Colorado and South Dakota, where many of their customers have roots in the agricultural industry. Joel Hawkins and Brother Rick, the founders of Boar Wheel, LLC, have over 90 years of combined experience in the tire/wheel industry. They have successfully operated a number of companies including: Retread Specialists, High-Tec Retreading, and TreadWright Tires, allowing them to have an in-depth knowledge of tires, tire construction and customer tire needs, dating back to the 1970s.

Through the 20 plus years of previously owning the tire remanufacturing company, they were repeatedly asked for a "better tire" from trailer owners. "Blowouts were a consistent problem due to heavy loads and the high profile design of their 16" trailer tires," says Joel, "the solution was a better tire for the application, we just needed a wheel to fit the correct tire directly on the trailers without any modifications."

In 2014, Joel and Rick founded Boar Wheel, LLC located in Hot Springs, SD, with the purpose of providing the highest quality commercial wheel upgrades for trailers, whether it be horse trailers, stock trailers, dump trailers, flatbeds, living quarter trailers or hay haulers. Their wheels allow trailer owners to upgrade to a commercial truck tire size of 225/70R19.5 or 245170R19.5. Since the launch, they have now taken on three additional partners.

What sets them apart from the rest is they are the only company to specialize in a commercial trailer wheel for light and medium duty trailers. In order to support the claim of having a true "commercial grade wheel," they have all of their wheel designs tested to the SAE J267 standard, which is the same standard that tractor trailers and passenger buses must pass. Joel says, "By going to our 19.5" wheels, this is the only product you can upgrade your trailer and tow vehicle to. Due to the size of the brakes and calipers on today's trucks, there is no going back to 16" tires." With Boar Wheels, you now have the option of running 19.5's on both your truck and trailer. Their most popular product thus far has been their Evron 19.5X6" single steel wheel, which has been used on many stock trailers, horse trailers, dump trailer and living quarter trailers to date.

The goal of Boar Wheel, LLC is to change the way trailer owners view their trailer tire problems; not as something that happens all the time, but as a rare event that need not happen. In order to accomplish this, founders Joel and Rick want to make 19.5" tires and wheels the new standard for trailers with 7,000 lb. axles and up.

They are now offering single and dually steel wheel options as well. In early 2016, the company plans to start offering a 6,000 lb. capacity aluminum alloy wheel and 6,000 lb. capacity 225.70R19.5 tire. "This will fill the needs of most of today's heavy living quarter trailers without the need for any modifications to the trailer's design," says Joel, "We will also continue to grow the number of trailer manufacturers that offer our wheels as an OE option on their new trailers offerings. We will continue to grow our dealer network and plan on achieving sales of over 30,000 units a year within the next two years!" Be sure to stop at their booth during the Black Hills Stock Show to learn more and check out their website at www.boarwheel.com.