Just put rear tire on front - a pain

Just finished mounting a BT45 (rear tire) on the front of my K1200LT trike.

What a pain! First I had to find a place to mount the tire (several refused), then he charged me double what it should have cost because I was in a corner.

Put the wheel back on the bike and noticed that the rear half of the front fender was on the rubber, so either the plastic was going to burn up or the tire would be scraped silly.
I fooled around with that crazy thing for two days, drilled out the mounting hole under the clip at the front of the fender to move it back. That helped a little, but now the front left was still making contact with the tire. Tearing my hair out (am I bald yet?)

Finally just drove a wooden shim in the space between the frame and the fender. Tight fit, so broke off the shim and now everything looks good. Ready to ride again. Don't know how long the shim will stay in, but fingers crossed.

BTW, what's with engineers that design such close tolerances that the fender won't clear an extra 3/8" on either side (130/70 compared to 120/70 profile). Looking at my car, I could put a watermelon between the tire and the fender. Just saying.;)

I'd be concerned that the shim might come out going down the freeway at 70 MPH......fender into the tire......lockup? cut down tire? Just saying.:Shrug:

Please forgive me - I'm [B]NOT[/B] trying to be cute... Maybe I'm missing something, but, if I understand it correctly, you have installed a tire larger than the std OEM tire and are surprised/annoyed there are fitment issues? Why not use the correct size? Seems like the folks that designed the bike used a particular tire size for a reason. If BT-45's don't come in the correct size for your application, search for another brand that does.

I have a BT-45 (rear on front) of the correct OEM size, went right on, currently has about 8,000 miles on it, and it still looks like new with no issues.

Best wishes for your installation.

you must install a bt-45 (rear) with the front dimensions.