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Trailer for my Wood Mizer LT10

Started by unioninfantry, February 02, 2011, 11:26:11 PM

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unioninfantry

  I would like to permanently mount my LT 10 on a trailer so I can tow it on the road. I wanted to use 2x4 .120 wall steel tubing for the frame and mount the sawmill to that. I do have several questions.
     1. Will one axle be enough? WM mills seem to  use only 1. I have some mobile home axles. The mill is 22 feet long.
     2. How wide should the axles be?
     3. How heavy should the springs be? I figure the mill and trailer should be about 1500 lbs. I figure with 8 outriggers/jacks, the weight of the log wouldn't be all on the springs.

park ranger

I got the Lt 25 years ago as a stationary mill and got a camping trailer axle with brakes for it.  I had no problem fabricating the mounts because the mills are set up already for trailers.  Just by looking at the pictures of mills with the trailers I built mine along with the adjustable legs, hitch, and loading ramps.  I bet on your mill you have the tabs for the spring shackles or some holes at least.

Bill Gaiche

Welcome park ranger, I have a single axle under my home built b/s with 1000lb capacity each spring. I have loaded some sawn cedar on the log bunks to haul home also.Wheel width is just enough to clear the 2x6 tubeing rails. Looking at it it seems narrow. I have pulled it quite a bit and it does fine. I dont have fenders and I have plenty of room to walk around tires when sawing. Check out some photos to give yourself some ideas. Good luck, bg

Bill Gaiche

park ranger, where are you located and what do you use your mill for. bg

pineywoods

Union, 2X4 tubing might be a little on the light side for a 20 ft mill. One mobile home axle will be plenty, but they are too long. Cut a chunk out of the middle to be street legal 8 ft.
Mobile home tires can be a pain, but they are cheap. If your axles have multiple leaf springs, you may want to remove a few of the leaves. These axles are usually rated for 6000 to 7000 pounds.
1995 Wood Mizer LT 40, Liquid cooled kawasaki,homebuilt hydraulics. Homebuilt solar dry kiln.  Woodmaster 718 planner, Kubota M4700 with homemade forks and winch, stihl  028, 029, Ms390
100k bd ft club.Charter member of The Grumpy old Men

Busy Beaver Lumber

Union

The LT-10 is about 600 lbs in weight. A single axle should be fine. In most states, the widest you can go is 102 wide on a trailer maximum

You will want to mount the LT-10 on the trailer with the head assembly docked at the trailer hitch end to get some tounge weight for better handling. You may wish to consider making the trailer a deck over style so you can get up on it and walk with the mill head because when you lift it a foot or so off the ground you are going to have the push handle about chest height, which is going to be an awkward angle at which to control it from if you are walking to the left of it at ground level.

You should be ok with the 2 x 4 metal frame and 8 or so jacks, so long as you put sufficient cross members and decking on the trailer to keep it from racking when you try to get it level.

Consider mounting the mill all the way towards the drivers side of the trailer for easier log loading and unloading of cut wood. That would give you plenty of room to operate the mill from on the passenger side of the trailer and give you some room on the trailer to take home some cut boards if you choose to.

One word of caution is to come up with a good way to hold the head assembly on the rails during transit. Do not rely on the L shaped brackets that are used to keep it on the rails during stationary operation because they are slotted and could easily come loose from the vibration of pulling the mill on the highway and let the head assembly come off the tracks. Also, remember that the lube bottle just clips on and will need to be secured or removed for travel
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