My "new" trailer

[pineywoods]

If one of your axles appears  bent up and the other down, they most likely came off different trailers, one of them had the springs mounted on top of the axle, the other had the springs mounted underneath. I mounted mine with the springs under the axle, lowers the bed about 4 inches.

[kelLOGg]

If one of your axles appears  bent up and the other down, they most likely came off different trailers, one of them had the springs mounted on top of the axle, the other had the springs mounted underneath.

Why would an underslung and overslung spring require opposite directions of the bend (camber)? Each method experiences the same weight, right?

BTW the two axles had their springs attached on a common rocking hanger strongly suggesting they were from the same trailer.?????

[sgschwend]

Arched up, the brakes need to be setup with the magnet down.  I think the reason is that the brakes may not release correctly or may drag.

The magnet when energized drags a lever around as the wheel turns, there is a mechanical advantage to this and also some gain so the shoes drag and help the lever move.  Sometimes electric brakes get stuck in the on position and the operator needs to backup the trailer to release the brakes.

[whiskers]

The arch up creates a bit of positive camber that when loaded returns to neutral or thereabouts. Some states don't approve mh axles for road use and the mh tires are marked, not for road use mobile home only. That said, the mh manufacturers reuse the axles, go figure.

What will you be hauling and what hitch will you use?

[redbeard]

I founds some nice E-load tires made by General that fit my MH rims on a trailer i had. I always had a star wrench with me on longer hauls you want to keep the lugs tight they get loose especially with heavy loads.

[H60 Hawk Pilot]

I have a home made trailer that is simliar to your i.e. like axles and frame work. My trailer is one tough trailer and I just came down from PA to FL (1000 miles) with it. The Gross Wt. on the trailer was 11,200 pounds. It has mobile home axles and 8 ply tires and really hauls a load. I was stopped by the  S C State Police and they looked at my truck license. The State Police wanted to see my weight class, I was 26,000 GVW.  I had on 20,560 GVW on the 3/4 ton Dodge Diesel and 2 axle trailer. I had the tire pressures up to haul this weight, my max. on trailer and truck was 80 PSI, I set them at 70 PSI, to allow for road heat build up.

Back to your trailer, I'd mount removal fender's that work well for all types of usage. My trailer has a duck tail on it and like it a lot. It's just right to use with a short ramps and/ or backing up to a bank for load/unloading. I have not used it but bought a remote contol winch to mount on the front of the trailer for winching dead stuff on it. I'm going to mount it to a square hitch stock.  I could slip it in or out & use on rear of my truck or any where I wanted with any hitch receiver. Also, you can buy the detachable snatch blocks to attach to the side of your trailer. The snatch blocks will allow you to side load logs with short type ramps on the sides. That's where the removal fenders come off to keep them from getting damaged.

My trailer has the steel grating type deck where you drive up on the (outboard) sides. The middle is open, about 3 feet and I like it that way. When I want to, I lay in  2 X 6's or wider boards  to fill in the center section for hauling smaller items that I don't want to fall down & out in the middle.  

All in all, you can do a lot with your trailer. I mentioned what my set up  is so you can copy some of my trailer's feature's for your personal usage. I would not trade this old trailer on a new one.. because of it's multi usage capability.

I might mount my Norwood mill on this trailer because of the open section and open grating. This trailer would be a good choice for this purpose. If I go that route, I'll be looking for a tilt top with 3 axles and goose neck as a step up for heavier hauling.

Good Luck

Avery


   

[kelLOGg]

Arched up, the brakes need to be setup with the magnet down.  I think the reason is that the brakes may not release correctly or may drag.

The magnet when energized drags a lever around as the wheel turns, there is a mechanical advantage to this and also some gain so the shoes drag and help the lever move.

Thanks for the explanation of why the magnets must be down. However, that makes one of my axles arched up and the other down. I can't rotate the backing plate on the axle because it is bolted on with a 4-bolt asymmetric pattern. >:(.  So, am I hopelessly stuck here?

[Dalrymple]

Why would an underslung and overslung spring require opposite directions of the bend (camber)? Each method experiences the same weight, right?

The bend would be the same, always up.  If the axle were set up to be under the spring, the spring pad on the axle would be welded on top of the tube.  If the axle goes on top of the spring, the pad is on bottom.  If your axles are set up opposite one another, you will need a pair of spring pads welded on one of them.

Look closely at this asymmetric bolt pattern for the backing plates.  After you flip the axle, can you then swap sides with the brakes to correct them?