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trailer refurbish

fourwheelerjeff

fourwheelerjeff

I spend too much time here
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I had this trailer built in November of 2009. astute observers may see that the builder set the axles dead set in the middle of the trailer. I don't know why they did that. when I had it built I didn't know any better and used it for a long time. it is 18' long and 102" wide and I had angle iron welded on the fenders even though are supposed to be drive over. the brake axle has been replaced a couple of times and the idler axle has also. I let a "friend" borrow it back around 2017 and when he brought it back he had bent the idler axle; although he tried to tell me he didn't see how he could have. he took it to Sand Hollow. it was in a wreck and dented the tongue box up so I took it off. I continued to use it until one time I saw smoke coming off the right rear hub, I stopped and was able to save it. I finally got fed up and had a new trailer built in November of 2019 that was 20' long with 5200# axles. I also had a 16' car hauler that had been widened that I got with a buggy I bought. when I was robbed all 3 were stolen, and of course the broken one was the one that was recovered.
since I retired my income is not what it used to be and I am going to refurbish this trailer. I had the guy that built my trailer in 2019 order some 6 lug axles for me; 5200#. when I went to pick them up they were 8 lug, 7000#. it took a couple of months to get them and he said since I was patient he upgraded me.
 
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these are the axles. and of course, nothing is ever simple. one axle has 1/2" studs and the other 9/16". I am going to change the 9/16" for 1/2" because I had already ordered the lug nuts. I wanted the 6 lug since I have had so many Chevys I have plenty of wheels but am going to bite the bullet and order 8 lug black trailer wheels, I have a HF tongue box for the front. I ordered a new trailer jack, although the one on it still works, got a 5500# winch with synthetic line for it. planning on a battery box in front of the tongue box and a solar charger.
 
I should change out my brake assemblies as they are out of round.
what brand are the axles you got?
 
in for the trailer sh!t show ...... built 2 from scratch and modded a few so i wana see how you do it .

not saying you do not know what your doing .... but in my area its a sh!t show for sure .

and for me NO WAY i would run 1 axle brakes and 2nd zero brakes . . . its all or nothing .
 
I’ve been pretty happy with brakes on the rear axle only. My brake controller is already turned down to 3.5 from 10 and I stop with zero issues. Worried adding brakes on the second axle might be to much.
 
just about every trailer manufacturer makes them with 1 brake axle and 1 idler unless you order it differently; which I did on my last one that was stolen. I had brake axles on both and honestly couldn't tell a difference. plus these are bigger axles so I would think bigger brakes.
it may be a couple of weeks before I actually do anything; it was 109 today.
and if I knew what I was doing I wouldn't have to be redoing this one; we will see how it goes.
also, not that anyone has inquired; but that tank is just sitting on the front, not it's permanent home
 
I need to do some measuring for a tongue box that works with my side mounted jack. Not willing to lose the ability to drop the tailgate while connected.
 
fourwheelerjeff said:
just about every trailer manufacturer makes them with 1 brake axle and 1 idler unless you order it differently; which I did on my last one that was stolen. I had brake axles on both and honestly couldn't tell a difference. plus these are bigger axles so I would think bigger brakes.
it may be a couple of weeks before I actually do anything; it was 109 today.
and if I knew what I was doing I wouldn't have to be redoing this one; we will see how it goes.
also, not that anyone has inquired; but that tank is just sitting on the front, not it's permanent home
Click to expand...
my state requires brakes on all axle"s up to a specific point so thats were my comments come from .
 
I have my spare tires mounted underneath the deck on mine. Use a spare tire winch to lift them into place. It was a PITA to modify the bracing to be able to do this, but it's probably my favorite modification. No excuse not to have spares, and they're out of the sun.

I have my battery mounted inside the A-frame on the driver's side. It is out of sight so it's out of mind. I have the 2-pole winch plugs on it for hooking up the winch or charger, again, out of sight.

I enclosed the tongue A-frame 16" under the deck. So this gives me space to hide shit.

My ramps slide in from the passenger side and padlock in place.

I have removable hand-jacks for the rear. They pin on like for farm equipment, makes it real easy to load/unload shit on the trailer when not hooked up to anything.

I used to have an electric tongue jack, but then I could never tell how much tongue weight until I hooked it on my truck. I went back to a manual one.

I have a 2" receiver mounted at the front of the deck. I use a 2000lb ATV winch to pull shit onto the deck and off. I used to use a bigger winch, but then it went too fast.

My license plate is pinned.

I have backup lights mounted under the trailer and a couple small ones that point off to the sides.

My fenders are pinned on. This is my second favorite modification. I remove them when loading big things and little things. I'm too old to be crawling out windows. It's really handy when picking up shit that someone has a fork truck for loading as you can get a fork between the tires.
 
I’m stealing that hidden storage a-frame thought.

My plan is to take my ramps and make them permanently attached to the trailer so I don’t have to move them or lock them. Basically cut the round stock off the trailer they currently rest on, weld some tubing to the ramps, run new round stock through the tubing and weld it back to the trailer. Going to run some square tubing between the two ramps and cover the whole thing in expanded metal.
 
I didn't take many pictures when I was rebuilding it, but I have a couple I reference so I don't accidentally drive a long-ass screw into something.

On all my trailers I make it so the trailer has a receptacle on it also, then I have short little "double male" cords to go to the truck. This way the plug never ends up in the dirt. Also no one tries to steal it.

I forgot to mention, I have the back set up so I can drop some 3/8" plate "deck extensions" that rest on some angle I added... that slide into the stake pockets. In Michigan, the State Police really like to ticket you for having your tires shit hanging off the trailer (like outer wheels on dually).

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not the plan I was going for but what I did for now. I had a brake axle that grease worms got the left side. so I took the right side brake hub off and put it on this trailer. If I put a new spindle on the old brake axle I will have another idler axle.
 
I bought a well used trailer back in Feb that needs refurbed. I'll definitely be watching this one.
 
update:
after I put the 3500 pound axles back under it, I stepped back and berated myself for not putting the bigger axles under it. so I just took the axles right back out from under it. I know this is a SLOW trailer refurbish. I have been despondent and depressed and sitting around feeling sorry for myself but I have decided to get out of this funk I just need to take the bull by the horns and get busy. so I have been working on this trailer off and on. I went ahead and put the 7000 pound 8 lug axles under it. I had ordered a wet bolt kit and new equalizer and shackles for each side. the axles came with new springs so basically all the suspension on it is new. everything has been greased and bolts tightened and now I need to go buy new tires and wheels for it. then I will take it down to my son's shop that he give me the keys to and said someone might as well be using it. once there I will put the tongue box on, winch, battery box, and solar panel to charge the battery. as well as check out the wiring and lights. I used a ball joint press to press the new greasable bolts into the trailer. I used it also to press the greasable bolts into the new shackles by putting the press into a vise at the shop; worked pretty good.

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