Advice on Strange Axle

[kiltedwon]

Hi, my name is Michael I am from Olympia, WA and I've been a Teardrop Forum Lurker for 90 days now....

I got this drop axle from a guy, said it was off a horse trailer. I just wonder if anyone has ever seen this type of suspension before. I was just about ready to start a cub/modern build on a HF 1450lb 4x8 trailer, but the idea of a 5.5' wide Tear with full size wheels/tires is sooooo appealing.

[dwgriff1]

Is it as heavy as it looks?

dave

[kiltedwon]

Tips the bathroom scale at 90 lbs, but my back says more like 200 lbs!

[Nitetimes]

Never seen one before but it looks interesting and heavy.
As long as the springs are good it will probably work but that is most likely at least a 3k axle which means you'd need to build a pretty heavy trailer to get any spring action out of it.
Any tags on it? How heavy was the horse trailer? It would help to know that.

[dwgriff1]

I'm with Rich. 90 pounds is not extrmely heavy, but it sure isn't light. I am wondering about how the old spring will work.

And, if it was on a horse trailer, even one for a single hourse, the capacity was far more than you will want for your tear.

In my opinion, the project of making a tear is too involved to go cheap on the axle. A brand new torsion axle, built to your specs (length, weight, drop) will cost less than $200.

dave

[kiltedwon]

I'm afraid I don't have anymore info on the axle. Just the basics, Heavy Duty, scrapped from a horse trailer, etc. I was considering stealing the springs from my HF trailer, but I'll probably keep that kit together and get a new axle to spec. Besides, I'd hate to complete my build and then discover the axle is past its day.

Thanks for the input.

[angib]

Michael,

That's a traditional torsion axle, as used before someone worked out they could replace the spring with some rubber. Here is exactly the same type of axle underneath a (beautifully restored) 1959/60 Scotty 12ft:



You'll see that the Scotty axle has a much lighter spring than yours, which suggest that yours has a much higher capacity and so will be as hard as a rock under a light trailer. I think you'll have to rule out its use.

By the way, 90lb for the axle isn't bad - a contemporary rubber torsion axle of 2200lb capacity without brakes is 68lb.

Andrew

[kiltedwon]

Thanks for the ID/pic Andrew! Guy at the local trailer shop guessed it was 5000 lb axle given the 'traditional' design and size.

I am just going with a new torsion axle since I have no interested in restoring this one, or in building heavy enough to get any spring out of this suspension.

Thanks to all for the great input. Again, it really pays to know this stuff early on.

[Joanne]

Hi Michael!

We are glad that you joined our little group. We understand your new addiction and we aren't judgmental. In fact we are enablers! We know where you can buy all the cool stuff for your trailer. We even have a group of real backsliders who have built more than one trailer!

With a name like Kiltedwon it sounds like you should meet Larwyn, our resident Kilt wearer.

Joanne

Hi, my name is Michael I am from Olympia, WA and I've been a Teardrop Forum Lurker for 90 days now....