by yrock87 » Mon Sep 19, 2016 4:07 pm
Not to be a negative Nancy, but I think a single axle would likely suit you better. 1 ton military trailers are all single axle. They have high mobility, and the redundancy vs cost is not trivial. It will cost you $200 for the axle. Plus another $200 for cheap tires. If you want quality titles and wheels add another 100-200. If you want brakes add another $200 for that axle. So $400 minimum, easily a such as $800+ on the high end to add that second axle. for what? The need to and cost to maintain twice as much running gear? Sure bearing are only $10 a tire, but you doubled that cost from $20 to $40. And doubled the amount of time it takes as well.
Not to mention that if this trailer is literally going around the world, you WILL be paying fees for that second axle.
I'm not opposed to double axle trailers as a whole. They are great for greater than 3500lb trailers. If you were going to have a 3000-3500 build it may be worth considering, but if you are going to be at 2500... I don't see the benefit.
You are likely enter off getting quality components and full size wheels and tires for a single axle as far as weight, mobility, dependability goes. Vs going with two small axles to try to spread the load.
Also, you are less mobile if you underrated your axles/tires and go with two. While it is true that your tires will be closer to both the TV and the rear of the trailer. You cannot go over terrain that I'll push your vehicle to the limits because if you run twin 2k axles, and you go over harsh terrain, one axle may end up taking all 2500lb of your trailer in certain instances (very high approach / departure, or coming down/up a ledge.) that is a liability to me,not an asset.
Not to mention that most property designed tandem axles share a center spring mount. That is a single Pont of failure for both axles. Last point(I promise) you will need to carry twice as many spares. If you hit a nailed board on the highway, and loose both driver side tires, you will need two in order to get going again. (yes you can limp on a single tire with a tandam set up, but you don't really want to do that. You are better off carrying two spares with a single axle if punctures are a concern to you.
Okay, I'm done.
Your build sounds interesting, but there is a reason most tnttt, td, or of road camp trailers don't have tandam axles. It just doesn't make sense for a variety of reasons, with a small trailer. I wish you luck and look forward to watching your build.
Last edited by
yrock87 on Mon Sep 19, 2016 4:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.