Trailer frame mods

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Trailer frame mods

Postby Padilen » Sun Sep 03, 2017 1:33 pm

Not sure if this fits here.
I have (had) a TT frame, tandem axle.
I hired a welder/fabricator(WF) at first to build me a 5x10. The cost tripled so I asked just to mod this frame. To approx 5x10 single. Back story, I am a female, I own a welder. I'm not a welder, but can stick two pieces of metal together.I have mechanical skills and have worked with welding/ fabricator. So I'm not clueless and know what I want. The WF spent more time telling me how skilled he was than actually figuring things out. I did so, with the urging of my boss. Who is also a very skilled welder and fabricator, plus being an engineer.( Who is now finishing and correcting it). I told WF where I wanted my axle and showed him a you tube video showing axle placement and mounting. He however didn't place the rear spring(shackle hanger) hangers correctly! I got around to checking how he came up with where he mounted them. I found approx 50% of the posts i saw on this subject are correct. After reading posts on E trailer I can't understand why they haven't removed their chart. Which I'm guessing is where WF got the wrong info. After watching more videos I saw axles not even bolted on properly. So as a PS, if you are unsure, do not use one source, e trailer or YouTube. Although if my WF had used the vid I showed him my rear shackles would be correct.

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Re: Trailer frame mods

Postby dancam » Sun Sep 03, 2017 5:09 pm

How did he weld it on? I thought there was only one way to do it, lol. Do you have a photo or a link to the site that shows the wrong way to do it?
I would suggest if you have the time to learn how to do it yourself. Any monkey can mig weld, its prepping the metal and setting the welder that takes a little learning. Youtube and some help from your boss should get you making strong parts pretty quick. If the issue is that your not confident in doing yourself that is.

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Re: Trailer frame mods

Postby Padilen » Sun Sep 03, 2017 7:56 pm

Not how I want mine.
Image
How I want them
Image
Mine are neither. My spring rear eye is hitting frame with just weight of trailer.

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Re: Trailer frame mods

Postby swoody126 » Mon Sep 04, 2017 8:20 am

IMHO the top pic woud be my choice when looking at the unweighted assemby

once the axle is attached and finished trailer weight is added the shackles should be in the approximate orientation as the bottom pic

this way the spring leaves don't bottom out against the rear hanger bolt as quickly

if the shackles are already canted to the rear as in the bottom pic my thinking tells me you loose some capacity sooner than you would in the top pic

when the leaves bottom out against the rear shackle bolt it puts a wonky stress on the whole assembly

for this reason when i set my hangers i loosely assemble the front hanger w/ the bolt thru the eye and locate the rear hanger just to the rear & just touching the aft end of the rear eye

the result is a suspension w/ a shackle that swings equaly back n forth thru the bottom of an arc w/o bottoming out prematurely

just this old man's 2 cents worth

btw

i have towed my self engineered/made trailers MANY thousands of miles from coast to coast and southern tip of Texas to northern Maine

sw
"we are the people our parents warned us about" jb
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Re: Trailer frame mods

Postby elcam84 » Tue Sep 05, 2017 8:30 am

Just looked at their site and if it's the 60/40 rule they have for axle placement then yes that is incorrect. It's not even close for a starting point. You end up with an axle way too far back and too much tongue weight.
You want to shoot for 60% of the weight (not the length like their site shows)of the trailer to be forward of the axle centerline without going over the tongue weight which it 300 to 500 pounds depending on hitch type.
The rule I find is much closer is 1" to the rear for every foot of trailer length not including the tongue. For the bracket locations just put the where the manufacturer specs the spacing front to rear.
Teardrop trailers tend to have the axle further back because they typically have a heavy butt so to just a guideline as every trailer is different.

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Re: Trailer frame mods

Postby Padilen » Tue Sep 05, 2017 12:18 pm

It's not the axle placement. That is where I asked it to be. Although Jim - my boss and friend thinks it is to far back. It is the shackle hanger that is mounted incorrectly.
This is where the spring eye hits frame.
Read on some of the forums axle placement is a hotly debated topic. That's not my issue it's the shackle hanger which I found can also be a hotly debated subject. I just want my trailer to have springs that have movement before I load.
But my posting was a warning to- Not believe what's posted and not to use You tube as a how too. it.Image


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Re: Trailer frame mods

Postby dancam » Tue Sep 05, 2017 1:56 pm

On mine when i moved the axle i welded it on so that with the trailer frame weight itself the shackle was verticle. Then with the empty shell of my trailer added it looks like your second photo exactly. Loaded it should be slightly farther back.
But i would think if your shackle looks like the second photo with trailer empty and hits the frame loaded over big bumps then your springs are too light for the load. I really dont think it should move that much.
I went with longer shackle bolts- you can get different lengths if you didnt already know. Can solve some problems but not yours. Your welder should have fixed that before even showing it to you, thats sick.

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Re: Trailer frame mods

Postby elcam84 » Tue Sep 05, 2017 3:56 pm

Padilen wrote:It's not the axle placement. That is where I asked it to be. Although Jim - my boss and friend thinks it is to far back. It is the shackle hanger that is mounted incorrectly.
This is where the spring eye hits frame.
Read on some of the forums axle placement is a hotly debated topic. That's not my issue it's the shackle hanger which I found can also be a hotly debated subject. I just want my trailer to have springs that have movement before I load.
But my posting was a warning to- Not believe what's posted and not to use You tube as a how too. it.Image


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That's just ugly.. Obviously not a trailer welder. And most likely not insured. Welder insurance cos ask two questions first. Are you going to be fabricating or repairing trailer hitches and are you building or repairing trailers. Answer yes to the first and your insurance skyrockets to Mars the second it goes to the moon...

Placement is usually erred way too far to the rear as too little tongue weight is super dangerous. Too much isn't as bad and isn't going to cause you to flu off the road but it can make it hard to stop as it pulls weight off the main braking wheels of the TV.


Yeah lots of stuff on youtube. Some very good allot very scary. The same can be said for these home improvement shows which are notorious for doing things wrong... As always look for the info from the manufacturer then go from there as even they get it wrong or err too far to cover their butts.

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Re: Trailer frame mods

Postby Padilen » Tue Sep 05, 2017 6:19 pm

Too funny@ my mom's TT, the campground got a new tube(river tubes) trailer. The axle is upside down.

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Re: Trailer frame mods

Postby Padilen » Fri Sep 15, 2017 10:54 am

My utility trailer is over to my friends for corrections. Jim/ my boss and I have a plan. But he isn't able to reach outside his shop with his welder. As he has is cables on site of his other business, and in use. So my friend Darin wanted info on axles and springs. I called Dexter and was given the specs. Very good company to provide info on stuff from 1976! Anyway, Darin can flip trailer over, and remove and reweld shackles correctly. He stated " that's a good looking trailer, just needs some correction". The Axle is 3500lbs as I believed it to be. Springs are 2000 per. So it's what I had figured on. While I know he is busy I'm hoping he can get to it soon. I still have fenders, wiring /lights, and gate to add.

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Re: Trailer frame mods

Postby Padilen » Sat Sep 16, 2017 6:42 pm

Here is how you do it right.
ImageImage

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