Broken leaf spring

[Fishingtomatoseed]

Just got home and measured the axle tube and it is 2"x2"x1/4" steel. The spindle is 1.75" at the dimension marked "A" on the above website. Which rates it at 1750lbs.

[Fishingtomatoseed]

All the new stuff came in today.


While it was going to be under the knife dad and I just went ahead and cut the tongue off. We are going to replace the hitch, shorten up the tongue, new jack and maybe a rack up front. It is hard to tell it is the front now.

[Fishingtomatoseed]

All right took the advise and went and weighed the trailer today. But before I get into that a little history about the trailer.
It was a tandem axle boat trailer. The tag on the trailer has this wrote on it.
G.V.W.R 4500
G.A.W.R Front 2250
G.A.W.R Rear 2250
So I am assuming that the axles are 3,000 lb axle but could be wrong. So I only used one axle. I am going to contact the company tomorrow to see if they have any info on it.
So on to the weight of the trailer ........1880lbs. With a tongue weight of 200lbs. That is everything loaded except for clothes and food.
Hope that is good anyone have any thoughts or comments?

Just some update information and a question. We shorten the tongue on the trailer this past weekend. It was a little long in the neck. In a combination of cutting and moving back the tongue was shortened by 4'6"and lost 30lbs. Now with the hitch weight being at 200lbs dad and I were convinced that the weight would have gone up. But weighed it today and it came in at 148.3lbs. Am I missing something about the class II lever?

[Corwin C]

Just some update information and a question. We shorten the tongue on the trailer this past weekend. It was a little long in the neck. In a combination of cutting and moving back the tongue was shortened by 4'6"and lost 30lbs. Now with the hitch weight being at 200lbs dad and I were convinced that the weight would have gone up. But weighed it today and it came in at 148.3lbs. Am I missing something about the class II lever?

I couldn't see any before/after pictures, but I suspect that not only did you change the tongue length, but by doing so, you also moved the center of gravity of your trailer back a significant amount. That change in the center of gravity is likely where the additional difference in your tongue weight came from. Also, most of the time when people talk about levers, they tend to ignore the mass of the lever itself. In the real world, that 30 pounds of "lever" was significant because it was so far from the fulcrum (axle). It is very conceivable that removing 30 pounds of metal could change your tongue weight by almost 52 pounds, especially if your galley is rather heavy.

An analogy would be a teeter totter with a big kid on one end of the end of the board and a smaller kid on the other end. Not only did you trade the big kid for a lighter kid, you also slid him/her toward the middle. The results can be quite dynamic.

[48Rob]

Hi Clint,

Corwin explained it pretty well!

Before, when your trailer weighed 1880 pounds and had a tongue weight of 200 pounds, you were at 10.64%
Now, at 1850 pounds with a tongue weight of 148 pounds, you are at 7.9%

I bring this up because you are starting to get on the light side, regarding tongue weight.
10%-15% is generally considered a good range to be in (unless you are in Europe, where Andrew points out that they are much lower, though towing speed rarely exceeds 45-50 mph...)
My point is that your trailer may handle differently/be less stable with the reduced tongue weight.
If it is, it is pretty easy to correct; you can just place some of your heavier items that are in the back, more toward the front.
Happy camping!

Rob

[KCStudly]

From what was said above, I think it is likely that the 30 lbs removed from the overall weight of the tongue assembly probably came off of the rear of it (don't think of the weight of the tongue being all the way at the front).

So not only did you remove weight from the tongue, the weight that was remaining got moved further back (i.e. the CG of the tongue is now also further back than it was before). That is most likely why it went down instead of up; also probably why the amount that it went down exceeded the amount that was removed.

Can't really be sure without more in depth analysis.

BTW, the job looks good.

[Fishingtomatoseed]

Thank everyone for the replies and explanations. KC thank you for the kind complement.I had thought about the CG moving back and changing the weight at first but the more I thought about it the more I changed my mind. I will also be mounting the spare tire and propane tank along with a small platform. So I will be moving some weight from the back to the front and adding a few pounds to it. Sorry about not having pictures on the post. I can see what I am doing I don't know why everyone else can not.
Here is a few before:


And a few after:



Now hopefully will work on the spring this weekend and get all that squared away and be ready to camp soon. I think I am going to use the method of welding a plate on the new spring hangers out on the table to give a bigger welding surface for when under the trailer. I can't remember who suggested it. Almost thought about welding angle to the hangers then bolting it to the trailer. What's your thought about that?

[48Rob]

Hi Clint,

I'm working on another trailer that had a torsion axle that was too small/lightweight and had bent.
I ground the welds off and removed the old axle.
I considered welding the new hangers to the frame, but decided that welding all 4 pieces to a piece of angle would be a lot easier!

I had a lot of concern with moisture and dirt getting between the pieces, so in the end I chose to use polyurethane construction adhesive along with bolting the angle to the frame.
I used three grade 8 bolts per side, though the adhesive is probably enough on its own...



Worked out very well!

Rob

PS. You can buy pre made/welded hangers on a piece of flat stock that you can bolt or weld on, but I've not ever seen them on angle.

http://www.easternmarine.com/single-axl ... nger-44440

[Fishingtomatoseed]

Took the camper out on a trip a couple of weekends ago and it pulled good. When we loaded the clothes and stuff in the trailer we loaded towards the front. Going down the hwy it stayed straight.

Today I was able to get everything mocked up on the springs. I am using the angle to weld everything on then bolt it to the frame.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1365034114.389942.jpg (71.68 KiB) Viewed 1441 times

Took the springs apart to wire brush and round the edges like Rob suggested and this is what I found.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1365034189.165462.jpg (59.17 KiB) Viewed 1441 times

After getting them cleaned up and put back together I was able to get the hangers tacked on. I set the swinging hanger at the same distance as the the leaf. Going to set this under the trailer and put weight on it to see the angle on the shackles.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1365034348.559958.jpg (58.46 KiB) Viewed 1441 times

If anyone find's anything I am doing wrong. Let me know.... Till next time....

[KCStudly]

I am very pleased to see that you have the shackle hanger bracket oriented properly so that it is self gusseting and resists crushing.

Most people get this wrong.

[48Rob]

I've never seen the rear spring hangers installed sideways like yours...but I don't see why it wouldn't work.

Rob

[KCStudly]

I've never seen the rear spring hangers installed sideways like yours...but I don't see why it wouldn't work.

Rob

Like I said, that is the correct way. Most people get it wrong.

[Fishingtomatoseed]

To be honest I would have done it the other way. But the hole in it was offset to one side. So I looked on etrailer web site and they showed how to mount it. Good thing for instructions.

[48Rob]

KC,

You're saying that travel trailer, cargo trailer, utility trailer, and flatbed trailer manufacturers are producing thousands and thousands of units each year with incorrectly installed spring hangers?

At first glance, it does look like a stronger method of attachment, but I'm not an engineer.
Why do you think they don't do it the way you believe is correct?

Rob

[48Rob]

The E trailer/Redline instructions do indeed show the mount the way you did it.

http://www.etrailer.com/question-15711.html



I wonder, is it just the Redline company that does it this way, or do the others?

I've never seen "top" stamped in any of the hangers I've bought, or for that matter ever seen directions with them...

Rob