I’ll have a lot more to say about other issues I’ve encountered with HF 94565 trailer assembly later, but right now I’m trying to decide what to do about one very specific problem: I can not get the box frame to lie in a plane - the trailer bed is warped diagonally across opposite corners.
I first noticed the warped floor visually, but it become a real problem when I started framing. I measured the warp by sighting across a board mounted across the front (parallel to and about 33 inches above the front rail) with another across the back. The height of the boards at each of the four corners were within a sixteenth of an inch of each other. The results were disturbing: the warp was about one inch.
So today I spent many hours removing all the framing, tongue, tires, axle and springs. I then turned the bed frame upside down on the garage floor and measured the high corner as 3/4 inch above the floor (while the other three corners were flat on the floor). Because the concrete floor might not be totally flat, I tried several locations and even rotated the bed horizontally 180 degrees but all indications were that the bed warp is real.
I then loosened EVERY bolt (yes, even those that should have no effect!) to the “jiggle” state (where you can wiggle the bolt in the hole). Then I progressively tightened bolts with the bed on the floor, but no matter what I did the warp returned and the bed rocked from corner to corner. I reassembled the entire trailer and framing only to find the warp increased somewhat.
I’m considering adding a shim between the frame and spring carrier to bring the high corner down, but maybe someone has encountered this problem and found a better cure. Any constructive suggestions are welcome. I do not consider returning the trailer an option at this point (more on this later).