Jack Olsen wrote:In your shoes, I would not get a different axle at all. How heavy are you planning on building your trailer? I would go easy on the hardwoods and such and make yourself a 1000-lb trailer. It'll save you money on gas and tires and it will roll fine on that base.
That said, I'm new to this world. But there are a lot of great 400-600 pound trailers on this site.
M C Toyer wrote:Sprockett -
Where are you located?
I you decide to change out your axle and springs I've got one for sale that might work for you.
It has a 2-1/2" outside diameter outer tube and measures 54" between the flanges for the brake backing plates so would be approximately 62" hub face to hub face. The brakes are not installed.
It has 5 x 4-1/2" hubs. The bearings are in place but I do not know the size. The thick part of the spindles is 2" outside diameter. The previous owner had a 3500# axle shortened but passed away before he finished the trailer so the moving parts are essentially new.
It has 24" long x 2" wide double leaf slipper springs attached to the axle with U-bolts, The spring perches are not welded so the placement is flexible either above or below the axle.
The wheels and tires are not included.
M C
vincigj wrote:If MC offer doesn't work here is more info. Just yesterday i bought from Red Trailer 2x 23 rated at 1000 each 3 leaf slippers for $62. There web site pick parts wait and wait. Scroll down to find springs. 53 choices. Good luck.
Tomterrific wrote:How heavy is your trailer going to be? I carry a motorcycle in mine and it never bottoms out the springs. It is a light duty trailer.
I thought about a new axle but it would be a torsion to drop the ride height
An idea. Instead of getting new leaf springs, install a set of cheap motorcycle shocks. You would get a helper spring and damping with MC shocks.
Tom
Sprockett wrote:
I'm in Idaho, that would be a great option if you are close.
M C Toyer wrote:Sprockett wrote:
I'm in Idaho, that would be a great option if you are close.
Can't get much farther from Texas; sorry but the freight cost would make it more than its worth.
Can I ask which part of Idaho? Father's family is from there and I'm planning a trip back next year.
M C
Jack Olsen wrote:Well, I'm a newbie myself, so I'm going to mention this one more time and then leave it alone. In my research, the utility trailers used as platforms for teardrops are usually too stiffly sprung -- because the finished weight of most 4x8 or 5x8 teardrops are nowhere near the capacity of the axles of the common utility trailers. Viewed another way, with a suspension designed for a given capacity, the utility trailer will have worse handling characteristics when it is lightly loaded or empty than when it is at or near its capacity. I've read numerous mentions of the workaround of removing leaves to reduce the capacity of the suspension in order to have it be closer to the actual laden weight of the teardrop so that it will be less skittish behind a tow vehicle. So again, to my ear it sounds like you're right about where you'd want to be if you want an easy-to-tow (and safe) teardrop.
Aside from that, the poor towing manners of teardrops seems to come from low tongue weight (which you can counteract with your design) and leaf springs themselves (especially without any dampening). So if you're going to go looking for another axle (which I don't think is necessary), then I would look for a torsion type axle, which -- again -- is supposed to improve the towing characteristics of something that is so large relative to its weight (compared to other types of trailers).
But again, I'm a novice, working on second-hand information. So take what I say with a grain of salt.
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