Trailer newbie

[Melle.17]

OK... so I got my trailer and just stripped it down. It appears to be an old pop-up camper trailer with a drop axel? Yeah... no idea what the axel means, i'm learning from Google and YouTube (and all of you!) as I go. How can I tell what the axel is capable of? The tongue says rated for 3500 but no clue if that was added the trailer or is actually from this trailer. I would like to be able to put bigger wheels and bigger tires on it but don't know how to tell if it can handle it? I know to put bigger wheels I'd have to replace the hubs. Is that worth it? It currently has 4 lug, 13 inch wheels. New tires is a given. I appreciate all the info you guys can offer. I do have some design ideas ready. Includes building a storage base and builidng the sleeping area over the tires (leaving plenty of room for the tires).

[hankaye]

Melle.17, Howdy; (Also posted in Trailer and Chassis Secrets)

Can not give you any experience related advise but here's a link to the as is said, the Horse's mouth.

https://www.dexteraxle.com/home

Lots of tech. stuff there also a good amount of how to as well. Try it, ... you'll like it.

hank

[txen]

A lot of axles will have a sticker on them with a part number or serial number you can use to find its limits. Once on a new trailer I had to scratch off some over sprayed undercoating to find it, so it may not be obvious. You may have some luck finding a part number on an axle component.. Once I found the specs on a Lippert axle by calling them with the PN for the part number for the drop flange that is welded to the axle. Good luck!

[flboy]

Those look like torsion axles from the pictures which are different than drop axles and do not use leaf springs?