Axle Placement on HF trailer

[NewFour]

Hi Mike,

Will be purchasing the 1780# HF trailer today. Plan on building a generic Benroy, no A/C or other heavy appliances. It is suggested that the axle be moved rearward. How far is suggested? Is it absolutely necessary or just a good idea that makes that much of a difference?

I expect to use the stock fenders, so I will need to check for interference with the door opening.

Any info will be appreciated.

[bobhenry]

Others may disagree but I have found the hf tongue assembly a little lacking. Mine flexes too much for my liking. I intend to run a 2x2x1/4 square tube front to rear and bolt to every crossmember. It will pass thru the opening in the hf tongue just below where the coupler mounts now and extend an additional 18 - 20 inches. The existing coupler will then be moved to the 2x2 tube. I experience a wiggle at speeds above 65 mph and it is a bit unnerving. Extending the tongue will essentially do exactly what you would do by moving the axle. It lengthens the distance from coupler to centerline of the axle. You will also get the benefit of a stronger triangulated tongue and room for a tongue box if you wish.

just my 2 cents worth Bob

[cdfnchico]

Welcome!! We are a few weeks ahead of you on a Generic benroy build on the same HF trailer. We did narrow the trailer according to the plans and experienced a couple unanticipated challenges...nothing we couldn't fix tho!! (Check our build thread) We also moved the axle back as suggested. The axle was at 42"...we wanted to move it back to 38". We wanted to drill as few new holes in the frame as possible...we could utilize one hole on each side at 38.5" so that's what we went with. We arrived at this number by following Andrew's formula here:

http://www.angib.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/t ... tear81.htm

..and went with the 38" from the rear figure as "A reasonable compromise value for an average teardrop."

Bob's tongue concern will have us pondering....

Good Luck!!

[NewFour]

Thanks for the info, have yet to see the trailer yet so I don't know what is involved in the modification. I don't tow at speeds over 60 anyway so I am still wondering if it is worth it to make the modification. I am considering mounting the axle over the springs to drop the COG a little. Again, need to see the trailer to see what is involved.

Still doing a lot of research and pondering. Thanks.

[mikeschn]

Well as you can see by the drawing, there's not much room in front of the wheel, before you hit the door. A couple inches probably. Reward you probably can go a few inches.

The most important thing is to run the balance spreadsheet for your circumstance, which is in the design library, up there in the menu.

When I ran some calculations, I came up with 33" from the rear. And that placement also looked good, and allowed for a reasonable door. But feel free to play with the placement!

Mike...

Hi Mike,

Will be purchasing the 1780# HF trailer today. Plan on building a generic Benroy, no A/C or other heavy appliances. It is suggested that the axle be moved rearward. How far is suggested? Is it absolutely necessary or just a good idea that makes that much of a difference?

I expect to use the stock fenders, so I will need to check for interference with the door opening.

Any info will be appreciated.

[Alphacarina]

I bought a HF 1740 trailer and used it as the platform to build an enclosed motorcycle trailer on. Since I wanted a Vee nose on it, I cut the siderails down to 6 feet and then the Vee extending forward made it 8 feet again. I moved the axle aft and centered it on the 6 foot siderail

If you're moving the axle, you need to reinforce the seam on the siderails as the axle support assembly is all that holds the front half to the rear half. You don't need the double crossmember in the center, so cutting one of those in half gives you a channel which you can weld or bolt inside the seam - I welded everything

I also mounted the axle above the springs and I would certainly recommend that - It's still taller than it needs to be for good ground clearance even with the axle above the spring. I added 13 inch wheels and tires and used one of the 12's that came with it as a spare

I also modified the hitch/coupler a good bit. I added one of the 2 foot pieces I cut off the siderail down the center, welded to the front crossmember and mounted my coupler to that instead of using the flimsy bolt on arrangement that the trailer comes with

My finished trailer is right at 700 pounds and with my 600 pound motorcycle in it, it tows beautifully behind my small 4 cylinder car

Don

[Nobody]

I absolutely could not 'abide' the clunky HF tongue arrangement, especially the coupler. I removed the coupler, did a little judicious grinding on the ends of the 'A-frame' members, turned the coupler mount upside down, slid a length of 2X2X1/4" square tubing thru the coupler mount back to second cross member, bolted on a couple of pieces of 1 1/2" angle either side of the square tube, between the first & second cross member, bolted the new tongue to the angles & to the old coupler mount, & 'voila' a new, much more sturdy tongue on which to mount a new coupler. It extended my tongue length by around 14" or so which makes backing easier. I also moved the axle rearward about 4-6" so my hitch weight is approaching 15% (about 135-140lbs) with the tongue box but my little P/U tow vehicle handles it very well with no rear 'sag' & even my wife's Santa Fe does OK with only a minimal 'drop' when the TD is hitched up. Also replaced the pins of the 'tilt' feature with automotive strength bolts on the 'A-frame' pieces which decreased the 'flex' of the tongue & eliminated the 'rattle' associated with that when on rough/bumpy roads

[bobhenry]

I absolutely could not 'abide' the clunky HF tongue arrangement, especially the coupler. I removed the coupler, did a little judicious grinding on the ends of the 'A-frame' members, turned the coupler mount upside down, slid a length of 2X2X1/4" square tubing thru the coupler mount back to second cross member, bolted on a couple of pieces of 1 1/2" angle either side of the square tube, between the first & second cross member, bolted the new tongue to the angles & to the old coupler mount, & 'voila' a new, much more sturdy tongue on which to mount a new coupler. It extended my tongue length by around 14" or so which makes backing easier. I also moved the axle rearward about 4-6" so my hitch weight is approaching 15% (about 135-140lbs) with the tongue box but my little P/U tow vehicle handles it very well with no rear 'sag' & even my wife's Santa Fe does OK with only a minimal 'drop' when the TD is hitched up. Also replaced the pins of the 'tilt' feature with automotive strength bolts on the 'A-frame' pieces which decreased the 'flex' of the tongue & eliminated the 'rattle' associated with that when on rough/bumpy roads

Thanks Harvey ! That is exactly what I feel needs to be done and a beautiful job of doing it . I am gonna steal your pics if you don't mind for reference on retrofitting my tongue repair.