Well I took the plunge !

[schreimaster]

The axle is on order, I went with flexride from southwestern, nice people and it came to $213.00 with hubs, that is not including shipping. They said look for a 5-6 bussiness day delivery time, not bad.

Thanks for all the input on this subject.

[madjack]

schrei...what measurments didja give 'em and did they agree with you measurements...I have found them to be good folks to deal with...when I got my axle one of the grease caps was missing and the threads on two studs were bad...I called 'em up and they FedEx'ed 2 new grease caps and a full set of studs...I only needed 1 and 2 respectively...
madjack

[schreimaster]

They said the 68 1/2 would work, but I went with the 69" just to make sure, probally would not make much diffrence. I guess if it's wrong, I could always drop down to 1/2" plywood on sides to gain a little more.

[madjack]

...the reason I said to add that 1/2" was because I wish I had added a 1/2" to my h2h length so as to give me additional clearance between the swing arms and sides...as it is I have 1/4 clearance which is supposed to be enough because torsion axles do not have the in/out movement that spring axles have...but darn it looks tight...
madjack

[asianflava]

I have 2 inches between the sidewall and the tire. I still had to notch out the sidewall for the swingarm. My frame sits inside an apron so that it is not visible. The 2 inch clearance is more than enough. It allows me to install wider tires later on if I'm inclined to do so. The tires I have on now look kinda anorexic to me.

This isn't a very good pic but it's the only one I found with the wheels off. You can see the notch cut out above the swingarm. I sized the notch based on the maximum deflection of the arm as per the Dexter data sheets published on the internet. The gray area you see in the notch is the actual frame tube. I've been told that Camp-Inn also notches their sidewalls.

[Chip]

Asian,,, did you shorten up the tongue or did you leave it long for easy backing,, I am debating cutting mine off but am waiting till I get close enough to find out just how long (min) I need,, and I want the body to be as close as practicle for wind to go voer tear off back of car rather than hit it dead center of the front,,thanks,,,,,,,,,,,

chipper

[cracker39]

I haven't been concerned with h2h measurements and I suppose I should be. I will be using standard white spoke trailer wheels and ST175/80/D13 tires. The Dexter Torflex chart shows 0 offset for this rim. I presumed that if you ordered a Dexter Torflex axle to fit the frame width (e.g. 60"), then the wheel and tire I'lll be using would clear the side. So, I talked to a Redneck dealer about the axle, and they said I needed frame width and hub face to hub face. He said all I have to give them is tire center to center and they would figure the H2H for me. This is how I computed that length.

Frame 60.0"
Tire center to edge 3.5"
Plywood 0.5"
Clearance (1" either side) 2.0"
Tire center to edge 3.5"
----------------------------------
Total tire center to center 69.5"

Is there any good reason to have more than 1" clearance between tire and trailer side? The clearance between tire and frame on my boat trailer is only 3/4" with the same tires/wheels. Someone mentioned tire bulge, but from my experience, any tire bulge is always at the bottom and only if the tire is low on air.

[cracker39]

Asian, you posted before I got mine posted. About the notching for the swingarm. How much trailer side is outside your frame...thickness that is? I know the swingarm has to clear the frame, but by how much, and which axle did you use? I'll only have 5.2mm (about 3/16") added to my frame, and I didn't think that would require any notching for the swingarm. The Dexter pictures make it look like the swingarm clears the frame by an inch or so, but that could be deceiving.

[cracker39]

Chip, on my TTT, I have planned the coupler to be at least 4' 8" from the frame. The cabin front and the battery box will extend out 18"-22" from the frame, so I want at least 2' 10" from the cabin leading edge to the coupler for jackknife protection. Besides, I like as much distance from axle to coupler to make backing easier. My NT 4x8 utility trailer (same as the HF) is not nearly as easy to back up as my boat trailer is.

[asianflava]

Asian,,, did you shorten up the tongue or did you leave it long for easy backing,, I am debating cutting mine off but am waiting till I get close enough to find out just how long (min) I need,, and I want the body to be as close as practicle for wind to go voer tear off back of car rather than hit it dead center of the front,,thanks,,,,,,,,,,,

chipper

When I designed my frame, I wanted to put a tongue box on the front. Just a box to hold things I wouldn't want inside, charcoal, chairs, etc. After Dave broke his tongue, I kinda nixed that idea. Not that I'm going offroad or anything but I like the peace of mind.

It is just shy of 4ft from the apex of the front curve to the tip of the coupler. It looks longer in this pic for some reason. I figured that I'll leave it. At it's present length, I can open the rear door of the SUV while standing behind it. Also If the coupler screws up, I can cut it off and still have plenty of tongue.

[asianflava]

Asian, you posted before I got mine posted. About the notching for the swingarm. How much trailer side is outside your frame...thickness that is? I know the swingarm has to clear the frame, but by how much, and which axle did you use? I'll only have 5.2mm (about 3/16") added to my frame, and I didn't think that would require any notching for the swingarm. The Dexter pictures make it look like the swingarm clears the frame by an inch or so, but that could be deceiving.

My walls are 1inch thick (3/4 framing with 1/8 ply faces) and I'm using a Dexter #9. I found out later that there is another option for short spindles. If I had used these, the arms would clear the sidewalls without notching AND I would have the correct hub to hub distance. The 2 inch sidewall clearance is a bit too much for my liking, it was chosen based my width of the fenders. I didn't want the wheels recessed too far into the fenders, that would look worse than the 2inch sidewall clearance.

I may have a pic of the swing arm. Let me sift thru my pics and I'll post it if I find it.

[asianflava]

Here it is!

As you can see, it is about 3/4in from the mounting bracket to the arm. My axle dimensions are:

74in hub to hub
60in outside frame dimension

[cracker39]

When I designed my frame, I wanted to put a tongue box on the front. Just a box to hold things I wouldn't want inside, charcoal, chairs, etc. After Dave broke his tongue, I kinda nixed that idea. Not that I'm going offroad or anything but I like the peace of mind.

Hmmm. My tongue will be two pieces of 2"x2"x1/4", which I thought would be strong enough for my approx. 1400 lb trailer weight and approx 150 lb tongue weight. I think Andrew concurred with this. However, I may use a couple more pieces of the 2" tube and weld one across under the front of the tongue box (made of 3/4" plywood), and run another two pieces from the cross piece, back under the frame. That will give me 4 pieces of tube running under the frame with 6 weld points (two for the side pieces and one for the center piece). The additional bracing will also support the weight of the battery, which will be in one end of the box. It will look like this:

My walls are 1inch thick (3/4 framing with 1/8 ply faces) and I'm using a Dexter #9. I found out later that there is another option for short spindles. If I had used these, the arms would clear the sidewalls without notching AND I would have the correct hub to hub distance. The 2 inch sidewall clearance is a bit too much for my liking, it was chosen based my width of the fenders. I didn't want the wheels recessed too far into the fenders, that would look worse than the 2inch sidewall clearance.

Good. I can see that the arms will clear my sides by 1/2". All I need to be concered with is the proper offset for the tires. I think 1" side clearance from the tires will be OK. That will make my fenders 9 1/4"" wide (1 " clearance on either side of the tires. I am thinking of making the outside face of each fender removable to change tires, or redesign them to make the openings large enough for the tire to swing out off the studs. With 9" fenders, the overall width will be 6' 7". That is just a few inches wider than my bass boat trailer. The body will actually be a little narrower than my truck, so rear visability will be good without trailer mirrors.

[madjack]

Dale keep in mind that you are 79"s wide and 80 and up have additional lighting requirements...your overall width by law also includes anything protruding from the side such as lights and handles...
madjack

[cracker39]

I should be OK with the width not over 80". But, by the time I start building the body, I'll have the axle with tires/wheels on it, so I can see if it will exceed 80". If so, I'll just have to add 4 more marker lights.

What I don't understand, and Jack, you probably do, being a trucker. What is an identification light, and why is it required when you have two clearance lights. And, with two tail lights, why do you even need two more clearance lights on the rear. The rules I just looked at specified side to side and up and down viewing angles, but not height placement on the trailer. Are clearance lights supposed to be near or at the top of the t railer?

I assume that these are Federal requirements. I looked for Florida requirements and could only find that trailers under 3000 lbs required rear reflectors. No mention was made of clearance lights.

Anyway, since I won't be using the lights like HF trailer has with clearance lights built in, if I am under 80", I'll have both front and rear side clearance lights mounted low. If I see I will be 80" or more, I'll add three more red ones for the rear mounted high, and two amber ones for the front, probably mounted low on the front of the battery box at the corners. These will easily be seen at 45 degrees past the rear of the tow vehicle.