PDA

View Full Version : "Restoring" my beat down trailer



ATL ZJ
03-22-2010, 06:15 PM
My trailer has been an eyesore and an earsore ever since I bought it about 5 years ago. The trailer is redneck fab at it's most mediocre. It's definitely home built, with heavy duty materials, but poor execution. The wiring on the trailer remains a disaster despite several last ditch efforts to tidy it up the nights before various wheeling trips. I've considered replacing the trailer, but due to current trailer prices being very inflated, I've decided to finally go to the trouble of fixing this one. I'll try to get some more pics as time goes along, but here's what it looked like when I bought it in '06:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v125/atlzj/DSC00039.jpg

And this is what we're working with right now:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v125/atlzj/Mountainside%20ORP%20March%202010/IMG_0539.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v125/atlzj/Mountainside%20ORP%20March%202010/IMG_0534.jpg

If you look closely you will see that two of the tires are cambered out thanks to the axles being spliced in the middle by Johnny Boogerweld who previously owned the trailer. It didn't help that I caught a tire on a power pole several years back and had to get the axle partially straightened. The screwed up axles cause two of the tires to wear extremely quickly, which has gotten very expensive. I have basically been putting a new set of tires on the trailer almost yearly for the past 4 years.

This will be an ongoing project. First order of business is to source some axles that are not bent. Of course the dimensions are not standard, so they will have to be custom. And to add to the complexity, they're drop axles. Here is what I've found so far... If anyone knows of a better supplier that is also close to GA, I would be very interested.

http://www.freedomaxle.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=catalog.prodInfo&productID=1316&categoryID=

zjeepin
03-22-2010, 07:06 PM
http://www.dexteraxle.com/home:popcorn: (http://www.dexteraxle.com/home)

ATL ZJ
03-22-2010, 07:08 PM
http://www.dexteraxle.com/home:popcorn: (http://www.dexteraxle.com/home)

yeah I remember you mentioning them and I went all over their site, found nothing about made to order custom width axles. :confused:

Pearce
03-22-2010, 07:11 PM
This is good to see!
Just as a side note I couldn't help but notice the difference in bed heights of the two Titans side by side. The one on the left has a weight distribution hitch w/ sway control. A good investment when the funds permit. Of course you might be pulled a little further up too, LOL

zjeepin
03-22-2010, 07:11 PM
could you fudge an inch or two and get to a standard width?

ATL ZJ
03-22-2010, 08:32 PM
This is good to see!
Just as a side note I couldn't help but notice the difference in bed heights of the two Titans side by side. The one on the left has a weight distribution hitch w/ sway control. A good investment when the funds permit. Of course you might be pulled a little further up too, LOL

Yeah Bryan was about a foot or two farther back. Other than that I think they were pretty level. Between the improvements needed on the trailer, maintenance on the Titan, and the upcoming safety overhaul on the unibugly, it might be a while before the w/d hitch becomes a priority, but point taken.


could you fudge an inch or two and get to a standard width?

Maybe... Since the tires are already right up against the deck, it would have to be an inch or two wider, which I'm not too crazy about doing. I'll measure to know for sure tomorrow or the next night when I go to take it back to its storage location.

BigClay
03-23-2010, 09:05 AM
Did my thread about trailers get you thinking about fixing yours? :D

ATL ZJ
03-23-2010, 09:28 AM
Did my thread about trailers get you thinking about fixing yours? :D

Maybe, but the last straw was towing with it over the weekend and balding another tire.

SirFuego
03-23-2010, 09:41 AM
My two major complaints about my cheap trailer are the piss poor factory wiring and not having enough lights.

For the wiring, I couldn't believe how poor the wiring was done on my trailer from the factory. Regular wiring was just fed through non-grommeted holes in the steel frame, so I eventually ran into issues with the wires chafing through and shorting out.

Short of getting a bunch of that plastic sheathing stuff, the "trailer rewiring kits" weren't much better. I actually ended up cutting and splicing an outdoor extension cord to wire up my lights. The trailer wiring was already grounded to the tongue, so I just needed the three wires to do the lights anyways. I stupidly didn't rewire my brakes at the same time, and they have been acting up, so I'm just going to use another extension cable for that (and also wire in some backup lights). I'd also wire in some side marker lights to the fenders while you are at it.

rstrucks
03-23-2010, 09:51 AM
When I bought my trailer about 4 years ago I noticed the shoddy wiring before I bought it and made them at least give me enough of that all in one trailer harness to redo when it does fail. So far the original wiring is holding up but I have about 20ft of the good stuff just in case.

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:TnnuvTMNv0UtjM:http://www.championtrailers.com/whips.gif (http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.championtrailers.com/whips.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.championtrailers.com/TRAILER_WIRING.htm&usg=__4kja7xpDFaHuQpHbsxGISxvtRMI=&h=324&w=300&sz=41&hl=en&start=73&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=TnnuvTMNv0UtjM:&tbnh=118&tbnw=109&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtrailer%2Bwiring%2Bharness%26start%3D 63%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DN%26ndsp %3D21%26tbs%3Disch:1)

slim616
03-23-2010, 12:43 PM
cam just make your own axles. all the are is tube with hubs welded to them.
Also you may want to make yourself some heavy duty fenders to drive over. i know at least in md and pa you will get a ticket real quick for not having fenders.

i rebuild all my trailers about every two years and it runs me about $1000 after you add up all the stuff.


Try redneck trailer supplies for all your parts.
http://www.redneck-trailer.com/index.htm

ATL ZJ
03-23-2010, 02:31 PM
cam just make your own axles. all the are is tube with hubs welded to them.
Also you may want to make yourself some heavy duty fenders to drive over. i know at least in md and pa you will get a ticket real quick for not having fenders.

i rebuild all my trailers about every two years and it runs me about $1000 after you add up all the stuff.


Try redneck trailer supplies for all your parts.
http://www.redneck-trailer.com/index.htm

thanks for the link... Looks like they have a location in GA.

When you make your own axles, how do you deal with the bow that most trailer axles have in them? And what do you do to make sure your drop spindles are perfectly in phase with each other?

slim616
03-24-2010, 12:36 AM
What do you mean by bow? most the time when i notice them start to bow i replace them. But my bow and your bow may be two totally different things. Also what do you mean by in phase with each other? Are you referring to getting the camber correct.

ATL ZJ
03-24-2010, 12:59 AM
What do you mean by bow? most the time when i notice them start to bow i replace them. But my bow and your bow may be two totally different things. Also what do you mean by in phase with each other? Are you referring to getting the camber correct.

Well I don't think I'm up for the adventure of building scratch axles for this thing anyway, but with drop spindles, obviously matching the angle of both sides to each other would be incredibly important. (i.e. both 90 degrees vertical). Without some sort of jig I can't think of any way to get that perfect. And I always thought that trailer axles came with upward bow, as seen here: http://www.redneck-trailer.com/2009/A/A6-A15.pdf . Does the tube that you build them dead straight or does it come with an arc to it?

I did end up measuring my axles tonight and the hub face to hub face measurement, as best I could tell with the tires on, was around 90-91" and the distance between the spring centers is right at 77". Looks like I could get two 3500lb. drop axles made to those dimensions, shipped to me for about $306 from Freedom Axle Dist. in Alabama. That is assuming I could reuse my existing brakes, which I think I can... I didn't even see any prices on Redneck Trailers' website, so I am leaning towards F.A.D. at the moment.

slim616
03-24-2010, 01:17 AM
Ahh your getting all technical on me. We don't even worry about getting them perfect do to the fact that they get rebuilt so often do to use. literally we run them almost 5 days a week. Most the time there loaded to the max so the axles have bow in them from the weight. its when they bow with no weight on them that we worry. All my trailers are are literally a straight tube with hubs welded to them. I used to get new axles and stuff from shops till I realized how he local shops just slapped them together. Also I would just go with to 5k axles instead of 3500 just because you get better breaks and the shock load of the trailer bouncing will not even phase them. Also if you need to haul something a little heavier you wont have to worry about bending the axles.

paulkeith
03-24-2010, 09:05 AM
Cam, you're right. Probably saying stuff you know already, but for posterity's sake, trailer axles come with bow in them so that under the intended load they flatten and the tire camber is where it should be. If you start straight (ie, a chunk of tube) and apply load, the axles will bow further and you'll have too much camber and wear the insides of the tires. Same idea if you've ever seen an empty 18wheeler flat bed, they have pretty substantial positive arch to them empty and are dead flat with a load on.

$306 for a pair of axles sounds pretty damn reasonable, no? I wouldn't even start to think about building my own at that price. I would however consider 5k axles as well, if the price wasn't substantially higher.

rstrucks
03-24-2010, 09:37 AM
Yeah, I wouldn't waste "build time" on trailer crap! Especially at that price.

I'd like to upgrade to 5200lb axles too but they are spensive! There is a pair of 6 lug 5200lb axles for sale on Pirate w/ 6 aluminum wheels and tires and he's asking 1K. At that point I'd be better off selliing my current trailer and picking up a already built HD trailer. Maybe it would be cheaper to make my fat pig ZJ lighter.

Cam, what does your unibugly weigh? Your probably fine to run the 3500lb axles.

chadjans
03-24-2010, 09:58 AM
Looks to me you have a 78" wide deck. Needs to be wider.

ATL ZJ
03-24-2010, 10:06 AM
I'm just going to stick with 3500lb axles. I don't really want to be able to haul anything heavier than my rig. It's already about the most I should be pulling with my Titan anyway. And if I swapped to 5 ton axles, I'd have to buy 5 new wheels and tires, and brakes. That's nowhere near the budget I am planning for this project.

I've been saying I am going to get the unibugly weighed for a long time and it might actually happen sometime soon. I'd be surprised if it were that much over 4500lbs though.

Chad it has been widened in the front... see the tubing? But yes the deck was originally 77-78" wide.

Pearce
03-24-2010, 08:15 PM
BTW, the bow is called camber.
just for tech sake from http://www.easternmarine.com/em_store/tech_info/axles_tech_info.html,
CAMBER: Axles are cambered or 'road set' so there is a bow until weight is put on the axle. All cambered axles should be mounted with the center bow up.

That place also had pretty good prices on tires.

SB406
03-25-2010, 03:06 PM
SirFuego, Your post reminded me that you have a bum tail light on your trailer. I noticed it when we were coming back from WP.

I tend to agree with Slim616. building a trailer isn't that big of a deal. We've beuilt several trailers, for race cars, scrapping, and now the buggy. When I built mine, using house trailer axles was still allowed, although people tell me that the laws have changed on the use of bud wheels on new builds. Anyway, we narrowed up the tubes without issue. The tubes do not have a bow, nor have I ever noticed a bow in them with a load on. These are 6K axles though. Just sleeve it well where you make the splice. The main thing is getting the axles square relative to the tongue to avoid sway. I upgraded the brakes last year to the bolt on style backing plates. Complere brake setups are $50/ wheel and come already assembled on the backing plates.

Also, X2 on the drive over fenders. Here's a pic of my trailer-
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q159/sb406/9-10-2006-02.jpg (http://s135.photobucket.com/albums/q159/sb406/?action=view&current=9-10-2006-02.jpg)
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q159/sb406/Wood004.jpg (http://s135.photobucket.com/albums/q159/sb406/?action=view&current=Wood004.jpg)

ATL ZJ
03-25-2010, 03:25 PM
The reason my trailer's tires wear out now is that the axles are spliced and sleeved... there's no way in hell I'd try that to fix the problem.

I will be doing something about the fenders. I already have to drive over one of remaining parts of the small rails on the inside of the tires, so chances are I'll just build a simple skeleton off of that.

SirFuego
03-25-2010, 03:26 PM
SirFuego, Your post reminded me that you have a bum tail light on your trailer. I noticed it when we were coming back from WP.

Yeah, uh, if it was the passenger side, I'm 99% sure it was due to me trying to load up the ZJ without ramps on a slight sidehill in ice. My rear tire on the ZJ sorta drove over that light.

SB406
03-26-2010, 03:37 PM
The reason my trailer's tires wear out now is that the axles are spliced and sleeved... there's no way in hell I'd try that to fix the problem.


I understand that.
I'm just saying I've done it without any tire wear problems. My axles are 6K axles though. I would think that your axles bent, causing the tire wear issue.

ATL ZJ
07-18-2010, 11:03 PM
Well I finally gave the old trailer some attention last weekend. Big thanks to Pearce who donated a lot of sweat and a place to work on it. We yanked the old bent axles out and swapped in the new ones from Freedom Axle and did some other overdue work on the trailer.

We started by tearing it down and yanking the old axles out. in the process we found a lot of other things needing attention, including two brake backing plates that needed to be replaced, and all the hub seals were leaking.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v125/atlzj/IMG_0712.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v125/atlzj/IMG_0713.jpg

this is what I had been dealing with for 5+ years
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v125/atlzj/IMG_0714.jpg

I also rewired the whole trailer, which turned out to be a pretty significant undertaking of its own. The p/o thought house wire was the best choice :confused:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v125/atlzj/IMG_0715.jpg

I ended up taking fuego's suggestion and using thick gauge 3 wire outdoor extension cord to rewire everything. And instead of crimp connectors I took the time to solder and heat shrink everything.

My camera battery died before we finished so I don't have any completed pics, but it'll be on showcase at GSSE in all its busted up glory. ;)

paulkeith
07-18-2010, 11:09 PM
http://www.wardthomas.com/surveyform/images/Kitchen/buffer_floor_polisher.jpg

http://rustnbones.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/comedy-turd.png


:D

good work man. that tire wear is pretty nuts.

ATL ZJ
07-18-2010, 11:31 PM
This project absolutely counts as polishing a turd. After I made this thread and before I ordered the axles I even considered trying to sell it and finding something in better shape. But after running the numbers I figured it would basically equate to me giving away this trailer and buying a brand new one, which I was not in a position to do. So hopefully now I can get some use out of this thing.

SirFuego
07-19-2010, 09:33 AM
Wow, that tire wear is nuts! Glad the extension cord worked out for you.

IIRC, you are running 205's now, right? Since your tires are shot and are redoing everything else, now might be the perfect time to upgrade to D rated 225's...

rstrucks
07-19-2010, 09:52 AM
Semi on topic - Cam, I've decided to just cross my fingers and roll with the trailer tires I have until I have more $$$ to upgrade to the D rated tires myself. You had asked about them so I thought I'd let you know.

BigClay
07-19-2010, 10:59 AM
Can't wait to see the "busted up glory" at GSSE :D