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Trailer concerns

D

Dopp Creek

Member
A buddy of mine just bought an 18 ft tilt deck trailer and dropped it off here so I can look at it. It has torsion axles and I noticed one wheel off the ground where it was parked. I don't know much about them; if the trailer was loaded i imagine that wheel would be contacting the ground and without a load there's too much tension in the axle to "sit down". Is that a correct assessment?
Second thing is a rolled C frame 6" tall but only 3/16" thick. He wants it to be a 10000# gross trailer. Is that realistic with this frame?
Last concern is the mobile home wheels. I know they can be converted to Dexter type hubs with some cutting and welding.
I'd appreciate your thoughts.
cvphoto64500.jpg


cvphoto64501.jpg


cvphoto64502.jpg
 
I've never seen axles like that. Looks like some type of walking beam setup and that may be seized which is why the wheel is up. But the pics are not clear enough to tell. Same goes for the frame, without better pics it's too hard to tell. But axles with those hubs are most times 5200 lb rated. But as I said, I've never seen any like that. As for changing them over to regular rims that usually just requires changing the hubs. But since I haven't seen those axles I can't say the bearings will switch. In my experience converting a trailer rarely pays. Most times it's better to sell what you have and add the cost to convert and you can buy one already done.
 
is

Are those mobile home tires or lowboy tires?
They do make conversion hubs for conventional leaf sprung mobile home axles.
But I never saw torsions on a mobile home before, nor round axle tube torsion axles.

Looks to me that both axle tubes go thru the tongue frame which terminates just behind rear axle.
I am guessing the bed tilts via the hydraulics and pivots above rear axle?
Torsion axles (not on any walking beam setup) usually require the frame to be running level as there is no equalizer like leaf sprung tandems.
Is the tongue and axles at level in that picture? Appears to be inclined up to the hitch.
 
That looks like what we call a "Too trailer". Don't expect to go too far, too fast or for too long. The short cuts will eventually catch-up with it, and you don't want to be too far from home when it does.
 
That looks real flimsy.

Unless it has a placard on it stating 10K, I would not trust it, nor spend money on it.
 
That is a sure sign of a torsion axle that has failed.

My dump trailer is like that but luckily all four wheels are the same. It just has no suspension, and is also a "too trailer." I don't use it for too much, go too fast, or travel too far with it. It sure is handy to have though, to run a load of scrap metal or haul a couple yards of gravel.

There is no fix for that, except to replace the entire axle. The rubber is poured/injected into the axle at manufacturing time.
 


2X what barnyard posted. Torsion axles consist of inner and outer steel tubes bonded with rubber in between. That one was overloaded to the point that the rubber tore. Junk. It can't cary any weight.
 
Rubber torsion axles in a round tube? I've seen them with coil
springs but never rubber except with square tubes. I can't see
how that would work. But then I've never seen this type axle
at all, and I sure can't see how it works from these pics
 

Torsion axles are almost all universally made the same way.
Square outer tube with a solid square shank inside that is welded to the spindle are.
The rubber is not poured in between.
Four round rubber rods are frozen to 200 degrees below zero.
The rubber rods and shank are inserted into the square axle tube.
They have about 5 seconds to slide everything together before the rubber rods expand too much.
 
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