What Axle Do I Have?

[Iplayfarmer]

More progress.

This is the new tongue. It's just tack welded for now. I'm going to test fit it to the trailer, and then plate the seams and finish welding.

Sorry about the dark pictures. I was late last night.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

No pics yet, but I test fitted the tongue to the trailer. All of the fretting and fussing to get the tongue square and even paid off. It fit up perfenctly! Now I get to take it back off and fish-plate the joints. I also need a latching machanism. I'm thinking about borrowing an idea from George2615...

What appeals to me about this design is that I can easily adapt it later when I add some kind of fixed deck to the front of the trailer.

I also decided to get what I needed to put grease zerks on the bushings for the tilt mechanism. After the huge headache I went through with every joint on this trailer, it seems anything I can do to keep things moving freely will pay off big.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

Another quick update. I got the seams in the tongue welded (everything was just tacked before). I also got the fish plates all cut out to plate the seams. I'm not going to rely on my amateur welding alone to hold this trailer together.

Next step... I need to grind the seam welds flush and then weld the fish plates in place. I also need to get some different steel to mount the fenders. With the extra drop in the axles and the new slightly larger tires, I'm going to have to mount the fenders a little higher. After that it's paint, wires, and I'm good to haul.

At the current pace I should be done about this time next year.

 

[dcyrilc]

Another quick update. I got the seams in the tongue welded (everything was just tacked before). I also got the fish plates all cut out to plate the seams. I'm not going to rely on my amateur welding alone to hold this trailer together.

Next step... I need to grind the seam welds flush and then weld the fish plates in place. I also need to get some different steel to mount the fenders. With the extra drop in the axles and the new slightly larger tires, I'm going to have to mount the fenders a little higher. After that it's paint, wires, and I'm good to haul.

At the current pace I should be done about this time next year.

Soooooo...... are you going to paint it pink to match the tractor for your daughter? Ya can't move a pick tractor on just any color trailer ya know.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

Soooooo...... are you going to paint it pink to match the tractor for your daughter? Ya can't move a pick tractor on just any color trailer ya know.

It' funny you mention that. Just the other day my daughter was realizing that she didn't have the skills or resources to fix the old Oliver 70 by herself. So, she started bargaining... "If I just help YOU fix the tractor can we maybe paint some of it pink? Maybe the the wheels or something?" I had a good chuckle.

Actually, the Oliver doesn't even fit on this trailer. The trailer is narrower than the tractor. I may be able to slide the wheels in on the Oliver to make it fit.

To answer the question, though, I'm going to paint it black... Boring old black. And, for now I'm only painting the tongue and the wheel wells. Everything else can keep it's old faded paint.

 

[dcyrilc]

It' funny you mention that. Just the other day my daughter was realizing that she didn't have the skills or resources to fix the old Oliver 70 by herself. So, she started bargaining... "If I just help YOU fix the tractor can we maybe paint some of it pink? Maybe the the wheels or something?" I had a good chuckle.

Sounds fun. Does she actually have the desire to help you with it? Both of our kids would much rather play video games or watch TV than get their hands dirty working on a tractor.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

Sounds fun. Does she actually have the desire to help you with it? Both of our kids would much rather play video games or watch TV than get their hands dirty working on a tractor.

Oh, yeah! She loves working on stuff with me. She gets a big thrill when we're tinkering with something and she can hear it run for the first time. All three of my kids like working on stuff like that. My 5-year-old daughter is a pretty good hand with a wrench. I handed her a wrench for the first time a year ago and she knew instinctively which direction to turn it to get a nut off. My 7-year-old son is more into fabricating. He likes the shower of sparks from the chop saw, and he's always scrounging scrap off the floor of the garage when I'm working and putting it together in creative ways.

 

[TheTrailerGuy]

I don't know if it will help, but i did do a video on the removable fenders we sell on our trailers. Go watch it, check the site and see if you can't come up with a plan that will work for you.

BTW... axles look like Dexter 4" drop 3,500lb from this angle.

YouTube - ‪Removable Fender Option... very tough, slick and easy to use.‬‏

 

[TheTrailerGuy]

That's one my old trailers! 18' Speedloader manual tilt. You would do well to copy that design. I know i have about 40,000 trailers out with those and no complaints.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

I stole a little time today and worked on the trailer some more.

I got the reinforcing plates all welded on. I think I did some of my best welds I've done in my life on these fish plates. I know, that's a sad comment about all of the other welds I've done.

I used 7014 rod and turned the welder up as far as it will go. You can see the welder in the background of the last picture. I'm including three pictures. One of the overall tongue, a close up of the fish plates, and an extreme closeup to show my welds that I am so happy with.

 

[dstig1]

Cool. Welds look nice. I'd call those gussets, not fish plates. But that's just me.

The limited DC headroom on that welder is why I went looking and upgraded when I found something. It was easy to bump up against that limit, I found.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

Cool. Welds look nice. I'd call those gussets, not fish plates. But that's just me.

The limited DC headroom on that welder is why I went looking and upgraded when I found something. It was easy to bump up against that limit, I found.

Gussets is probably the right word. My brother-in-law always calls them fish plates, and it just stuck in my head that way.

I figure if I need more power in my welder I can switch to AC.

I did more building today. I had some great pictures of the tongue all mounted on the trailer, but for some reason I can't get them off the camera tonight. I also cut and drilled my brackets for the fender mounts.

I still need to fabricate my tongue latch, drill holes and mount the fenders, and hang lights.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

I went and took another picture. I actually had to dig out the user's manual to learn how to format memory cards on this camera. It works now. It's one of the original digital cameras, so the technology is pretty old. I keep it around for tractor pictures, etc. so that I can keep the newer digital camera nice.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Looking good.

Chris

 

[TheTrailerGuy]

Here's my trailer axle spindle (see picture). I'm ready to buy the stuff I need to add brakes, but I need to know what axle I have so I can order the parts.

The bolt pattern is 5 on 4.75 (based on the fact that from lug center to the center of the next lug is 2.8")
The seal is 1 7/8"
The inner bearing I.D. is 1 1/4"
The outer bearing I.D. is 3/4"

I'm pretty sure of these measurements as they were measured with a micrometer and the dial was right on for all of them.

I also measured the axle tube. It's 2 9/16". This one may be smaller due to the build up of rust and dirt.

Any help is appreciated.

Forgive me if this has all been answered somewhere else, but it looks like a West Coast plant built Dexter 3,500lb drop axle (they always used square tube while midwest and east coast units have round tube axles... and even Dexter could never answer me why that was) with PR4B springs, which are pretty well used up. Call Century wheel if you are out west. they'll have all the pieces to get you fixed up.

 

[TheTrailerGuy]

I went and took another picture. I actually had to dig out the user's manual to learn how to format memory cards on this camera. It works now. It's one of the original digital cameras, so the technology is pretty old. I keep it around for tractor pictures, etc. so that I can keep the newer digital camera nice.

So, are you going to open a trailer plant out there now? Looks like you have the chops for it! Good work.

One tip for mounting fenders. Measure where your real axle is from the frame where it sits, add one inch for good measure (if you are always going to run the same tire and wheel), measure up from the top of the tire and set your fenders at that height from on both sides (level with the frame, course). Your fenders will probably sit a little closer to the tires, which keeps them out of the way up top... and it makes your trailer look all lowered down and cool!

 

[Iplayfarmer]

So, are you going to open a trailer plant out there now? Looks like you have the chops for it! Good work.

Thanks for the compliment, but no trailer plant here. For the amount of time I have in this thing I'd have to charge 6X what the local dealer charges if I wanted to make a living at it.

Don't get me wrong. I've enjoyed the work. I really like designing, fabricating, and all the stuff that goes with it. It just came at the wrong time. If you remember from earlier posts, this axle swap was supposed to be an afternoon project. Here I am a month and a half later, and I'm still not quite done. Spring is always busy for me. If I'd have known what this project would entail, I'd have put it off until late summer.

One tip for mounting fenders. Measure where your real axle is from the frame where it sits, add one inch for good measure (if you are always going to run the same tire and wheel), measure up from the top of the tire and set your fenders at that height from on both sides (level with the frame, course). Your fenders will probably sit a little closer to the tires, which keeps them out of the way up top... and it makes your trailer look all lowered down and cool!

Thanks for the tip on the fenders.

 

[TheTrailerGuy]

Thanks for the compliment, but no trailer plant here. For the amount of time I have in this thing I'd have to charge 6X what the local dealer charges if I wanted to make a living at it.

Don't get me wrong. I've enjoyed the work. I really like designing, fabricating, and all the stuff that goes with it. It just came at the wrong time. If you remember from earlier posts, this axle swap was supposed to be an afternoon project. Here I am a month and a half later, and I'm still not quite done. Spring is always busy for me. If I'd have known what this project would entail, I'd have put it off until late summer.




Thanks for the tip on the fenders.

Just to clarify, all you want to do is determine how tall your tires are above the side of the trailer when the axles are completely bottomed out and mount your fenders 1" higher than that. .. i read my post again wasn't even sure what i myself wrote there.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

Just to clarify, all you want to do is determine how tall your tires are above the side of the trailer when the axles are completely bottomed out and mount your fenders 1" higher than that. .. i read my post again wasn't even sure what i myself wrote there.

Thanks for the clarification. That's pretty much what I had in mind. I understand that I should measure the distance from the top of the axle to the bottom of the frame. Add an inch to that measurement, and mount the fenders that far above the tires.

Any suggestions on how to mount a brace of some sort in between the two tires to strengthen the fenders? I have a few ideas, but they all become complicated when I try to make the fenders removable.

 

[dstig1]

Perhaps just a brace that the fender sits on in the middle without securing to it?

I've been thinking of replacing the fenders on mine with some diamond plate ones I would make that are stury enough to stand on. My solution is something like 12 ga steel. Then they should be plenty sturdy. If I ever bother to get around to it...