Best of best tag along equipment trailers?

[sawtooth]

My family and i have two fairly new equipment trailers from Kaufman. They are ok for price I guess but both jerk and bump the truck alot compared to others I used. Both are rated about 14k gross weight. One is a 16ft and the other is 18ft. So I let a friend use the 16ft and my dad had 18ft while at the same time I needed one too. So I rented a heavy duty Towmaster trailer that was 16ft and was at 14k gross weight rating. Just as in past It was night and day difference and is much older and beat up. Pulls very smooth with hardly any jerking / bumping. Same exact load to same destination. So are Kaufmans just not that good? It was cheaper so guess you get what you pay for. This leads me to my next question. Who are the top equipment trailer manufactures for flat equipment trailers with ramps. 16-20ft with 14-15k gross weight rating?

 

[Diamondpilot]

My guess is its the tires. Are they bias? If so thats a big part of the issue. Get radials. Next, balance them. No matter what the tire guy says it should be done and makes a difference. Lastly, what rims? MH style suck. For that reason i will not touch them in my business. I did 20 years ago but could not make customers happy so now they can find someone else to maintain them. I bet the trailer you rented had regular hubs and rims.

They make a good trailer but the wheel selection leaves a lot to be desired.

Chris

 

[cockeyedMFer]

Did both trailers have the same hitch height and attitude? Was one more nose up or down than the other? Same tongue weights?

 

[Piston]

DP, what is MH?

 

[cockeyedMFer]

MH = MotorHome

 

[bandaidmd]

mobile home, wheel is open in the center and mounts onto the hub with nuts and wedges

sometimes referred to as eaton style on the big trucks.

 

[Diamondpilot]

mobile home, wheel is open in the center and mounts onto the hub with nuts and wedges

sometimes referred to as eaton style on the big trucks.

Yes, junk in my opinion. My shop will not touch them.

Chris

 

[sawtooth]

Did both trailers have the same hitch height and attitude? Was one more nose up or down than the other? Same tongue weights?

Both are running pretty level. I would assume tongue weights consistent by how much squat was in rear of truck. Had exact same equipment on them. Yes i also have radial tires.

 

[sawtooth]

My guess is its the tires. Are they bias? If so thats a big part of the issue. Get radials. Next, balance them. No matter what the tire guy says it should be done and makes a difference. Lastly, what rims? MH style suck. For that reason i will not touch them in my business. I did 20 years ago but could not make customers happy so now they can find someone else to maintain them. I bet the trailer you rented had regular hubs and rims.

They make a good trailer but the wheel selection leaves a lot to be desired.

Chris

Also they have been balanced twice and said they balanced up great.

 

[QRTRHRS]

mobile home, wheel is open in the center and mounts onto the hub with nuts and wedges

sometimes referred to as eaton style on the big trucks.

Uh, I am thinking those are referred to as Dayton style. While MH axles may use wedges they hardly compare to the dayton truck style. Though, I suspect they suffer from the same issue; being installed by someone who has not a clue. These types of wheels must be trued by rotating and slowly tightening the lug nuts so the wheel/tire runs true. Dismounting requires loosening but not removing the lug nuts then hitting a wedge or two until they "pop" then removing the nuts/wedges.

If this style is obsolete, why does the MH industry still use them? Simple, Budd style wheels will crack between the holes under the same weight/number of axles.

Are there trailer manufacturers actually building ~12-14k trailers with MH axles these days?