Want to lower deck on trailer

[Yankee Clipper]

Hi all,

I bought a car trailer with built with trailer house axles that are mounted on the bottom side of the spring. I have measured and can flip the axles 180 to put them on the inside face of the spring - still have adequate room to axle it to flex etc. This will lower my deck height to where is does not take a high kick or a ladder to get on it.

My question is - since the brake adjuster is on the bottom of the backing plate, do I need to turn them over once once axle is rotated to keep them on the bottom? I am not that tuned in to trailer brakes and don't know all the quirks.

Thanks in advance for your help.

YC

 

[Diamondpilot]

The brakes adjuster needs to be on the bottom and there are a left side and right side brake assembly. They should be marked as so. Make sure whatever you do you get the brakes back on the right side or they will tear themselves apart the first time you use them.

The other problem you may have is most axles have a bow in them from the factory so that when a load is applied it will make the wheels stay perpendicular to the ground. So actually when there is not load the tires are riding at a slight angle to perpendicular, maybe 3-5%. So flipping them over will cause sever tire ware.

Chris

 

[J_J]

Chris,
I have never heard that. You may be right, I will have to go and check some axles that I was saving. What will that affect the camber. I know that you can tune axles by heating the axles in a certain position to correct for camber and or toe-in-out. I have also seen tires on trailers wear like you said.

 

[LBrown59]

Hi all,

I bought a car trailer with built with trailer house axles that are mounted on the bottom side of the spring. I have measured and can flip the axles 180 to put them on the inside face of the spring - still have adequate room to axle it to flex etc. This will lower my deck height to where is does not take a high kick or a ladder to get on it.

My question is - since the brake adjuster is on the bottom of the backing plate, do I need to turn them over once once axle is rotated to keep them on the bottom? I am not that tuned in to trailer brakes and don't know all the quirks.

Thanks in advance for your help.

YC

I'm wanting a tilt bed .
This way the hight would not mater as much i wouldn't think. .

 

[DanD78]

Chris is right about the axle bow. I cut the spring saddles off and put them on the bottom of the axles, bolted everything in place and re welded. It was really pretty easy to do.

Dan

 

[Yankee Clipper]

Thanks to all who helped -I knew it couldn't be as straight forward as I had thought.

Better leave well enough alone.

 

[Skyco]

"Flip" is a misnomer that got started in the RV world I believe. Dexter sells kits to move axles to the other side of the spring pack, be it lower or higher. I'm not sure they make them for mobile home axles but they do for many of their popular axles.

http://i.b5z.net/i/u/1080235/f/Trailer_Height_Adjustment.pdf

 

[jones6780]

Here is a link to Champion Trailers with some good info on mobile home axles.

http://www.championtrailers.com/Mobile%20home%20axles.pdf

Russell

 

[LBrown59]

I'm thinking the height would not be as much of a concern with a tilt bed as it would be with ramps.
Anybody else?
Agree
Disagree

 

[DanD78]

I'm thinking the height would not be as much of a concern with a tilt bed as it would be with ramps.
Anybody else?
Agree
Disagree

I think bed height still makes a diffenence on a tilt bed as well as bed legnth. My first attempt at building one was about 8' long and about 30" tall. You couldn't drive up it but you could dump stuff off. I made my next trailer with a flipped mobil home axle. It has a 10' bed and 19" deck height. I am able to drive right up unless the deck is wet. If I were to build another it would be 11 or 12' long. 10' is some times kind of short when you need to transfer enough weight past the pivot point to make it flip down. The only way a person could go lower would be to use dropped spindle axles. I have those on my stock trailer. It has about 16" deck height with 7K axles and 16" tires. I have put my JD3320 in it by just backing in to a ditch.

Dan

 

[LBrown59]

I think bed height still makes a diffenence on a tilt bed as well as bed legnth. My first attempt at building one was about 8' long and about 30" tall. You couldn't drive up it but you could dump stuff off. I made my next trailer with a flipped mobil home axle. It has a 10' bed and 19" deck height. I am able to drive right up unless the deck is wet. If I were to build another it would be 11 or 12' long. 10' is some times kind of short when you need to transfer enough weight past the pivot point to make it flip down.
*The only way a person could go lower would be to use dropped spindle axles. I have those on my stock trailer. It has about 16" deck height with 7K axles and 16" tires. I have put my JD3320 in it by just backing in to a ditch.

Dan

I'm talking about a 16 or 18 foot long trailer.
*But wouldn't that make it higher from the bed floor to the tops of the fenders?

 

[DanD78]

I'm talking about a 16 or 18 foot long trailer.
*But wouldn't that make it higher from the bed floor to the tops of the fenders?

Sorry for the confusion. A long tilting trailer would be great and bed height would not be as much of an issue with a long bed. This would be perfect for a person that is afraid to drive up ramps. The only draw back to a tilting trailer is if you want to put something on the front of the trailer and then load your tractor or trying to load two garden tractors on the same trailer.

You are right about the fenders being taller with torsion axles. If you go with the axles that give you 102" width it gives a lot of room between the fenders. I have a deck over goose neck with 5' of beaver tail and 5' of ramps. It is very nice to drive up and no fenders to fool with. Some people get a little spooked sitting on a tractor that high in the air. Tilting or fixed bed trailers both have their good and bad points depending on what you are trying to haul.

Dan

 

[LBrown59]

1*Sorry for the confusion. A long tilting trailer would be great and bed height would not be as much of an issue with a long bed.
2*The only draw back to a tilting trailer is if you want to put something on the front of the trailer and then load your tractor or trying to load two garden tractors on the same trailer.
3*You are right about the fenders being taller with torsion axles.
4*If you go with the axles that give you 102" width it gives a lot of room between the fenders.
I have a deck over goose neck with 5' of beaver tail and 5' of ramps.
Dan

1*I should have stated the length.
2*I see 2 ways around this. use ramps and or get a Hyd.tilt .
3*That means higher cribbing to clear the finders for items wider than the space between them.
4*But it makes for a pretty wide load and a tight fit between narrow objects.
I like the deck over /no fenders in the road but don't care for the extra hight.