Trailer questions

[Diamondpilot]

Dexter Axle

I went to the site and saw them.

What I don't get is why? I would much rather have 3 5,200# axles for a 15,600# total axle rating and be able to use 15" wheels and 225 tires versus 14,400# rating and have to go to 16" wheels and 235 tires.

Chris

 

[tulenutn2o]

I went to the site and saw them.

What I don't get is why? I would much rather have 3 5,200# axles for a 15,600# total axle rating and be able to use 15" wheels and 225 tires versus 14,400# rating and have to go to 16" wheels and 235 tires.

Chris

I agree. But I suppose there are other issues such as tire scrub, sidewall deflection, extra weight and cost?, etc for the tri axle setup. I re-sprung my tri axle recently( more like 3-4 years ago) and suspended 3rd axle a few inches higher so that only comes into use on extreme loads or if I happen to blow a tire on the forward axles. While this is probably not the ideal set-up(since 3rd axle does not transfer weight-just relieves the other 2), it has worked extremely well for me.

 

[Diamondpilot]

We order tri axles as much as possible. The cost is actually the same or slightly less usually when you figure in tires and wheels since 15" or even 14" are so much cheaper than the 16" stuff. For example for we ordered a Eagle boat trailer for a 6,800# boat a few years back. They wanted to put 2 5,200# axles under it and the trailer was 2,600# itself. That would have made the total load 9,400#, plenty. But we instead had it made with 3 3,500# axles. It increased the load rating to 10,500# instead of 10,400# but weighed the same. We ran 14" wheels with 205 tires and lowered the trailer by 4" overall.

Chris

 

[tulenutn2o]

Diamond,I suppose another issue on tires is contact patch at the road. Taller tire equals larger contact patch=better ride,better braking,less revs/mile, longer wear,etc. Different trailer manufacturers have to take these factors into account in their designs. While there are certainly arguments/points to be made to customize for a particular situation( ex. clearance/transport height,etc.), This really should only be done at the manufacturer level. If not, legal issues can and will come into play if some greedy attorney gets involved due to an accident. I really didn't see why 7200 lb axles would be an offering either when 7500 and 7000 should be close enough. Probably has a lot to do with manufacturer keeping the customer coming back due to it being unique.(parts). That and bean counters saving a company a 1/2 cent per unit or something. It would be nice if a trailer manufacturer or engineer would chime in and give their $.02.

 

[Soundguy]

do 6k axles exist? I say some 12k rated trailers.. ( single tandem ).. was figuring 7k axles derated either by geometry or frame ?

thanks

soundguy

 

[Diamondpilot]

do 6k axles exist? I say some 12k rated trailers.. ( single tandem ).. was figuring 7k axles derated either by geometry or frame ?

thanks

soundguy

Yes, 6K axles are very common in 5th wheel campers and boat trailers.

Chris

 

[Soundguy]

this must have been a custom build.. it was an enclosed box trailer.. but looke dlike some custom mods..

thanks for the info

soundguy

 

[powerstroke444e]

What I don't get is why? I would much rather have 3 5,200# axles for a 15,600# total axle rating and be able to use 15" wheels and 225 tires versus 14,400# rating and have to go to 16" wheels and 235 tires.

Chris

Guess it depends on your use, I would take 2 7K over 3 axles any day and as I want as few tires to check as possible. I got 2 8k's with G rated singles on it as I didn't want to move up to duals. I have a single 8k on my small trailer.

Good thing they make a lot of differant options as we all like differant set ups.

 

[tulenutn2o]

Guess it depends on your use, I would take 2 7K over 3 axles any day and as I want as few tires to check as possible. I got 2 8k's with G rated singles on it as I didn't want to move up to duals. I have a single 8k on my small trailer.

Good thing they make a lot of differant options as we all like differant set ups.

Boy isn't that the truth. Otherwise we would all be driving Chevrolets.

 

[77bronco]

Guess it depends on your use, I would take 2 7K over 3 axles any day and as I want as few tires to check as possible.
Good thing they make a lot of differant options as we all like differant set ups.

After having a 40' fifth wheel travel trailer with 3 7k axles, I swore that I would never buy another 3 axle trailer. I would have preferred a trailer with 2 10k axles.
When I was looking for a cargo trailer there was an over abundance of 3 axles w/ either 3.5k or 5k axles. I finally found a tandem trailer that had the capacity I was looking for.

Some times I think the mfg use 3 light axles because they are probably cheaper that 2 heavy rated axles.