Flipping running gear upside down -- a good idea?

[davel8257]

I have an old farm wagon with rotting deck. I want to tear it down to the running gear, sand blast and paint and put a new deck on. I use this wagon to haul firewood. I'm thinking of flipping the running gear over. The spindle would now be higher than the cross-beam and only allow a few inches of ground clearance. I'd have to grind off the upright bolsters and weld on new ones on the top side. The deck would be lower to the ground and easier to load/unload and more stable. Also, I'm probably going to shorten it as I don't need a 14ft long bed to haul 8ft logs.

With ramps, this trailer might be feasible to use to haul my 45HP tractor short distances, at slow (SMV) speeds on backroads.

If I get into this project and the frame is more rusty than it looks, I might talk my son-in-law into putting his sawmill on it for local, on-farm use. (there are other posts here that like that idea).

 

[Renze]

Is the steering spindle secured on top, with only the gravity of the spindle and wheel assembly, or is it bidirectional ?

 

[cj7]

I realize this changes the advantage of being a deck over but.... Could possibly narrow the deck to between the wheels and add fenders? Not sure how much room youll need for the steer tires.
Just a thought.

 

[Farmer495]

Your front end spindles won't like that, the mounts and camber aren't correct when upside down.

 

[Renze]

Your front end spindles won't like that, the mounts and camber aren't correct when upside down.

If it has caster, the virtual turning point on the ground (where the axis of the spindle meets the ground) moves away from where the wheel meets rolling resistance. If theres play in the steering linkage (which there always is on old stuff) wheel wobble are going to increase badly.

Is a step deck a solution, where you only inverse the rear axle ?

Even welding some brackets to the axles so that the rafters lay flush with the axle beams, lowers your deck height. You just cant extend your deck too much over the axles then, but as long as your tractor can sit on it, youre good....

 

[davel8257]

After some more thought -- I realized the only real solution to a lower deck height is to keep it within the wheels. No matter which way the axles are turned, if the deck is wider than the wheels, it has to clear the top of the wheels. D'oh!! With that in mind, I'll give more thought to how much deck I really need and what I'm going to use this wagon for. I might even just decide to sell it and not fool with it.

 

[gstrom99]

I might even just decide to sell it and not fool with it.

Probably the best plan...

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Running gears are very stable, not tippy at all the way they are built, I load the hell out of mine and never have had one try to tip over,

It's more about having tight bearings and good rubber on them, than anything else.

SR

 

[airbiscuit]

This sounds like a solution in search of a problem. It's a wagon. Just use it.