Anyone know what these are, or where they come from?

lostcause · Dec 21, 2010

So, I dragged these axles home a while ago figuring that I might eventually build a trailer larger than the 16' deck one I already have. I used mobile home axles on my first equipment trailer 10+ years ago, so I'm familiar with this style of hub and wheel setup, but I've never seen anything quite like these.

They're around 2' along the axle tube. I was thinking that whatever they were under must have had one on each side of the trailer - probably 4 to 6 of these setups total under the deck? even so, that puts the wheels about a foot and a half apart on each side, so it's not like any dual axle I can ever remember seeing. anyone know exactly what these were from?

Craig Clayton · Dec 21, 2010

I believe they are mobile home axles or off of a construction flat deck carrier. Their load capacity is probably 6000 LBS. Tires and rims could be expensive.
Craig Clayton

ihuntbear · Dec 21, 2010

trailer for municiple sidewalk blower

MF 1532 · Dec 21, 2010

These are used on equipment trailers . They used to be pretty common . Two axles would be installed side by side . A pain to change inside tire .

Ductape · Dec 21, 2010

Check out Econoline Trailers....... their 'Backhoe Pro'

http://www.econolinetrailers.com/images/specsheets/MP1023DE.pdf

Axles: " Commercial grade, (4)Multi-Maxｮ independent axles with Axles Alignment Assemblies. 5000# capacity each. "

Diamondpilot · Dec 21, 2010

Yep, trailer axles and like stated the inside wheel/brake/bearing is a pain. Could not give them to me. I have dealt with these on a 50,000# houseboat trailer. Pain in the butt.

Chris

lostcause · Dec 21, 2010

Ductape said:
Check out Econoline Trailers....... their 'Backhoe Pro'

http://www.econolinetrailers.com/images/specsheets/MP1023DE.pdf

Axles: " Commercial grade, (4)Multi-Maxｮ independent axles with Axles Alignment Assemblies. 5000# capacity each. "

thanks for the link. that looks just like them. i guess i've never paid enough attention to anything quite that large. it's outside of the realm of what i need and use, and i guess i never looked carefully at them. i always thought they used more of a truck-style dual wheel setup.

ihuntbear said:
trailer for municiple sidewalk blower

i gotta admit, i like this answer

lostcause · Dec 21, 2010

Diamondpilot said:
Yep, trailer axles and like stated the inside wheel/brake/bearing is a pain. Could not give them to me. I have dealt with these on a 50,000# houseboat trailer. Pain in the butt.

Chris

i know a lot of people don't like this style of axle/wheel/tire. some are scared of them from being fed too much misinformation, and i'm sure there are some that have legitimate beefs with them. myself, after 10+ years with my trailer, i've got no complaints. i think i'm wearing down my third set of tires, but they have all worn well - just eventually worn out. i can't recall ever blowing one, but my father tore up two on it one summer. if i remember correctly the carcasses he brought back were nearly bald and looked like they had broken cords in them. i can't be sure, but knowing him, he was overloaded and pounding over potholes.

i don't use my trailer daily, but i do put my share of miles on it. it was made from around 1990 vintage (guessing) mobile home axles that i removed from under a house myself. i don't know if they had many miles on them or not. i had to weld new spring seats on them because i set it up axle over spring to get as low as i could. mine have virtually no backing plate - just the minimal amount to hold the hardware on. the brakes are pretty well gone now, so i'll be addressing that this winter. even when i built my trailer there was no way i could have bought two axles with brakes and four tires and rims for $1000. i got three mobile home axles and six tires and wheels for $100 total. it was too good of a deal to not build the trailer that way.

myself, i certainly don't feel they are the least bit unsafe. i try to maintain and look over my stuff, and not abuse anything unless there is no choice. i've towed other people's commercially manufactured trailers with conventional axles and brakes enough times to know that maintenance and awareness of your equipment is as important as anything. i had a friend's trailer pop off the ball and chase me down (empty, thankfully) last year. i outran it on the safety chains and finally got stopped on the uphill grade to rehook. the owner neglected to tell me that the coupler latch didn't actually work unless you bungeed the latch forward. had it been mine i would have replaced the faulty part once i knew there was an issue. i believe many unsafe trailers out there are are a product of neglect and not low quality hardware. i suspect that a large portion of the questionable mobile home axled trailers out there are past their prime and not well taken care of - assuming they were ever built well enough to start with. i suspect this is the biggest legitimate reason they get a bad rap.