Gooseneck trailer build...

[Shaneard]

If you go 50" with beams and from that add 22"-24" to hub face on each side then add the width of the tire the outside of your tires wont be legal to pull on the road. If you divide the 22"-24" by 2 then it sounds more logical.

 

[Deere Dude]

If I understand your concern about the wheels being to far out from the spring, you will have to shorten the axle by enough to get the drums withing 9" of the spring. Just cut the axle and sleeve it on the outside to the required length.

 

[Renze]

Axle manufacturers allow a certain spring spacing in relation to the axle length. The wheels too far out the springs will cause the axle to bend.

 

[doug42190]

If I understand your concern about the wheels being to far out from the spring, you will have to shorten the axle by enough to get the drums withing 9" of the spring. Just cut the axle and sleeve it on the outside to the required length.

Deere Dude, Thank you for your response. I think you and Renze understand my problem. The 50 inch outside to outside I beams mean I need 46 inch on center spring perches -- which means that there will be too much distance from the spring perch to the tire with the axles I have -- allowing the axle tubes to flex as well as likely adding too much stress on the wheel bearings. I finally just spoke to someone from Dexter who clearly stated that it would work "to a point" in that it would severely "de-rate" the axle by allowing too much flex that far out. He did say that if I call them with the serial number from the single wheel axle they could tell me how much it would de-rate the axle to change the perches to 46 inches on center from their current 80 inches on center. I suppose the other viable option would be as Deere Dude suggested to shorten and sleeve the axles but I cannot imagine how a single tire trailer would look or handle with the tires up under the trailer a couple of feet (towards the center of the trailer)!
I think I will either find a replacement dually axle or see if someone has found a way to modify their trailer underneath to change over from a 46 inch mounting point to an 80 inch mounting point.
My original question was does anyone know the center to center distance (or outside to outside) for the I beams the builder on this thread used?
Thanks everyone.
Doug

 

[1stDeuce]

My original question was does anyone know the center to center distance (or outside to outside) for the I beams the builder on this thread used?
Thanks everyone.
Doug

Sorry I missed this conversation Doug.

My beam spacing is 68-1/2" on center. This matches the spring pad spacing on the axles, which I purchased from Johnson's Surplus in MI. (Here's an ebay link to the exact axles I used, which have 86.5" hub face and 68.5 spring center distances.)

68-1/2" spacing put the trailer I-beams almost directly under the tires of a full size truck, which is the heaviest vehicle I intended it to haul.

You definitely want the springs as close to the axle ends as possible for best strength. I would have no issues welding spring perches farther outboard than the factory has welded them if I needed them wider, but moving them inboard from the factory placement will result in the axle bending easier, or not being able to hold the factory rated load. Going from 80" to 48" would cut the axle rating almost in half.

I would NOT recommend running springs at 48" on center on a trailer wider than about 6'. You need to get the rails spaced apart much farther for stability and for strength. 60" would be a good minimum, but the wider the better. Vehicles are normally the worst case loading, as they have all the weight on four points of contact. Having those points be directly over the beams is the right idea, IMO.

 

[LD1]

Differences in design I guess.

While I haven't measured mine, just by looking, my beams are about 50" apart. But I believe my spring hangers and all the pictures stuff mount OUTSIDE the beam.

So a pair of beams at about 8" wide, a 50" center distance puts the beams 58" outside to outside.

Then mount all the spring hangers pivot stuff outside that adds another 3-4" outside the beam each side.

If I had to venture a guess, I'd say my springs are in the 66" on center ballpark . But I do have dual tandem axles too. Can't really have them much farther apart because of the tires

I'd venture

 

[LD1]

Differences in design I guess.

While I haven't measured mine, just by looking, my beams are about 50" apart. But I believe my spring hangers and all the pictures stuff mount OUTSIDE the beam.

So a pair of beams at about 8" wide, a 50" center distance puts the beams 58" outside to outside.

Then mount all the spring hangers pivot stuff outside that adds another 3-4" outside the beam each side.

If I had to venture a guess, I'd say my springs are in the 66" on center ballpark . But I do have dual tandem axles too. Can't really have them much farther apart because of the tires

I'd venture

 

[1stDeuce]

That's a good point. For duals, the springs (and frame rails) can't be as far apart, but a dually axle tube is really heavy to account for the closer spring spacing.

Using an axle designed for 80" spacing at something much narrower is still a very bad idea, and having the frame be wider, and right over the springs sure seems like the best way to do things in general.

With the geometry I have, the tires only have a couple inches of clearance to the frame. I can see doing 60" on center, but still not 48". That's just too narrow.

LD1, can you put a tape on what you've got, and perhaps post up a few pics of the outboard suspension mounting? The idea of this thread was to share build ideas, and I'm sure some would benefit from seeing how else to do things.
Thanks!

 

[LD1]

That's a good point. For duals, the springs (and frame rails) can't be as far apart, but a dually axle tube is really heavy to account for the closer spring spacing.

Using an axle designed for 80" spacing at something much narrower is still a very bad idea, and having the frame be wider, and right over the springs sure seems like the best way to do things in general.

With the geometry I have, the tires only have a couple inches of clearance to the frame. I can see doing 60" on center, but still not 48". That's just too narrow.

LD1, can you put a tape on what you've got, and perhaps post up a few pics of the outboard suspension mounting? The idea of this thread was to share build ideas, and I'm sure some would benefit from seeing how else to do things.
Thanks!

It's probably just like any other dual tandem GN.

But if I remember I'll take some pics when I get home from work

 

[LD1]

Found an old thread where I had some pics with the boards off. I was wrong. My springs are indeed right under the beam. But beams are still probably about 50" . Looks like a good 20+" of trailer outside each beam. And 102" wide or there about.

But yeah, no room due to tires on a dual wheel

To paint or not to Paint the trailer.