Nyone have a homemade trailer with MH axles?

[crazyal]

I bet if you went back and asked 4 other cops you would get different answers each and every time. Thats what we run into here.

Chris

How would they know if they are MH axles? The officer would have to crawl under my trailer and try to find a tag or something stating that they were designed for MH use only. I guess if they looked at the mfg data tag on the side of the trailer they could assume that the trailer came with the axles.

 

[Dargo]

I bet if you went back and asked 4 other cops you would get different answers each and every time. Thats what we run into here.

Chris

I think I mentioned before that I have an extremely rich uncle who owns a dozen or so large "manufactured housing" (he gets p****d if you call them mobile homes or wobbly boxes) dealerships. He probably sells at least a couple hundred a year. They cut the axles up and sell them for scrap rather than take the chance of someone creating a deadly situation with axles that positively were never made for extended use. I know well because about 20 years ago I tried to buy some from him and got the lecture. He made it perfectly clear that the axles were as cheap as they could possibly be and only designed to get the wobbly box to the dealership and then to the stack of concrete blocks in the woods. Even being a relative, no possible way he would sell me any. He told me of several times the axles didn't last long enough to get the mobile home to the buyer's property; wheel bearings locking up, axles bending when going around turns, wheels bending, etc. etc.

Based on his 40 years of selling them, I'd never use a trailer made with them on the road regardless of what anyone thinks of them. Think about it, why would a mobile home manufacturer spend a dollar more than they absolutely had to on axles that just had to get their wobbly box to a buyer's property. It's not like anyone tows their home around on vacation!

 

[crazyal]

I think I mentioned before that I have an extremely rich uncle who owns a dozen or so large "manufactured housing" (he gets p****d if you call them mobile homes or wobbly boxes) dealerships. He probably sells at least a couple hundred a year. They cut the axles up and sell them for scrap rather than take the chance of someone creating a deadly situation with axles that positively were never made for extended use. I know well because about 20 years ago I tried to buy some from him and got the lecture. He made it perfectly clear that the axles were as cheap as they could possibly be and only designed to get the wobbly box to the dealership and then to the stack of concrete blocks in the woods. Even being a relative, no possible way he would sell me any. He told me of several times the axles didn't last long enough to get the mobile home to the buyer's property; wheel bearings locking up, axles bending when going around turns, wheels bending, etc. etc.

Based on his 40 years of selling them, I'd never use a trailer made with them on the road regardless of what anyone thinks of them. Think about it, why would a mobile home manufacturer spend a dollar more than they absolutely had to on axles that just had to get their wobbly box to a buyer's property. It's not like anyone tows their home around on vacation!

Could you ask him a question? I've heard (but don't know for sure) that they over load the axles and run the tires at much higher than recomended pressures since they only plan for a one time use going a short distance. If so I see no reason to believe that any trailer axle would handle the abuse some of the larger MH put on them. After all they may not want to spend any more than they have to on the axles but they also don't want to be driving down the road and have to stop to replace an axle that has broke. It's not like they can simply pull to the side of the road or into a parking lot with a MH.

Of course that being said most people would not choose to buy equipment that has been severely abused. Someone who's seen the abuse the axles take not wanting to risk selling them and then getting sued also makes sense.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Could you ask him a question? I've heard (but don't know for sure) that they over load the axles and run the tires at much higher than recomended pressures since they only plan for a one time use going a short distance. If so I see no reason to believe that any trailer axle would handle the abuse some of the larger MH put on them. After all they may not want to spend any more than they have to on the axles but they also don't want to be driving down the road and have to stop to replace an axle that has broke. It's not like they can simply pull to the side of the road or into a parking lot with a MH.

Of course that being said most people would not choose to buy equipment that has been severely abused. Someone who's seen the abuse the axles take not wanting to risk selling them and then getting sued also makes sense.

Funny you say that. I was going to lunch in Dallas about 6 months ago and was behind a modular home in 2 pieces on the freeway. They were about 100 yards in-front of me when the next thing I see is sparks and debris flying. They took that exit, the very one I was going to for the restaurant. Sure enough a axle broke in half on a brand new unit.

They stopped on the shoulder of the off ramp and I went up a block or so and got lunch. Sure enough when I was leaving a hour later they were just getting it off the jacks. They had replaced the axle in a hour flat. The chase vehicle had all the tools and parts to do this repair so it must be common. They even had a impact gun running.

Chris

 

[slowzuki]

There is a wide range of axles running dayton style rims, just everyone lumps them in as MH axles. If you check carefully, the better ones have backing plates and the exact same bearings as a number of 8 bolt axles. Usually a multi leaf spring on the good ones too.

 

[Deere Dude]

I took my drums off my old MH axles to clean and grease them and see what makes them tick. The bearing in them are huge roller bearings and they spun like new. I can go down to the store and look at official trailer bearing and they are not even half as sturdy as these MH bearings. I would trust these MH heavy axles and bearings as much if not more than the much more expensive trailer axles I've seen.

 

[Dargo]

Could you ask him a question? I've heard (but don't know for sure) that they over load the axles and run the tires at much higher than recomended pressures since they only plan for a one time use going a short distance. If so I see no reason to believe that any trailer axle would handle the abuse some of the larger MH put on them. After all they may not want to spend any more than they have to on the axles but they also don't want to be driving down the road and have to stop to replace an axle that has broke. It's not like they can simply pull to the side of the road or into a parking lot with a MH.

Of course that being said most people would not choose to buy equipment that has been severely abused. Someone who's seen the abuse the axles take not wanting to risk selling them and then getting sued also makes sense.

If he thinks I may be even heading towards asking about getting an axle, he will go off. He's not in the best of moods anyway. We normally get about 3" or so of rain in April and the same in May. We got about 20" in April and around 15" in May. He also owns quite a few 'manufactured housing communities' (trailer parks) that got flooded badly several times in the last couple of months. He's really going to come out great in the long run. He's worth many millions of dollars. Still, he didn't get that way without being smart and frugal. Anyway, he's doing what amounts to press conferences and announcing where he's paying for new insulation, carpeting, furniture etc. for people who rent lots from his communities. No, he doesn't have to, but now all the media is talking about what a great guy he is and how everyone should buy from him. He couldn't pay enough for that kind of advertising. Still, he's quietly upset in a major way about forking out what may be hundreds of thousands when he doesn't have to. But, hey, he put them next to dumps in flood zones with busy railroad tracks running next to them....bought the land really cheap.

Anyway, sorry, off the subject. However, he does know the business extremely well. His father opened the first dealerships and trailer parks in the 50's and he literally grew up in the business until he bought his dad out. They do carry spare axles on their tote trucks and several spare tires when they move them. The new fad is to put them over basements. Probably not a bad idea especially since we had a couple dozen people killed by a tornado about 6 years or so ago in a trailer park. It wasn't one of his, but the guy who owned it still isn't right mentally. Most of the people killed were kids. This bus is named for a lady's son who was killed in that tornado CJ's Bus: A Safe Haven for Children in Disaster. I ran an excavator clearing up after the fact and those trailer frames are not anywhere close to a decent built trailer's frame. Although it's a pain, I'd put my trailer over a basement if I were to live in one after seeing that.

 

[brokenot]

There is a wide range of axles running dayton style rims, just everyone lumps them in as MH axles.

There are other axles that use the same style rims, but nobody gives those axles away or sells them cheap. So if we're talking home-built trailers, the vast majority are using mobile home axles....because the builder of the trailer got those axles for next to nothing. If anyone coughs up the $$ it takes to buy a quality rim-clamp non-mobile home axle for their shop-built trailer, I'd really wonder why. Does anyone really want 14.5 tires when alternatives exist?

I've posted this several times before, (much to the chagrin of mobile home axle fans), but here it is again. This is a direct link to a FAQ page on the Dexter Axle website. Dexter makes all kinds of axles for all kinds of trailers. Like many manufacturers, they make different "lines" of product, designed for different types of duty. Naturally, those differing duty types take a variety of things into consideration. Chief among them is cost. If the mobile home industry comes up with a spec for a component such as an axle, then what that axle needs to "do" for that application is taken into consideration. Is it going to need to last for years and accumulate thousands of miles? Nope.

Read what Dexter says themselves. They wouldn't build the other lines of product they build if "mobile home" axles were suitable for the applications their other axles are designed for.

Dexter Axle - Trailer Axles and Running Gear Components - FAQ'S

I've had lots of mobile home axles apart. I don't give a hoot about the 6000 pound "rating" their ID tag carries. They are inferior.....the companies that build them agree and aren't afraid to say so.. What could possibly be clearer than that?

(Last time I posted the Dexter link, someone actually replied that Dexter "talks down" their mobile home axle line intentionally so that people could be "fooled" into buying their more expensive stuff.:laughing

 

[crazyal]

Anyway, sorry, off the subject. However, he does know the business extremely well. His father opened the first dealerships and trailer parks in the 50's and he literally grew up in the business until he bought his dad out. They do carry spare axles on their tote trucks and several spare tires when they move them. The new fad is to put them over basements. Probably not a bad idea especially since we had a couple dozen people killed by a tornado about 6 years or so ago in a trailer park. It wasn't one of his, but the guy who owned it still isn't right mentally. Most of the people killed were kids. This bus is named for a lady's son who was killed in that tornado CJ's Bus: A Safe Haven for Children in Disaster. I ran an excavator clearing up after the fact and those trailer frames are not anywhere close to a decent built trailer's frame. Although it's a pain, I'd put my trailer over a basement if I were to live in one after seeing that.

I've noticed several being installed using a large crane to set them on the foundation. Although the double wides pre-man homes are much more popular now.

 

[slowzuki]

If you have had lots apart, you know some of them use the same brakes, bearings, axle beam etc as other similar rated axles and you can just swap drums to get budd style wheels onto them.

Many don't and have spindly little bearings, welded backing plates etc. So buy wisely for your cheap trailer project.

I'm happy with 14.5's, they are cheap, high load capacity and make for a low profile deckover trailer.