KennyG
Elite Member
Just take the axle rating and cross your fingers. :cool2:
People are weird
- Thread starter crazyal
- Start date
Just take the axle rating and cross your fingers. :cool2:
Redlands Okie
Veteran Member
In many areas trailer house style axels are not legal except on trailer house. Many are not built for repeated use. Be careful
I prefer to have something with some semblance of a weight rating, so that I can multiply it by 2.5 to know how much it will haul.
Seriously there are a lot of decent homemade trailers out there, and people who know what they are doing don't have a problem. It's weekend warriors like me who need those guidelines.
probably true in some locations, but also certainly urban legend in others. as i mentioned before i built one 20-ish years ago on axles fresh out from under a mobile home. i had the axles and springs and the steel - i just needed the shackles and equalizer, so i went to a well-known local trailer business to buy them, and they told me mobile home axles were illegal, and blah, blah, and showed me two trailers that had been cited by the police and towed off the highway to their yard. Mind you, both of those trailers looked really questionable from 100 feet away, and it had nothing to do with the axles - no fenders, entire trailer made of one depth of 2" pipe, and on and on...
after their refusal to sell me shackles without buying their $400 apiece braked axles along with them, i took a trip to the office of the commercial vehicle department the next day to find out the rules. the big catch phrase they kept citing had nothing to do with anything marked "mobile home use". it was "not for highway service". that was the governing terminology. if it was good enough to be on the highway to haul mobile homes it was good enough to put under a car trailer, hay trailer, or whatever type of trailer. the person i talked to got the head of the commercial vehicle department on the line to confer on the subject, and after, he asked me who the dealer was and actually called them and had a discussion with them on what was legal.
I actually have a pair of those centerless 14.5" rims with 9" tires on them that have an ungodly rating compared to what they use on mobile homes. they are exactly the same style as mobile home axles but they are from a commercial trailer meant to haul equipment far heavier than what the average joe uses. i doubt that "style" of axle is truly illegal anywhere. it's like split rims - there's people who wouldn't go anywhere near them, and there's people who would swear by them.
In WA, no restriction on the axle, but there is one on tires. You have to meed any restrictions molded on the tire.
"Any tire marked “for mobile home use only,” “mobile home only,” “not street legal,” or any marking indicating the tire is not legal on the vehicle presented for inspection will not pass inspection. "
Bruce
"Any tire marked “for mobile home use only,” “mobile home only,” “not street legal,” or any marking indicating the tire is not legal on the vehicle presented for inspection will not pass inspection. "
Bruce
Yeah, there were / are other considerations here if you use the trailer in commerce that may supersede. we don't need inspections on trailers if we don't use the trailer in commerce. that was the other mantra asked by the commercial vehicle guys when i was asking what i needed... "is the trailer used in commerce"?
Renze
Elite Member
same here in Europe. People are buying brand new as cheap as possible, which is all 2mm pressed tin, has not enough crossmembers and twists on uneven roads.
My trailer is 1991, from the time that decent trailers were still built. I re galvanised it for 300 euro and put aluminium diamond plate over the wood to protect the resin coat, so it will last till my retirement. Its about 70% heavier than stock but thats ok, ive got decent brakes.
OP
crazyal
Super Member
The problem with mobile home axles is parts are not sold to repair some of them. Things like brake shoes. But decades ago they also sold identical looking axles that were rated for trailer use. As far as I know you can still buy pars for them. One of the easiest ways I was told to spot the difference is the backing plate and springs. Mobile home axles have no backing plate (you can see the brake shoe) and the leaf spring is just one thick spring, not multiple leafs. Since this state doesn't care most (if not all) of the mobile home places sell the axles and tires. The price is usually cheaper than buying replacement shoes. That's why so many homemade trailers are made with them. When you can buy a used once mobile home only tire and wheel for $25 vs $100 and having to special order them it makes it awful tempting for most people.
The biggest problem is the way the wheel mounts to the axle. If one bolt loosens up the whole wheel is now compromised. If the steel wheel flexes a little the wheel is compromised. The mobile home guys always carry lots of spares because when they make sharp turns with a mobile home with 3 or more axles it puts a lot of sideways stress on the wheels. They also overload them and get away with it by bumping up the air pressure past where most people would run them. I will use them but you really must pay attention and verify they are tight often.
The biggest problem is the way the wheel mounts to the axle. If one bolt loosens up the whole wheel is now compromised. If the steel wheel flexes a little the wheel is compromised. The mobile home guys always carry lots of spares because when they make sharp turns with a mobile home with 3 or more axles it puts a lot of sideways stress on the wheels. They also overload them and get away with it by bumping up the air pressure past where most people would run them. I will use them but you really must pay attention and verify they are tight often.