Sedan Rear Axle Weight Rating?

[Iplayfarmer]

With it out of the car it didn't have the plethora of linkages attached to it that kept it all nice and straight and square in the chassis.

That's what I was thinking. There's almost as much weight in brackets, etc. on this axle I have as there is in axle.

 

[dstig1]

I've been looking on the internet for typical rear axle weight ratings for a mid size sedan, but this information is surprisingly hard to find. Someone here must know.

The situation is that I have a rear axle out of an early 90's Pontiac Bonneville. I will eventually make some kind of light weight trailer out of it, but I want to know just how light weight it needs to be. The best I've been able to figure out is that these mid size sedans typically weight about 4500 pounds loaded, and the weight is spread roughly half and half between the front and back. If I can't find any other information, I'm going to go with 2250 as my axle capacity.

Can't say what it is rated, but your assumption of 50/50 weight distribution on an early 90's GM sedan is waaaaaaaaay off. 50/50 is ideal for RWD cars, and those were the Dark Times for most American cars. Besides early 90's Bonnevilles were FWD, IIRC.. I had an old 83 Bonne as my first vehicle and it was RWD but that was very different than the models in the time period you are talking about. Those FWD cars are probably no better than 60/40, and likely worse.

But my question - is it really worth it? Why not just buy the cheap axle from Northern or something? For a light weight trailer, you will kill yourself trying to make this work (properly). Even more realistically finding something used should not be hard. The light weight stuff like you are describing seems pretty common on CL.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

The goal here is to make a trailer that can haul a 4-wheeler to camp and then be pulled around by the 4-wheeler once I get to camp. I may pull stuff around with the 4-wheeler at home too. It will basically be a glorified garden cart.

I think it will be worth it. I already have the axle. Even the cheapest one at Northern is over $200 shipped. I may have to buy a few leaf springs from Surplus center and maybe some U-bolts from R and P Carriages. I've also thought about leaving the shock mounts on the axle and using a strut or coil over shock for the suspension. It just depends on what I can get cheap or used locally. I actually have the coil springs that were originally with the axle. I don't see a way to use the coil springs and keep the low ground clearance and low loading angle that I am shooting for.

I'm sure I could get something off Craig's List for a little cheaper than I can build this one, but it won't be as perfect for my needs. And, whatever I get in that price range is going to need some R&R anyway.

 

[jbooth]

Gatormade has 2000 # axle with springs and free shipping for $185.00 on E-Bay. They have a starting bid of $168.00.


Trailer Parts items - Get great deals on parts, tire items on eBay Stores!

 

[Redneck in training]

here is my trailer after about 20 years of abuse. The axle is Renault Fuego (Trailng arms sprung by torsion bars). The front and rear gates can be opened and removed. My guess is that it weights about 200 lb. I can just about lift it.
It cost about $500 (1990 dollars) including an Hobbart arc welder and angle grinder. The axle was $50 including wheels and tires at local junkyard, the most expensive part was the cupling and the lights.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Very nice build.

Chris

 

[roamerr]

That Bonneville Axle is likely limited by the tires. My dad pulled a cub tractor and many other things behind a 1986 Chev Celebrity. Crazy but once the bump stops settled on the axle it pulled great. Use that Bonneville axle and don't worry about it. I would consider it as strong as the crappy engineered 3500 lb trailer axles. Engineering and requirements for passenger cars (or tires) is far better than for non-passenger carrying items. That's why I run LT tires on my trailers versus the poorly engineered ST tires...

 

[Iplayfarmer]

...Trailng arms sprung by torsion bars...

Will you please post a picture of the underside of that trailer when you get a minute? I was thinking of mounting mine with trailing arms like you said, but I hadn't thought of the torsion bars. I was having a heck of a time trying to fit springs or struts into my design. Anything I came up with raised the ground clearance above what is acceptable to me.

 

[Renze]

I would consider it as strong as the crappy engineered 3500 lb trailer axles. Engineering and requirements for passenger cars (or tires) is far better than for non-passenger carrying items.

Thats what i meant too
Car hubs are designed for high speed braking and the bearings are designed to go at least 200.000km
trailer axle brakes are much smaller and the bearings are designed for less than half the lifespan of a car. I never lost a wheelbearing on any of my cars, neither on the two that both did 360.000km before i sold them. On trailers however, changeing the bearing (sometimes the very same SKF bearing also used in cars) was a job done quite often at my previous employer, a trailer builder and service company.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

Here is the current plan. I'm still debating about a different suspension vs. the leaf springs. Notice that I drew in a gas spring between the tongue and the deck. This is my way of staying close to a 60/40 split for the axle while still letting the deck tilt without a helper standing on the tail. The way it's drawn, the trailer will stay flat until I start the tilt manually. After I start it, the gas spring will kick in and then hold the tilt until weight is put on the front of the trailer again. If it works on this little trailer, I'll do something similar with my car hauler size trailer.