What Axle Do I Have?

[Iplayfarmer]

More small steps. I got the front marker lights mounted (Pic 1) and began the wiring process (Pic 2). My wife helped me last night to do the wiring. The extra set of hands really helped. Right now she's chasing parts (mounting loops) while I post pictures on TBN.

I didn't make any progress today because I spent the day on a trail ride up Conant Creek with my Dad and brother, my daughter, and an old high school buddy and his family. Well worth putting off completeing the trailer. The last two pics are some scenery from the trail ride.

Hopefully I can get more done tonight.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

I have all the lights installed and tested. I tested the brakes, too, by spinning the wheel by hand and applying voltage with a battery charger. Everything works great!! I still need to wire the actual plug, but I'd rather do that in the daylight.

One question for the gurus out there...How many holes should a typical tap cut? I've been clipping the wires to the trailer frame with brackets. I hold the brackets on with a 10-24 bolt into a hole that I've drilled and tapped. All was well until I tried to tap holes in the metal on the tongue. I busted two taps. Same tap; same drill bit. The tongue is new metal from a steel yard, so it's not crazy stuff like bed rails or anything.

What has me baffled is that the tap worked great on the trailer frame.

After this I need to paint and install the fenders, install the wiring plug, and install the tilt latch. I need to get this trailer done soon because I have 7 ton of hay to bring home.

 

[Diamondpilot]

If you did any welding near the area you are trying to tap it will eat them up in a hurry.

Chris

 

[Iplayfarmer]

If you did any welding near the area you are trying to tap it will eat them up in a hurry.

Chris

I've welded within about 6 inches of the holes I drilled. Maybe that's it. At any rate, I've given up on tapping the tongue for wire brackets. I'm going to drill holes and use the trusty zip tie method.

Now on to a chain question. I went to buy chain for my safety chains, and the highest test chain I could find at my local hardware store was 3600 lb. The 3600 lb. test chain was bigger than anything I've ever seen on a trailer, and my trailer is not one of the bigger ones.

According to the link I found in this thread the chain needs to "withstand [Maximum Gross Trailer Weight] without breaking". That means my chain needs to withstand 7,500 pounds.

Based on my observations of more reasonably sized chains on trailers, I'm wondering if there's a difference between the chain test weight and the load it will withstand without breaking. For instance a hitch ball has to withstand 3X the load to be rated at a certain weight. If chains were rated the same way, a chain rated a 1/3 the trailer weight would be within the limits of the requirement.

Any thoughts?

 

[Diamondpilot]

]

Any thoughts?

Yes, put regular old safety chains on it. Don't over think this one.:thumbsup:

Chris

 

[Iplayfarmer]

Yes, put regular old safety chains on it. Don't over think this one.:thumbsup:

Chris

Are there different grades and ratings of safety chains? I looked on etrailer.com and 5,000 pound chain was the best they had.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Are there different grades and ratings of safety chains? I looked on etrailer.com and 5,000 pound chain was the best they had.

I am sure there are but I am also sure this is one of the most overlooked areas. All my trailers have chains or cables but I could not tell you what any are rated at.

Chris

 

[Iplayfarmer]

I am sure there are but I am also sure this is one of the most overlooked areas. All my trailers have chains or cables but I could not tell you what any are rated at.

Chris

I ended up ordering a set of 5,000 pound chains from Amazon. I may replace them later with higher test chains. I'm surprised that higher test chains are not easier to find.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

The plug is wired, and I got the latch pieces welded on. I think one more night of work and I'll be done enough to use it.

I had a minor setback tonight. I test fitted the equalizer hitch and found that I had the jack right where the bracket for the equalizer needed to be. I had to cut the jack off and move it back further.

I need to mount the second fender, install my safety chains when the come, and check all my bolts. After that I think I'm ready to roll.

Edit: I'll paint the fenders later. For now I have to get this trailer rolling so I can pick up hay.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Nice to see it come to a end. It always ends up being a big project when you tear into something to fix a minor issue.

Glad you go it about finished up.

As a side note, I would Rhino Line the fenders. You can buy spray cans or really good kits on EBAY. We are getting ready to do a 3500 Dmax with a kit from EBAY. None of that cheap Auto parts store crap, a real Kit. $150 for a full size 1 ton truck.

Chris