What is this trailer worth $$?

[Su7]

Well, it has certainly took me a long to to get back in touch with the owner, or should I say previous owner, since he accepted my $1000 offer and thus I picked up the trailer today. I now have some more pics and questions with respect to the correct path in getting the trailer road worthy. The new deck is no problem but the wheels, brakes, springs and axles are another issue. It sounds like the general concensus is to upgrade in some form or fashion to non-MH tires/wheels/axles due to the limited supply of them and their inherent problems.

Please take a look at the attached pics and confirm that these are indeed a MH type setup, which they seem to be since the tires are 7.00x14.5. Additionally, you can see from the axle pic that although this may have had brakes all the wiring is cut or no longer attached. So all that being said should I go the route of replacing the entire axle and spring assembly? Who makes a good, resaonably priced axle assemblies, Dexter 7K axles w/12"x2" brakes as mentioned or are there others? Is there a good supplier of trailer parts and accessories in the PA/NY/NJ area? If not who is good outside that area?

What would be the reason to go with hydraulic brakes over electric other than cost and what is the "freeback" option as seen below?

Brake type
----------------
Electric
Single Servo Hydraulic
Single Servo Hydraulic Freeback
Duo-Servo Hydraulic

Are the standard spring setups good enough, or should they be slipper, possibly even the torsion type?

How about axle type, Std Grease, E-Z Lube, or Oil Bath ?

Thx as always for all your ideas on my now "trailer re-build" process!!

 

[rdln]

definitely MH axle, the monoleaf spring is a dead giveaway and no fully enclosed backing plate (which appears to be welded on.

Could not zoom in enough on the tire to tell, but if the acronym "MH" or "Not DOT Approved" is on the side then you should toss them. You should have 8-14.5 (i believe 14 ply) for that trailer.

The heavy rims have a small protrusion stamped in to prevent the wheel from rotating indepent of the hub when brakes are applied in case the clamps have loosened. The protrusion will be next to the clamp. I do not know if this makes the rim DOT approved or not.

If you plan on keeping the trailer, you will save a lot of headaches by swappiing in 6 or 7k axles, new springs, equalizers brakes 6 or 8 lug drums and wheel tires.

I like the rubber torsion concept but have never tried them, a little figuring is involved to get full load bump tire clearance and starting angle of arm to frame to jive. This axle is adjustable and very appealing to me: Trailer Axles
Cost compared to leaf spring axles is about a quarter to a third more.

Alot of traliers use the slipper sling setup but there is something about steel steel rubbing that I dont like.

 

[John White]

I would say that you are going to need a set of new axels. Be very careful in using any house trailer axels. I have made several trailers using them. And I personally would never rate them at more than 4000 per axel. The tubing is thinner that a regular axel designed for a construction trailer. And be weary of any old axel that appear to be pitted or very rusted like these. A couple of years ago I had a trailer in my shop and the spindle had broken off next to the spring hanger. It happened with a load on it. If they are pitted on the outside, there is a good chance they will be rusted on the inside also. Also most of the tires and rims used on house trailer axels are not as heavy as the ones used for comercial trailers. I have seen alot of new house trailers in route for delivery, sitting along the side of the road, with a collapsed axel, from just hitting a bump in the road. Most of them are made for one time use. I have run into older constructions trailers axels being bent or damaged in off road use and then some one would just pick up a set of these house trailer axels and put back under them. That is like as time bomb wating to happen. From the pick. it looke like the trailer is a decent one. I just bought a Holden 18ft trailer a week ago, rated at 14000. with oil bath axels and brakes, for $1300. It had been jacknifed and bent the tongue. I had to cut the A channel out and replace it. The channel cost me about $70. Plus my time. The bad thing, when they jacknifed it, it destored the vin plate(it was on the tongus) and the person lost it and had no record of numbers to call the mfg. So I since it weighs less than 3000lbs I have to register it as a home built.

 

[montanaman]

You can do some searching online for good places to buy trailer parts but if you can get to Ohio, or freight is cheap enough, I've found Appalachian MFG to have very good prices on axles and related parts. They sell Dexter axles and that seems to be about the most popular brand.

A note about the torsion axles. I always thought they would be a great idea but I talked to a guy who does a lot of trailer inspections and he sees a lot of failures. He believes the problem is they don't equalize the weight like the spring axles do and if you are hauling heavy and make a drastic transition, like stepping off of a curb, the rear axle is left holding all of the weight. I have NO experience with these and am just passing on what I have heard.

One thing that you may want to think about since you have the chance to do it once and do it right would be to get a better quality tire. I'd prefer used rims with a good tire to buying the new wheels with mounted tires. The trailer I have has Kenda tires on it made in China and while they are DOT, I just don't have the faith in them that I would in a better known brand.

As far as hydraulic VS electric brakes, I don't much care for the hydraulic for several reasons. If you get a little wiggle in the trailer from a passing semi, with the electric brakes, you can lightly feather the brake control and straighten things out. Also, for the hydraulic brakes to work, the master cylinder on the tongue has to be pushed to apply the brakes. So the trailer has to push the tow vehicle before it will begin to stop. Not what I would want on a snow covered road!! I think the electric brakes are a good bit less expensive too.

I think you have the start of what will be a very nice trailer and it looks like at the price you paid, you could have it fixed up really nice and still have a very good value.

Ken

 

[BTDT]

Maybe I missed it, but I went back and re-read the post, and no mention of what you will be doing/hauling with this trailer. I think that would play into how much I actually spent to put it back in shape.

 

[Lynkage]

Maybe I missed it, but I went back and re-read the post, and no mention of what you will be doing/hauling with this trailer. I think that would play into how much I actually spent to put it back in shape.

I'm thinkin that would be on the plus side of VERY IMPORTANT!!

 

[rdln]

"Maybe I missed it, but I went back and re-read the post, and no mention of what you will be doing/hauling with this trailer. I think that would play into how much I actually spent to put it back in shape."

It wouldnt matter if he wants to tow it around empty just to make his truck ride better, he needs to get the trailer mechanically sound.

 

[Su7]

As for the uses, non of which are commercial, I plan on hauling around several pieces of equipment, within a 100 mile radius of my place, to include my TC45D w/16LA, BH and loaded tires ~7000 lbs, a ~6000 lb bulldozer and a 5000 lb skidsteer. Other hauling uses would be hauling materials to and from my job site and some light logging should the opportunity arise and may necessitate the building sides of some sort or at least putting stakes in the provided pockets.

 

[George2615]

As others have said, look closely at the tire sidewalls. If they are mobile home tires they will say for mobile home use and not DOT approved on the sidewall. Another way to check I previously mentioned by pulling and inspecting the brake linings to see if parts are riveted together. There should also be an axle tag ID plate on the axle. If they are regular Dexter axles you can get parts to rebuild them. If they are MH axles you would be better off replacing them. Axle width is measured at the spring centers. Common spring center measurements are 54,62,70,72,74, & 78" with 70" the most common and has an overall length of 93 3/8". Dexter has a website for axles and related parts. Most tractor supply stores only carry 3500lb axles since the ones in NY don't sell double axles trailers any more. Northern Tool has complete spring mount axle kits rated for up to 6K and come complete w/ elec. brakes, drums, and springs. They also have torsion axles up to 7K. Their catalog shows all the axle measurements so get one if you don't have one.

 

[John White]

As mentioned in the eairler post. I have a trailer with the torsion axels. It is rated at 14000. I use it to haul my skid steer. I like it because it sets it lower to the ground. Thats something you might want to take into consideration. Your trailer did not come with that type of axel so it might make it set too low. And as mentioned, yes when driving over a large obsticle( pile or dirt or big hump or curb) the one wheel seems to carry all the load and ive seen the others off the ground. I have a small dozer and I have even hauled it on it without any problems yet but usually prefer to use one of my other trailers with the regular springs. From your picture I would say that that trailer new would cost you at least $4000. So you can afford to put a little in it and still have a good deal. I would definately go with the elec. brakes. I've never been satisfied with surge brakes. They use them alot on rental fleets because the people dont have a brake controller on their vehicle.