UPDATE - Found a Cat trailer that looks pretty good, is there anything I’m missing?

[2ndAmend]

Get a power jack and use it to reduce the angle.

Please explain, I'm old, but new at this. Thanks.

 

[DavidKFla]

Please explain, I'm old, but new at this. Thanks.

Jack up the tongue to lower the angle.

 

[2ndAmend]

Jack up the tongue to lower the angle.

Thanks, now I understand. That is a very practical idea though I have yet to try it. I just bought a HF Alum 1.5t jack on Christmas sale for about $62. And the trailer has fold down anti-tilt legs in the back!

 

[DavidKFla]

Thanks, now I understand. That is a very practical idea though I have yet to try it. I just bought a HF Alum 1.5t jack on Christmas sale for about $62. And the trailer has fold down anti-tilt legs in the back!

View attachment 126270

View attachment 126271

Leave the legs up or the trailer won't tilt.

I would recommend that you check the wheel bearings and grease them.

 

[2ndAmend]

Leave the legs up or the trailer won't tilt.

I would recommend that you check the wheel bearings and grease them.

Trailer is only couple years old, if the tires are not substantially worn, bearings should be ok, even with no maintenance. Besides, they are easy to check, and easy and cheap to replace. My major concern is poor mfg quality and cracks. Hopefully this company knows what they are doing. I'll look carefully.

On another note, I might be ready to expand my MIG capability to include alum!

 

[Hatermkr]

I will always take a trailer to the track. Never know when you or a friend will break.
I will go through wheel bearings on my trailer in spring maybe buy new tires check brakes clean and adjust.
make sure all lights work and get ready formsummer

 

[Hatermkr]

Trailer is only couple years old, if the tires are not substantially worn, bearings should be ok, even with no maintenance. Besides, they are easy to check, and easy and cheap to replace. My major concern is poor mfg quality and cracks. Hopefully this company knows what they are doing. I'll look carefully.

On another note, I might be ready to expand my MIG capability to include alum!

Make sure it does not have leaf spring suspension that wears out fast

 

[DavidKFla]

I will always take a trailer to the track. Never know when you or a friend will break.
I will go through wheel bearings on my trailer in spring maybe buy new tires check brakes clean and adjust.
make sure all lights work and get ready formsummer

Flyin Brian told me that it's not ready for any service yet. Not enough miles.

 

[2ndAmend]

Make sure it does not have leaf spring suspension that wears out fast

Now, again, I'm confused. Don't they all have leaf springs?

 

[DavidKFla]

Now, again, I'm confused. Don't they all have leaf springs?

Torsion bar.

 

[Jimmy N.]

Funny you should say that. I looked at 2 other mfr's of alum trailers and they both warned me away from their 7k recommending the 10k, maybe their spec was optimistic? I contacted Rance, they the 4500# HC should be fine. They further stated a trailer rated for a load higher than the actual load will cause a more harsh ride for the Cat. Made sense to me, but I'm only an engineer.

There's reason I got air suspension on the 25K gooseneck. It rides smoothly empty and with 16K on it. Plus dumping the air makes approach and break-over angles better when loading it.

My little 18' also rides well on its 5,200 axles but it probably weighs twice what an aluminum bumper pull does. Ride quality aside, I much prefer 5,200 lb. axles. And it's easy enough to swap in 3,500 lb. springs.

Now, again, I'm confused. Don't they all have leaf springs?

One big reason I got rid of that EBY aluminum trailer pictured earlier is that it had torsion axles. Leaf spring suspensions are easy to work on, and normally all they need is new bushings every 20,000 to 30,000 miles. At a cost of about $20.

Even if torsion axles didn't have other drawbacks, consider that the trailer really needs to be perfectly level for them to work correctly.

 

[2ndAmend]

Ok, pulled the trigger and now it's home. It looks very clean, checked every weld, no cracks. I don't know a lot about these trailers but it looks pretty solid, 2x4 alum tube (box) full length, and the suspension is a complete separate bolt-on steel unit so all suspension stress goes into a formed 1/4"tk steel angle that is about 5' long and the alum frame is cradled on the angle. No stress points.

A 10k tilt steel tilt trailer would be better, but this 1335# one is right for me and the 1/2t.

Thanks for all the help!!!

 

[2ndAmend]

Question:

On the way home I had a little vibration, I'm thinking the light empty trailer with hard cold tires (27deg) was just bouncing around. I was wondering if perhaps the wheels need to be balanced? Tires look like new, and in 45y of towing, I never balanced a trailer wheel.

Anyone ever need to balance a trailer wheel?

 

[DavidKFla]

Question:

On the way home I had a little vibration, I'm thinking the light empty trailer with hard cold tires (27deg) was just bouncing around. I was wondering if perhaps the wheels need to be balanced? Tires look like new, and in 45y of towing, I never balanced a trailer wheel.

Anyone ever need to balance a trailer wheel?

What's the dates on the tires?

 

[Jimmy N.]

I balance all my trailer tires. Unbalanced tires are not good for anything involved, and just because people can't feel it in the steering wheel doesn't make it a non-issue.

 

[2ndAmend]

What's the dates on the tires?

2320, it's a '21MY. Though it has obviously been stored outdoors, we don't have the sun like you guys.

 

[RAMBLE1]

Flyin Brian told me that it's not ready for any service yet. Not enough miles.

I am surprised, Fly'n Bryan Trailers is a couple miles down the road. I bought my enclosed trailer there and have all the maintenance/repairs completed at his dealership. I have been pleased with the dealership. It's a small world...

 

[RAMBLE1]

I balance all my trailer tires. Unbalanced tires are not good for anything involved, and just because people can't feel it in the steering wheel doesn't make it a non-issue.

You are correct!
I bought new trailer tires a few years, ago, at Discount Tire. I wanted the tires balanced and they were surprised, telling me "nobody balances trailer tires," the salesman, finally, agreed to have the tires balanced. I watched the technicians change the tires, but forget to balance them. I informed them, the tires were to be balanced and again, I was informed "nobody balances trailer tires." Well, I told them to read the order and then, the salesman came out and handled the situation. I worked at a tire manufacturing plant for many years, balancing is a good thing for your trailer, car, truck, etc.

 

[DavidKFla]

I am surprised, Fly'n Bryan Trailers is a couple miles down the road. I bought my enclosed trailer there and have all the maintenance/repairs completed at his dealership. I have been pleased with the dealership. It's a small world...

They are very good people to deal with. I just took the ATC back to them if I needed anything upgraded, etc. Recommend them to anyone.

 

[Jimmy N.]

You are correct!
I worked at a tire manufacturing plant for many years, balancing is a good thing for your trailer, car, truck, etc.

It definitely can't hurt anything to have them vibration free. No reason not to balance any tire that sees speeds over 30 or so.

Somewhat related, this week I got reminded of how important road force balancing can be. It was a set of refurbished wheels and more winter friendly tires for the GT AWD.

Three of the four were rejected by the Hunter GSP 9700 for having excessive road force numbers, and not only by a little bit. After measuring rim run-out (a simple procedure) the machine shows exactly how much to turn the tire on the wheel to make two discrepancies cancel each other.

It also shows what improvement to expect, and for the worst one it would go down from .052 to .034. That's still quite high, but obviously better. After doing the match balance it came out to .006! Yes, the worst one became the best of the four.

A regular spin balancer would've simply asked for small amounts of weight (to get them right required a fair bit more) and the machine would've declared them balanced. Not true in real life. You can balance out a piece of 2x4 attached to the tread, but that won't make it go down the road nicely.

Also, more often than not, the tire and wheel combo with the most weights is actually the smoothest running one.