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UPDATE - Found a Cat trailer that looks pretty good, is there anything I’m missing?
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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!
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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!
On another note, I might be ready to expand my MIG capability to include alum!
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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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!!!
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!!!
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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?
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?
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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.
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.
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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.
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.
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