Of course you do.

But you KNOW what to do.

Musta' yo' daddy brungs youse up-rite!

Pop

 

dont feel bad jim! were just trying to help ya out!

HEY! why don't ya post some pictures of that car trailer!? not sure why.... but i like trailers! show us around, maybe we can answer questions and maybe spot some issues we can offer advice to you about that may possibly make your little side job easier on you.

 

That's a good idea, Justin!

Maybe I can lessen my new apprehension about Jim's endeavor.

Pop

 

hey jim! i was lurking around the norcal all topic and noticed you might be heading down to the L.A. area soon..... maybe if time works out we could meet up in the san fernando valley and have a looksie at your trailer! Maybe Pop might be available and have us a mini FTE roadside meet haha.

 

Good advice, and not without merit. The trailer was brand new when I bought it, as were the tires. So new in fact, I had to get a VIN plate from the CHP in order to register it, and get a title. I had no reason to inspect the bearings of a new trailer. I did check the hitch, and outer frame, and the tires, I did not crawl under it and check the inner frame.

I know how to repack bearings, I know how to change a flat tire, I did not know about the hammering on the hub while it is still on the bearings. My mechanic is going to repack all the wheel bearings tomorrow, so we can inspect everything then. When I buy the hub, I will buy two bearings for it just to be on the safe side.

Jim

 

I know you guys are just trying to help, no ill feelings at all. I can post pics of the trailer when I first got it, and before the winch was installed, I also have a pic or two of it towing my Bronco. I do have one question though, was going to post this in the trailer towing forum, but figured I would here since you mentioned the brake controller test.

If I adjust the TB **** so that the brakes are applied enough to cause the tires to skid in the dirt, won't they be slightly applied during normal driving? Don't want to wear out the brakes.







The last photo is the day I bought it. The trailer did not have the winch on it then, and was too high, so my mechanic's friend lowered it by putting the axles above the leaf springs instead of below them. I had the winch added, and I added the reflectors and reflective tape.

The top photo is how it is today as it was taken about 2-3 weeks ago. Minus the front wheel in that picture of course.



And this is it sitting in front of my house. Well, actually, my neighbor's house, the F350 towing it, is sitting in front of my house.



And the broken hub

Jim

 

they should not drag when your not braking.... if they do then you have a problem.

really to answer your question better we need to know what kind of controller you have in your truck.



as far as the trailer is concerned, you need better tie down points. i cant tell from pictures but the front wheel straps look like they can work loose over the tops of the tires.....


trailer lighting, theirs a few things missing as far as trailer lights go. first off the trailer is over 80" wide it needs 3 marker lights between the 2 rear tail lights. also i cannot tell in the pictures if there lights or just stick on reflectors, but where your red and amber reflectors are at on the side of the trailer you need to have a matching color marker light there on both sides of the trailer.


i understand you said you bought a new trailer, but to me i see a few things that don't add up for it to be a brand new model/manufactured year trailer.

the style of the tongue on the trailer leads me to believe it was possibly a converted chassis from some other application i.e. old camping trailer.

the type of wood on the deck looks to be regular ole 2x6" lumber from home depot for building houses with. usually a trailer builder would use a more outdoor suitable wood for the deck because of the amount of time spent in the sun. you might want to get some sort of wood sealer on there ASAP before the wood dries out and starts splitting around screws and such.

also the wheels, the style of wheels lead me to think that this was a re purposed camping trailer. they look like they would accept hub caps. very common for older trailers.

in closing,

new paint, tires, lights, and wood on the deck can make a old pile of junk (not saying your trailer is a pile) look sparkling new again. look over the frame carefully where things are welded, make sure there is no cracking or bad looking welds. also if you see a weld that looks just "too perfect and smooth" check with a knife or sharp object to make sure its not silicone or bondo covering up a bad connection, ive seen it done many of times. theirs a few spins on the saying but "bondo or silicone and a little paint can hide a multitude of sins"



hope im sorta helpful! im keeping a eye out for 20' deck 10k lb trailer myself, want to be able to fit a crew cab long bed superduty at the most if me or any of my friends break down far from home. heck if im going that big i may just buck up and get me a big ole gooseneck trailer... go big or go home right?

 

Jim,

ALL Justin has said is completely correct, and he makes some VERY good points!

If YOU had to get a VIN assigned to this trailer, it is (as Justin mentioned) either re-purposed old equipment with the VIN plate stripped off, or a home-built. A trailer manufacturing company could not have sold a trailer without a VIN already assigned. I wonder how the trailer passed the CHP's lighting inspection requirements with so many required lights missing. And YOU had to add the reflectors and tape? Definitely NOT a "new" trailer!

Also, I'm not-so-sure that those are six-lug trailer rims, but may be off a truck. If trailer, they haven't looked like that in decades. What are they rated for? Are the insides of the rims painted yellow? Are those ST or LT tires? What load range? What are the date codes?

So, your mechanic's "friend" was the last person to have those tires off? I wonder if he actually used a torque wrench on the lug nuts when replacing the rims on the hubs, or if he used an impact hammer and decided when it was "good enough". If that's the case, he may have over-stressed ALL your lug bolts, and you are in for another failure in your future. Did he also over-stress every other bolt he touched when "flipping" your axles? What happens if you break a U-bolt? How about the spring-pack "center bolts", (he DID reverse them, didn't he)?

If this trailer were mine, I wouldn't trust it to haul a washing machine until I absolutely knew POSITIVELY that every bolt was of the proper strength material (all Grade 8 would be nice), and properly torqued, using the proper locking hardware or compound.

In any case, a FAR more thorough safety inspection is in order here! You may be carrying weights that are WAY over this trailer's actual capacity, and are a hazard when doing so.

New paint does not a new trailer make.

Pop

 

he said he went to DMV, in which case they don't know or care.... sometimes they wont make you get a lighting inspection, depends on the vehicle and what kind of paperwork jockeying your trying to do.

when i took a trailer there to get a new VIN number all they cared about was that the brake lights worked and that the VIN sticker got stuck on.

to my understanding CHP comes into play when the lazy DMV person refuses to take a knee to look and verify a number or they are uneasy about a vehicle.

of course over the road semis are a whole nutter ballgame.

 

Just to pile on a bit more (in a polite way), are those rims trailer rims that can support a C, D, or E rated tire. The rims for a passenger car aren't adequate when filling a D rated 60# psi rated tire or an E rated, 80 psi type.

Then of course, the next logical question is... are those tires ST, specific to trailer towing or LT's, which many use instead. Passenger "P" tires aren't adequate either.

Are the tire stems trailer rated as well? They can't be just standard rubber type. Either steel or metal inserted type to accept those higher tire pressures.

Next, what are the axle ratings? Do they meet the GVWR of the trailer?

I'm sure there's more to this list when complete. It just shows how much detail is necessary when pulling to ensure all are safe.

 

And the nightmare continues. The axles are 3.5k rated axles, and the front one is made by Hadco, and is obsolete. Ask me how I know. The tires are trailer only "D" rated tires, I know this because they say "For Trailer Use Only" on the sides of them. The two wheels I bought from Les Schwab are the white trailer wheels (incidentally Redneck Trailer Supply in Fowler has the same wheels for $12 less.) and the black ones on there are also available at Redneck Trailer Supply, just not painted black (and they are a $46 instead of $38 like the white ones). The trailer is a home built trailer, that is why I needed to get a VIN. The person used "whatever I have on hand" at the time to build it. The DMV clerk came out to look at the trailer, but instead of assigning a VIN, she told me I would have to take it to the CHP (which just happened to be down the street from this particular DMV office). The CHP officer said nothing to me about the missing lights, maybe he just glanced at the reflectors I installed and thought they were lights, I don't know, but he did not say anything about the missing 3 lights at the back of the trailer either. While waiting for the people at Redneck Trailer Supply to get my hub, I was looking at the side marker and rear 3 light combo to see how much they are. I will buy them and install them as soon as I can afford it. I have Thompson's water seal, but have not applied it yet. I will do that after we get the problem with the hub/axle fixed and before I head up to Chico.

Now for the nightmare. The hub they sold me (not their fault, they were guessing since I had not brought the old hub down to them ) did not fit because they said it was the most common type, and guess what? I have an obsolete Hadco front axle. And when the clerk called Hadco to ask them about getting bearings, or studs, or a hub he was told it is obsolete, and they have no parts for it. So now I have two options, buy a axle from Redneck for $185 (plus tax, and the U-bolts, since my axle is square, and theirs is round) Or try to find studs that will fit the old hub. I am told Napa has a larger selection of wheel studs at the warehouse store in Clovis, and another person suggested a local tire and wheel shop. So I will check them out and see what I can find. If I cannot get studs, then I will have no other choice but to buy the whole axle which I cannot afford at this time. So I may already be out of the transport business.

Jim

 

should be a standard 1/2" x 20 stud about 2-1/2" long.... see if you can take a complete old stud with you to match up with.

as far as a hub, it shouldent be hard to match up a hub.....id say take the old one with you and try again.

tires sound ok for the axle, look on the sidewalls for the MAX LBS the tire can carry at MAX PSI COLD.... take the numbers per axle and add together, the max load of both tires should be AT OR OVER 3.500lbs.

lighting is an issue, but it can wait (sorta)

no 2 CHP officers are alike, the one who inspected the trailer ( or lack there of) may not care about lighting..... but a cranky pissed off CHP on the side of the road may or may not, always wise to plan for worst case. would be the pits to be pulled over for it.


also something i forgot to ask and i doubt its on the trailer, is a break away box? its a box that contains a battery and a brake away cable. this device is there in case your trailer breaks loose from the truck the cable will pull a pin in the switch and the battery will apply power to the brakes and hopefully stop the trailer. something to keep in mind for adding to the trailer.

 

Any trailer in California over 1500 pounds must have a battery and break-away switch.

I towed for years without knowing this, but the state didn't need the citation revenue then like they do today.

Law enforcement WILL pull up next to you and look over the hitching arrangement quite well. They want to see two safety chains, crossed under the hitch, a break-away cable and battery, and electrical cable for the lighting, battery charging, and brake actuation.

Towing as heavy as you are (with something like a truck loaded on), you might want to consider adding a second set of brake drums to your rig, to give you four-wheel braking.

I don't know why you need a new hub at all! Who is trying to sell you one?

You certainly don't want to re-use any of the three remaining studs on the errant hub. So, pull that hub off, knock one of them out with a common hammer, and take it to any good parts house. I don't know one that doesn't carry lug bolts. As Justin mentioned, they should be 1/2" x 20. Available length varies, but if not identical, get slightly longer ones, not shorter.

Remember to buy six matching nuts, some wheel-bearing grease, a new grease seal, and a grease cap. Match up the old and new seal and cap, as there are various sizes.

Pop

 

I agree no two CHP officers are alike, and I do run the risk of getting a ticket for not having the proper lighting. I will take care of that as soon as I can afford it. I did not know about the break away box, and will take care of that also, but it will have to wait until I can get the Bronco sold. The studs are 1/2 by 20, but nobody has them, Les Schwab, Autozone, O' Reilly's and Redneck Trailer. I will try Napa and a local tire shop tomorrow. The reason for looking for a new hub is because one of the stud holes has been enlarged, and the 1/2 by 20 stud will not fit snug in it. So I would be stuck using 5 studs instead of 6. Unless I can get a 9/16 stud to fit. Yeah, I have been looking for longer ones, or equal length ones, not shorter ones. LOL. I plan on buying 10 of them if I ever find them in case I need them in the future. I don't know if the rear axle is a Hadco or not, I pray it isn't but the way my luck is going, it probably is. I bought extra studs and lug nuts when I bought the hub kit, and forgot to take them with me when I returned the hub kit. So I have those in case I do get the new axle, they will fit it.

Jim

 

redneck trailer not having lug studs in stock? wow, not much i can add to that.

as far as the other axle goes, it is very likely its the same mfg. but you should not have to worry about that. me personally i am kinda wondering if this "redneck trailer" really knows what the hell there talking about.... but thats just my opinion.

i threw together a quick shopping list of parts needed to add the missing lights and brake away kit, also including a upgrade to a 7 blade RV style plug so that your break away battery charges while in tow. my list came to around $150 on Trailer hitch, hitches and bike rack (800)298-8924i would round upto $200 dollars to make sure to cover any little over runs. i know it sounds like alot! trust me money is tight on my end too! but that should get you up too snuff.


phew! all this talk of getting trailers up to snuff reminds me my personal trailer needs a little reworking in the electrical and the bearings checked and repacked!