I'm looking at an enclosed trailer to use for moving some household type stuff from Ca to the midwest, I found a pretty good 7x14 enclosed with tandem 3500lb axles, elec brakes on both. The wear pattern on the tires is a little rough, and using a level the camber on the back axle is about an 1/4 off the front. The front is an 1/8th in and the back is an 1/8th to a 1/4 out. The back left tire is worn on the outside pretty well.
The guy I'm buying it from used it for a couple years hauling it locally under light load, and had two tires replaced under warranty once. Is this something thats easily fixable or should I avoid this trailer.
Also it has straight axles vice torsion, how much difference does this make?

btw, I'll be pulling this with '96 F150 XLT SC 5.0, 3.55 3850lb rear axle, according to the book I have GVWR of 6050 , GCWR of 1150, and max trailer of 7000lbs. Should give me a tounge weight of ~1000lbs which would put the truck at ~5500lbs.

 

When you say 1/8 to 1/4 out I assume you mean the top is tipped out further than the bottom. If this is the case, my guess is the front axle is bent probably from being loaded heavy which would give you the bottom of the tires further out than the top, resulting in inside edge tire wear. The back left tire worn on the outside pretty well could be from another bent axle, but this time the axle is bent slightly toward the front instead of up or down. This would run the tire down the road turned sightly in and may be causing the outside edge wear on the left rear tire you are seeing.

Depends on how much work you would like to do to it and the price. New axles are not that expensive if the price on the trailer is right. If you can find a good trailer alignment shop they can often straighten the axles without replacing them.

Torsion axles generally ride a bit better, straight axles with leaf springs handle weight a bit better. It is a toss up - depends on what kind of loads you are going to haul.

I can't really comment on the truck, I have a 95 F250 diesel and have been spoiled by that. If your trailer weight is much over 5000 lbs the half ton may struggle a bit in the hills and 3:55 gears are not the ones for towing heavy. For a one time tow or something you are going to use to move then sell off or something like that you can probably get through fine.

You might consider a weight distributing hitch for it if you are going heavy as well.

I am sure others with more experience on a similar rig to yours will chime in, just thought I would kick in my 2 cents worth.

Dave / Believer45

 

on the truck, I would be very concerned about the higher gears and the 302, just not a real good trailer combo. You'll be working it pretty hard to pull that trailer, and it depends on what you want to haul in it as to whether you'll get too heavy to handle. I would definitely want a weight distributing hitch. The axles can be aligned, they have to actually bend the axles to do it, but it can be done. A truck frame shop generally can do it, a local shop I use has frame and axle in their name, be what you are looking for.

 

With the price of axles being so low at places such as northerntools.com, I can not see having the axles rebent as being worth it. At $<100 for most axles (basically thick wall tube with a stub welded in) I don ot see how you can go wrong replacing a bent one with a new one and just swapping the brakes over.

Just measure the spring/hanger mounts and make sure they are mounted in line and equal to each other in relationship to a point on the frame, including the position up/down.

 

considering that the alignment can be done for the cost of one axle, not including the cost of freight, I don't see that as a good option, and nothing guarantees that the new axle would be aligned to the trailer setup.

 

Most axle tubes are made from mild steel, once bent they are weakened and are likely to bend again when subjected to even less weight/stress then what bent them before. If I was buying the trailer, I would work new axles AND a new alignment (if I was not capable of it) into the purchase price.

 

the bend is pretty minute, if it was moving a long ways I would be concerned. It's the same as aligning a twin I beam or old straight axle, if they require bending, they also will be slightly weakened.

 

Thanks for all the help. I got a pretty good price on the trailer, and the tires aren't as badly worn as I had thought. It does sound like I should get it alligned to make sure they weren't tweaked. It sounds like backing while turning too tightly is a problem likely to cause that on tandem axle trailers.

The price of a new straight axle is pretty cheap, and since the trailer is an '03 everything should transfer. I'm not sure that it needs it yet.

QUOTE]When you say 1/8 to 1/4 out I assume you mean the top is tipped out further than the bottom.[/QUOTE]
Yes, thats exactly right, Top to bottom. I will have to double check but I think the back was tipped out at the top. He had a fairly big truck, maybe he was towing it level, and put most of the weight on the rear axle. I read somewhere that they are pre-cambered so that when loaded the axle flex will give the correct camber. I guess it could have a wide tollerance. Maybe the camber spec is pretty loose.... I'll run it through axle/alignment shop and see what they say.

I'm gonna put new shocks on the truck and get alligned before I go too. I think it still has the factory shocks.

I'm only planning on towing this heavy once, so it doesn't make sense to ugrade the truck. (I should say tradeup, all the work this trucks getting, it will be upgraded.) It's still within it's weight rating, it just won't pull like a freight train. I'll take it easy on her. I'm putting in a tranny cooler before I go too. The trailer only weighs 2250 dry, so I'll probably be at about 5500 loaded. The first half will be easy with the empty trailer, as long as it doesnt get blown off the road. It sounds like a 14 footer should be fine though.