Another Lowe’s trail build !

[Boostpowered]

You could do what your doing with the larger wheels,cut off the fenders and add some skid plates to the trailer frame and just drag it over stuff.

 

[Mitch65]

I would check to be sure you know the weight rating on the axle. Dont forget to factor in the flooring you add and what not when you look at your load weight. Also when adding wheel spacers or adapters you need to leave more of a cushion for the max load since you will be adding addition deflection on the wheel bearings at an increasing rate as the load weight increases due to the increased distance of the wheel from the bearing. Even more if the offset of the wheel you are using brings the centerline of the wheel away from the bearing. Kind of like holding a cinder block in our hand close to your body or carrying that same cinder block with your arm extended.

the rating on the trailer is 1700lbs and axle is 2000. Even with the floor I’m not going to be exceeding 600lbs. I’ll never be close to the weight rating which makes me feel more comfortable about the adapters/spacers.

undecided about what I’m doing with the axle just yet. I’ll be putting on a 265/75r16 tire which is almost 32” to match my truck so if I don’t flip the axle I feel like I should still have enough ground clearance with tires that size. Idk

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

Trailer axles definitely have camber built in.

Should Trailer Axle have Bend In it that Faces Downward | etrailer.com

Should Trailer Axle have Bend In it that Faces Downward

www.etrailer.com

I am no trailer expert but I have had a 14 foot and 16 foot tandem used commercially and they both had an upward bend in the axle unloaded. Flip it and you would have some issues.

Maybe on a lighter duty axle you might not notice it

When you flip, you don't turn the axle upside down. If there is a crown in the axle (I've never
Seen one) the the crown would remain upward. If there is a crown in the axle it has nothing to do with the load on the axle. Axles are not springs that vary with load. The load goes directly to the spring on a trailer and the frame is affected not the axle. Weight does affect the bearings capacity though and the bearing race. I really doubt this trailer will ever exceed the hubs capacity base on how it will be used. Everything is slightly over engineered to protect the manufacture against law suits by a min of 10 percent.

Note: if you want to carry more weight in your pickup, you add overload springs, not heavier axles, bearings or frame reinforcement.

 

[TXJeep]

When you flip, you don't turn the axle upside down. If there is a crown in the axle (I've never
Seen one) the the crown would remain upward. If there is a crown in the axle it has nothing to do with the load on the axle. Axles are not springs that vary with load. The load goes directly to the spring on a trailer and the frame is affected not the axle. Weight does affect the bearings capacity though and the bearing race. I really doubt this trailer will ever exceed the hubs capacity base on how it will be used. Everything is slightly over engineered to protect the manufacture against law suits by a min of 10 percent.

Note: if you want to carry more weight in your pickup, you add overload springs, not heavier axles, bearings or frame reinforcement.

Heres an example.

Carry-On Trailer Idler Axle, 3,500 lb. Capacity at Tractor Supply Co.

Find Carry-On Trailer Idler Axle, 3,500 lb. Capacity in the Trailer Axles category at Tractor Supply Co.Idler axle with a 88 in. hub face and 74

www.tractorsupply.com

See that bend in the axle. It straightens out under load. Without it you would have negative camber under load.

If you are flipping the axle, going from spring under to spring over, you are flipping that axle 180 degrees or am i missing something.

 

[TXJeep]

This is of course unless you weld on new perches which I am not hearing

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

This is of course unless you weld on new perches which I am not hearing

To flip you must install new perches, there is no other way because the perch is the spring seat. The axle does not know if it is above or below a spring.

 

[TXJeep]

OK, I am assuming people are talking about simply flipping the axle over without installing new perches, thus creating a downward bend of the axle

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

OK, I am assuming people are talking about simply flipping the axle over without installing new perches, thus creating a downward bend of the axle

I think to flip without new perches you would have to weld the u- bolts to the axle to keep it from rotating. That would be an issue but not likely to happen if flipper knows anything about axle flipping at all.

 

[M Rose]

Flipping is just that, you flip everything including mounting plates. Trailers have no camber angle as far as I know, or toe in. What bend are you talking about ? Axles are straight.

Most larger trailer axles have a slight bend in them...I didn’t believe this until one of my friends pointed it out to me on a similar idea I had. He had me take a strait edge a long the under side of the axle from hub flange to hub flange,,. I was shocked to see my Axle wasn’t perfectly strait.

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

Most larger trailer axles have a slight bend in them...I didn’t believe this until one of my friends pointed it out to me on a similar idea I had. He had me take a strait edge a long the under side of the axle from hub flange to hub flange,,. I was shocked to see my Axle wasn’t perfectly strait.

I took 6 axles from under my double wide and all were straight as a straight edge. I have a Scamp trailer and it has torsion bar springing but the axle is straight. Truthfully, I have never seen a trailer axle that wasn't straight. Axle flipping is a very common in my area because of so many trails in the National forest where you need the extra height. I'm going to tractor supply tomorrow just to check this out. They sell many different size trailers.

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

Most larger trailer axles have a slight bend in them...I didn’t believe this until one of my friends pointed it out to me on a similar idea I had. He had me take a strait edge a long the under side of the axle from hub flange to hub flange,,. I was shocked to see my Axle wasn’t perfectly strait.

A slight bend could be caused by the welding on one side of a straight tube. Also from an engineering point of view a slight bend would not be helpful IMO. I worked as a structural steel detailed where we designed all sorts of trailers and axles. Never did we ever build an axle with any kind of camber. The frames had camber because of load variation but that was it.

 

[M Rose]

A slight bend could be caused by the welding on one side of a straight tube. Also from an engineering point of view a slight bend would not be helpful IMO. I worked as a structural steel detailed where we designed all sorts of trailers and axles. Never did we ever build an axle with any kind of camber. The frames had camber because of load variation but that was it.

Not on a brand new trailer that just rolled off the assembly line right onto the back of a truck to my front door. I started looking at trailer axles better after he pointed that out. I was working in a warehouse at an RV manufacturing plant where I would unload a truck load of axles once a week... every one of them from the #2500to the #4500 had a slight bend, the heavier the axle, the more noticeable of the bend.

 

[M Rose]

I took 6 axles from under my double wide and all were straight as a straight edge. I have a Scamp trailer and it has torsion bar springing but the axle is straight. Truthfully, I have never seen a trailer axle that wasn't straight. Axle flipping is a very common in my area because of so many trails in the National forest where you need the extra height. I'm going to tractor supply tomorrow just to check this out. They sell many different size trailers.

barrow a 6 foot level when you check it out... center the level between both hubs, and keep it level... almost guaranteed they aren’t as strait as you think they are.

 

[Mitch65]

barrow a 6 foot level when you check it out... center the level between both hubs, and keep it level... almost guaranteed they aren’t as strait as you think they are.

So all this talk about axle camber has me confused. Am i good to flip it with a light trailer like this or will is cause issues?

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

barrow a 6 foot level when you check it out... center the level between both hubs, and keep it level... almost guaranteed they aren’t as strait as you think they are.

I just went to Northern web sit. They sell more axles than anyone I know. Even though they call their axles straight, in the specs is a question - answer section that asks if they have camber and it says yes. I looked at tractor supply but installed on the trailer you cant see a camber though it may be there ever so slight. Anyway the OP is safe I think to do whatever he wants to his axle as long as he dosent exceed the weight limits of the trailer. One OB poster had concern about the wheel center line being too far from the axle bearing but buying wheels with a deeper offset pretty much takes care of any problem the spacer thickness might cause. OP just buy wheels with 2" deeper offset, okay ?

 

[TXJeep]

This is what I imagined when people say that they are simply flipping their axle.


Short video. He simply turned it over without changing the perches. Noticed he turned off comments and adds subtitles. He probably got a lot of crap for it.

He talks in the video about gaining weight capacity but changes it up in the subtitles.

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

So all this talk about axle camber has me confused. Am i good to flip it with a light trailer like this or will is cause issues?

Flip it, there will be no problem. What is the top side of your axle now will be the top side after it is flipped to the bottom of the new spring perches. Even if you flipped the axle over, and used the existing perches, it would have no effect on the trailer. The camber business is BS in your case IMO, it's there but if it's not that noticible the trailer will function very well.

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

This is what I imagined when people say that they are simply flipping their axle.


Short video. He simply turned it over without changing the perches. Noticed he turned off comments and adds subtitles. He probably got a lot of crap for it.

He talks in the video about gaining weight capacity but changes it up in the subtitles.

This is the absolute correct way to flip an axel but if it dosent have brakes most people wont go to this much trouble.

 

[M Rose]

So all this talk about axle camber has me confused. Am i good to flip it with a light trailer like this or will is cause issues?

Without knowing exactly how much camber the axle has built in, along with how much weight you plan on putting in the trailer I don’t know... we flipped the axle on my dad’s Shasta Travel Trailer... and it ate tires like crazy... once I learned about the camber I had my brother weld new perches onto the axle and we have been fine since... on my brothers lawn debris trailer that he flipped the axle on he hasn’t had an issue. So it depends upon weight and the amount of camber. So I honestly don’t know.
Since you are putting different wheels and tires on any way, why not flip the axle and use the stock wheels and tires, then put a load equal to or greater than your projected load when the trailer is complete, then tow it about 100 to 200 miles and check the tire wear.

 

[Seanm26]

"Flipping the axle" is just a term used meaning that you are going from spring under to spring over. People "flip the axles" in trucks all the time for lifts. If you literally flipped the axle you would go backwards while in drive. You have to weld new perches to the top of the axle tubes.

But people with trailers took it literally. There is a very slight bend in all trailer axles. The high the load rating the more pronounced the bend. The proper way to "flip the axle" is to weld spring perches to the top of the tube.

But your trailer and it's axle are so small I would literally turn the axle upside down if it were mine.. You won't notice anything. Especially if you never get it close to capacity.