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Mobile home axels on logging/lumber/loader trailer

Started by oakiemac, November 04, 2004, 04:17:26 PM

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oakiemac

I just bought a home made trailer that is a flat bed so I can load logs and lumber on it with my Bobcat. It has 2 mobile home axels with electric brakes. The owner has no idea on the weight capacity of the trailer or axels but has had several large tractors and other heavy equipment up on it with no problem (acording to him).
Does anyone know how much these type of axels are rated for? My Bobcat weighs 6800lbs and I was hoping this trailer could hold it.
Mobile Demension sawmill, Bobcat 873 loader, 3 dry kilns and a long "to do" list.

David_c

bring the trailer to your local axle shop they will be able to tell you what you have and what they'll carry.

Buzz-sawyer

Generally 10,000 # peraxle for mobile homeaxles, I have hauled 15000# on 2 of em :)
    HEAR THAT BLADE SING!

Fla._Deadheader

  Dunno about that Buzz. Down here they are rated 6000 and 7000#. Course we don't hafta worry about ice buildin up on 'em.  ;) :)
All truth passes through three stages:
   First, it is ridiculed;
   Second, it is violently opposed; and
   Third, it is accepted as self-evident.

-- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

Buzz-sawyer

I checked it out............ you right Harold

6,000 pound rated axles equipped with 7x14.5 home 8-ply tires, or equivalent

so I proved they bear up well to overload :o
    HEAR THAT BLADE SING!

Fla._Deadheader

  We bent the one on "Homey". ::) Too big of a log and it bent right at the spring. We have chunks of 2 X 4 stuffed in between the axle and frame, until we figure out how to straighten it. ::)
All truth passes through three stages:
   First, it is ridiculed;
   Second, it is violently opposed; and
   Third, it is accepted as self-evident.

-- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

Buzz-sawyer

Many a mile pulling caterpillar D4, and int/drot high lift,no trouble so far :)
    HEAR THAT BLADE SING!

theonlybull

ours has seen many loads in the 13,000 lbs range ( + trailer weight) and has survived sofar.  it's a tandum too.

there's a few tri's around, that haul backhoe's w/o too much trouble.
Keith Berry & Son Ltd.
machine work and welding

oakiemac

Buzz, FDH,

If I'm understanding corectly, then each axle is rated at 6000lbs so I have 2 axles which means 12000lbs minus weight of trailer so I should be good up to 9-10K lbs?
Mobile Demension sawmill, Bobcat 873 loader, 3 dry kilns and a long "to do" list.

Fla._Deadheader

  YUP  ;) ;D   Down here, they really get upset if they find you using Mobile Home tires on a regular trailer type set-up. We have lowboy tires on all our axles. 8-14.5's on the log trailer, and 7-14.5's on the mill.
All truth passes through three stages:
   First, it is ridiculed;
   Second, it is violently opposed; and
   Third, it is accepted as self-evident.

-- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

Bruce_A

If they are Kelsey-Hayes axles, the front of the drum will have a kh71744 if it has 12'" brakes and you can buy drums for 5 hole, 6 hole, or 8 hole wheels and get rid of the california style.  Commercial hauling requires something other than mobile home tires in Washington state also.

Buzz-sawyer

Bruce
Youknow of a good source for the  alternate style drums.....on the net?
    HEAR THAT BLADE SING!

rebocardo

>  We have chunks of 2 X 4 stuffed in between the axle
> and frame, until we figure out how to straighten it.

Buy a piece of 5/16 or 3/8 walled square tube (one wall size up from yours), cut off the axle as much towards the center of the trailer as you can before the bend, and slide that/those pieces into the bigger tube, and weld into place.

You can bend the axle back with a $99 16 ton pipe bender from northerntools or even a small 20 ton bench press, but, it will never be truly straight and will be weakened unless you weld angle or C-channel steel to it to strengthen where the bend was.

Fla._Deadheader

  Rebo, our axle tubes are round. ::) Don't road the mill much. Won't worry about it for now.  Thanks for the tips, though.
All truth passes through three stages:
   First, it is ridiculed;
   Second, it is violently opposed; and
   Third, it is accepted as self-evident.

-- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

Bruce_A

I don't know if they have a web site, but "Six Robbles" is the outfit that supplies most of the trailer builders in this area.

Ed

Try looking here, I don't know if they will sell to an individual or not. They do have an excellent website with way more info than you will ever need to know about trailers. I used their charts & set-up info when I built my trailer.


http://www.redneck-trailer.com/

oakiemac

Special Ed, thanks for the link it was a good one.

Bruce, by "California style" do you mean the mobile home tires with their special lug arrangement? These aren't legal on the roads?
Mobile Demension sawmill, Bobcat 873 loader, 3 dry kilns and a long "to do" list.

Bruce_A

The tires themselves will say for mobile home use only on them.  These are the one you see on the mobile homes with the open centered type of wheel. The wheels are ok, but the tires are not.

Engineer

I have a homebrew trailer, bought a few months ago, with MH axles and wheels on it, and I was wondering about the same thing.  It'll haul a full load of logs, I've had probably 7000 pounds on it, and it seems fine.  

What I need now though, is a new rim for a 14.5 x 8 tire.  Anybody know where I can easily get one?  The local MH dealers either don't have any or won't sell me one.

Fla._Deadheader

  Try a salvage yard. There are always MH frames being trashed. They lay all over the place down here. $5.00 will getcha one like new from near anybody :D

  Right now, whole MH's go for free. Ya just gotta have that there "fixer-upper" attitude. :D :D :D
All truth passes through three stages:
   First, it is ridiculed;
   Second, it is violently opposed; and
   Third, it is accepted as self-evident.

-- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

karl

I usually get wheels and tires as a unit for $50. a pop @ mobile home dealers- they usually have heaps of takeoffs, axles too.

karl
"I ask for wisdom and strength, Not to be superior to my brothers, but to be able to fight my greatest enemy, myself"  - from Ojibwa Prayer.

Engineer

Yep.  Problem is, all of the dealers in this half of the state either just got rid of them, or don't keep any around.  I haven't exhausted my options yet, but I need one by the end of this coming week.   :(  I'll find one.  

etat

There's a couple of places around here that build trailers.  Since I usually go through several a year I just go see em and buy a Axel or two brand new complete with springs. They run about a hundred bucks apiece.  Sometimes if they don't get warped too bad I rebuild em.  Just a few weeks ago I bought 6 white spoke rims complete with tires for 40 bucks apiece. It helps to deal with the Foreman in the back rather than the front office.  I run a three axle trailer which I regularly overload, but mostly what gets the axles is dragging them shingles off with a track hoe.  Last time I made some arms out of 3 inch square tubing that slips down and pins to take the pressure off the axles while unloading.   Also you have to be careful about turning it short when heavily loaded because you're liable to strip a wheel off of the hub. It don't turn sharp good because of the three axles.  It's a heavy duty completely homemade (didn't start out that way ) trailer with a heavily reinforced chassis underneath it with a 3/16 steel plate floor on top of the regular floor.

I go through LOTS of tires because of the nails even though we run magnets so them odd sized mobile home tires wouldn't be a option.

Overloaded usually means 50 to 60 square of tore off shingles and tar paper at from 195 to better than 200 pounds per square.  Hershel complains I haul more shingles in that trailer than most folks do that come in there with a big ole dump truck. Reckon he's right, but with them three axles it don't cut ruts in a yard like a dump truck will, and you don't have the maintenance and upkeep and insurance and licensed driver to keep up with.  Pull it  with a late model 99, F250 Superduty Ford,  long wheel base, single rear tires, automatic, four wheel drive shift on the fly.
Old Age and Treachery will outperform Youth and Inexperence. The thing is, getting older is starting to be painful.

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