trailer 101?

A buddy gave me a late-model 5x10' utility trailer today. Catch is it was in a rear-end collision about 3 years ago, and it has sat since. It wasn't hurt too badly, needs to have the (replacement) lights wired and a little sheet metal straightened or replaced, but it seems basically sound. It's large enough and sturdy enough to bring home 4x8' sheets of stock from the steelyard, which is what I want it for.

My problem is I don't really know much about trailers. Some guys grow up around boats or camp trailers or the like and know all about things like "bearing buddies" but I don't. I recently owned (for a short time) a 2-horse trailer, and when I sold it the buyer asked me to jack up each side, and then did some wiggling of the wheels which I couldn't tell what he was up to. He seemed satisfied, because he bought it, but I'd really like to know quite a bit more about trailers.

Anyone know of a good reference? A web page like Trailer 101?

Grant

Reply to
Grant Erwin
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What ? No Dummies or such book ?!!

Rats!

I need something like that myself. And Gunners forklift as well :-)

Martin

Martin H. Eastburn @ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net NRA LOH & Endowment Member NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder IHMSA and NRA Metallic Silhouette maker & member

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Grant Erw> A buddy gave me a late-model 5x10' utility trailer today. Catch is it

Reply to
Martin H. Eastburn

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a lot of links to good information.

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probably more than you ever needed to know about the nitty-gritty nuts-n-bolts stuff.

Those are the first two that come to mind for me, anything else I go a-googlin'. There's a ton of stuff out there in the RV, horse, and boating pages, forums and newsgroups about how to tow and how to take care of a trailer.

Most of it can be summed up as:

10% of the weight on the hitch (bumper pull, 5th wheel rules are different).

Check your bearings often.

Slow down, and try not to do anything stupid. If it looks like something stupid may occur anyway, slow down some more. Watch for other's stupidity as well as your own. Speed worsens most ill effects of crosswinds, poor loading (see first rule ), etc.

If you're having electrical problems, check your grounds first. Never rely on the hitch to provide your electrical ground.

I'm sure there are others, but that'll get you started... :) --Glenn Lyford

Reply to
glyford

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Reply to
Don Foreman

Don, I'll bet you a nickel you've never read that book. I have, and it can be neatly summarized as: "buy my second book". The second book can similarly be summarized as "buy my third book" which isn't out yet. I'm exaggerating slightly, but I owned those two books for awhile and they are nothing whatever like what I'm looking for.

Grant

Reply to
Grant Erwin

Yeah. Be careful. There's a story told 'round these parts about a fellow going down the highway; noticed a nice looking trailer in the lane next to him, until he realized it was his !

Reply to
Robert Swinney

  1. The round black things are on the botom, keep them there!
  2. The trailer is behind the tow vehicle, keep it there!
Reply to
Tom Gardner

On Sat, 21 Oct 2006 18:56:23 -0700, with neither quill nor qualm, Grant Erwin quickly quoth:

I've only worshipped from afar, too, but I've overheard a lot of things in the past 40 years. (I wasn't paying attention until my teens ;)

There isn't much to them, really. Check the welds, the tongue connector whatchacallit, the wheel bearings (and brakes, if any), lights, suspension, and the wiring.

Repack the wheel bearings and adjust the brakes, and make sure you have a good pair of safety chains WELDED on the tongue.

Keep spare heavy duty flashers in the glove box.

And get a spare for it. 4- or 6-ply tires are a good investment for heavy loads and/or rough terrain.

My best (and thankfully ONLY) trailer story:

I didn't realize that my buddy's wife had lost the safety catch spring so the trailer shoved me over one lane on the L.A. freeways one afternoon. As I was tossed over on elane to the left, I looked in the rear view mirror and saw 5 lanes of traffic stopped 1/4 mile back. Evidently, it had come loose but my full-sized truck didn't feel it at all. When I hit the little bump of a bridge on a curve, it kicked me in the ass, poked my tailgate on the left, and shoved me over a full lane as it came loose. It then spun around a few times, coming to rest teetering on the overpass. I had stopped pretty quickly after seeing it loose, and quickly sped back to the trailer. We got it off the bridge railing (thank Buddha it was empty at the time) and hooked back up in 3 minutes flat. Some welds had broken loose but it was mostly intact. My buddy said, "Hmm, I guess I need to learn to weld better." We were on the way up to pick up a cubic meter of Jarrah wood which an Australian friend had sent to me. Needless to say, we checked that hitch much more frequently on the 100 mile trip home!

I was lucky nobody was hurt or killed and that the trailer was still able to carry my wood home. We put some in my truck bed just in case.

Seeing the entire freeway stopped in a line behind me with no

-accidents- was the most thrilling thing I've ever seen in HelL.A., lemme tell ya.

It'll be interesting to see if anyone has done that.

- The only reason I would take up exercising is ||

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so that I could hear heavy breathing again. || Programmed Websites

Reply to
Larry Jaques

I owe you a nickel, Grant! I've never read a book about trailers because my late FIL knew all about designing them, building them and using them -- and I paid attention.

Reply to
Don Foreman

That may not be a real good idea. Some chain (grade 43 and grade 70) is heat-treated carbon steel, might get brittle if not welded expertly. You couldn't tell by visual inspection.

The chains (actually wire ropes) on my Ranger (boat) trailer are secured with a big bolt. Ranger builds very strong trailers. Everything else on that trailer is welded.

Reply to
Don Foreman

If you should mistakenly load it heavy in back it most likely will sway uncontrollably and possibly separate and/or put you in the ditch. Not a pretty thing to see on the highway.

Keep your speed slow enough to keep the rig stable and to stop in a reasonable distance. Watch it very carefully going down hills heavily loaded. Once it gets unstable things can deteriorate rapidly.

Don Young

Reply to
Don Young

man..it was sweet today. Pulled my trailer up to the back yard, hooked a lanyard to the pallet the welder was on..pulled it to the back of the trailer with the fork lift, dropped the lanyard, stuck the forks in the pallet, had it off and set in the welding area where Ive already started making a cart for it. Total time from the time I set the parking brake...about 4 minutes. Not having to hassle with the overhead crane, pallet jacks and so forth..Priceless!

Gunner

Reply to
Gunner

Indeed. I personally will NOT weld a chain on anything that takes a shock load. Ive seen too many of them fail. Oil field stuff. Failed at the link welded. Weldment was fine..rest of the loop was busted open, or busted in half.

Gunner

"A prudent man foresees the difficulties ahead and prepares for them; the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences."

- Proverbs 22:3

Reply to
Gunner

"Robert Swinney" wrote in news:3sGdnWLrsLpiR6fYnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:

On Houston's Southwest Freeway one morning, during Rush Hour, I watched a Construction Office trailer pass the truck that had been towing it:

The trailer - not secured with safety chains - came off the ball hitch, swung into the left-hand (of 2) lanes, passed the truck, swung back in front of the truck, then eased off the freeway onto the grass verge.

When it began its "pass" my car was just behind and _to the left_ of the trailer.

Interesting, to say the least!

Reply to
RAM³

Once it goes unstable you are purely SOL unless the trailer has brakes.

If you keep the hitch weight at 10 to 15% of trailer gross weight, you'll be fine. I've never gotten even close to trouble with the 5X9 my neighbor and I built that can easily handle a 3000 lb load. The tires limit it to 3000 lb safe load, more than ample for us.

I do know what trouble is like. Going down a long steep grade into either Birmingham or Montgomery AL, forget which, doin' about 80, the trailer started doin' the watusi. Oooooh shit! I was 16 or 17 at the time. I was far from being an experienced driver, but I'd learned some physics by then. Fortunately, the trailer had electric brakes that I could hit without hitting the tow vehicle brakes. I figured that tail drag might be a good thing about then so I stayed off the vehicle brakes but nudged the trailer brake lever that was mounted under the dashboard. I got 'er under control without needing a change of skivvies but not by much.

My Dad, who I'd thought was asleep at the time, opened one eye, said "nicely done, now slow down dammit" and appeared to resume his nap. He was a CPO in the SeaBees on Guam during WWII, didn't rattle real easy and took no shit at all from the likes of me. But he definitely cut me all the slack he thought I could handle and a bit more for growth. Gave me a .22 rifle (Mossberg bolt action clip fed) at age 12 that I was free and trusted to go plinking with any time I wanted on summer days, and I surely did. I still have that pretty good rifle.

Reply to
Don Foreman

Tom, Tom, Tom... You, of all the people in this newsgroup, forgot one of the most important rules. I am truly shocked and amazed.

  1. The trailer will have rusty spots, and you need to /wire brush/ all rusted areas down to clean metal before priming and painting.

;-P

Send all bills for liquid-spray ruined computer monitors and keyboards to

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Reply to
Bruce L. Bergman

Grant knows...

Reply to
Tom Gardner

Reply to
RoyJ

On Sat, 21 Oct 2006 22:50:47 -0500, with neither quill nor qualm, Don Foreman quickly quoth:

Right, but I didn't think they used hardened chain on trailers, Don. These spec at grade 30.

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Only the clevis slip hooks go to grades 43 and 70, f'rinstance.

Well, it's kinda -hard- to weld wire rope, innit? I think I'd prefer a wire rope to chain, too: It's -= quieter =-.

- The only reason I would take up exercising is ||

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so that I could hear heavy breathing again. || Programmed Websites

Reply to
Larry Jaques

On Sun, 22 Oct 2006 05:09:31 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm, Gunner quickly quoth:

Hey, aren't you the guy whose spare tire dewelded itself and then _passed_him_ on the freeway?

[I should talk. I can't even figure out how to weld a piece of angle to my truck frame up behind the spring and next to the gas tank. I think next time (try #5, sigh) I'll take the dremel to the weldable area to make sure it's clean and bright. I finally tried tiggin' the bastid and even that didn't work for me. It's a hellish place to get to with the spring and truck bed in the way. I should have backed it in and done it at your place when I was there.]

- The only reason I would take up exercising is ||

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so that I could hear heavy breathing again. || Programmed Websites

Reply to
Larry Jaques

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