The drawing is what I had in mind for an extension. The trailer is 6" x 3" (I think) rectangular tubing although I was thinking 4-6 half inch bolts in crush tubes for the back end bolt on and a trailer ball connecting to the original trailer hitch as you've drawn. I do have several feet fore or aft to move the roadsters for balancing purposes. Back to your regularly scheduled program....
C9 the leverage keeps it in place. Maybe I didn't show it clear enough but the extension goes over the top of the tongue at the rear, then down and forward. That's why you really only need the bolts to hold it up when unhitched. I know it's still another crude drawing but maybe this will help show what I mean
The following is some stuff I copied from some other sites concerning trailer design: The most critical part of your trailer building is placement of the axle. Do it last because there is a formula for figuring axle placement and you need to find the center of gravity first. Regardless of what your plans say, VERIFY that this is the right place to put your axle. This is a safety consideration. Here is the formula. You should have 10-14% of the total weight on the hitch with the remaining 86-90% on the axle. So... 1)Measure the distance from the center of the hitch to the center of gravity. 2)divide by percent you want on the axle. 3)Result is the distance from the center of the hitch to the center of the axle. Bumper pull trailers should have more tongue weight (to keep the hitch weight positive on the ball no matter what you are bouncing through. Normally you would want the trailer axle about 55-60% from front to back of the load carrying area with about 15% - 20%?of the trailer's weight on the tongue. Usually the axle is 40/60 to the rear to give the tongue weight, but with a car hauler, and the typical vehicle being front engined and already close to 60/40 forward weight, its a wonder they don't center the axle on the deck. If your vehicle is going to be pulled all the way forward and the weight on the front of the trailer, then get an axle centered with THE DECK (not centered with the total trailer!). A general rule of thumb for axle placement is 1" back from mid-point for every foot of trailer length. Anybody agree or dissagree with this stuff?
re: double spares>>>>>>>>> 'we' built a trailer for my handicapped friend, putting two spares on the trailer. BUT 'we' USED ONE FOR THE TRAILER, THE OTHER FOR THE VEHICLE 'TOWING' THE TRAILER! EVER NOTICE WHENEVER THE 'TOWING VEHICLE' HAS AN ON-THE-ROAD FLAT, THE SPARE IS SO HARD TO GET OUT AND IN-PLACE? PLUS, IN THE MOST DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES! 'we' hung the trailer spare on the curb side and the 'towing vehicle' spare on the traffic side. ALSO, i use TWO sets of rear lites...one set is the 2x4 rubber-mounted-style in the rear cross-member, the OTHER set just behind the fender set in a 'cage'-[ can't remember how many times my lites have been 'stepped-on OR 'BACKED-INTO!'] at 45 degress to the frame-work. it-never-fails, come up on a doofoos in the right lane, swing out to pass and doofoos will 'hang with me', so i can't 'return' to the right lane. MY SOLUTION, pull up on doofoos and put my right turn signal on and doofoos seeing the flashing RED lite will 'wake up and start the horn-routine'---doofoos is 'awake'! ALSO, i've used a rubber mounted YELLOW 2 inch marker on the rear cross-member wired into the stop/turn circuit to give me a stop/turn function when the 1157 'dies'! ALSO, at every stop/ park situation i chek lites, tire temp, and trailer bearing hub temp, when towing!---ALL TIRES, 'towing vehicle' and trailer! I HATE ON-THE-ROAD-PROBLEMS! i marvel at the 'R.V. pilots' W/O on-the-road problem 'solution plans!' MICHIGAN 'R.V. pilots' are the WORST i've encountered! thanx red ryder
I'm with you on checking tire and hub temps every time I stop. Was kinda stunned to find both of the abovementioned blowouts. My pal is always telling me, "I don't worry about that." Covering many subjects, the last couple of times when talking about inflation pressures. I note that he just purchased his third set of trailer tires in the last 2-3 years. Since infrared heat guns are getting reasonable in price it sure looks like a good idea to take one along to check hub and tire temps. Check the tow vehicle as well. When we moved from California to Arizona - in the summer - I kept finding the left rear truck tire running hotter than the rest. Not too hot, just warmer. Finally got chance to look at it and found a broken off 1/8" drill in the tire. Got it repaired and it went back to normal temps on the rest of the trips.
First off, thanks for a response with quantifiable numbers. Awesome. My experience with tongue weight is that more is better to a point, and that point is controlled by the towing vehicle. The leading cause of trailer sway is not enough tongue weight, and if your vehicle can't take more than a few hundred pounds of tongue weight, expect scary things to happen on the road. Everyone I know that tows cars regularly with a half ton has some form of rear spring enchancement. For decades my "tow rig" were fullsize cars or elcaminos, but after finally stepping up to a real 3/4 ton I'm never going back. It'll take so much tongue weight that bad trailer behaviour is a thing of the past. I would disagree with centering the trailer axle and relying on the car's 60/40 split to produce tongue weight. Most chasing involves an empty trailer for half the miles, so you want good tongue weight built in. Then there's engineless projects or even 50/50 weight cars like late model camaros. Not to mention the eventual backwards loaded car. It will happen if you haul enough projects. The ultimate towing nightmare is a trailer tongue with lift. Would anyone be interested in a quickie post on electric brake controller 101? Don't wanna get too far off the path here, but they're real simple and a lot people think they're a mystery black box that's all complicated.
IMHO this controller is the way to go. Tekonsha P3 Electric Trailer Brake Controller. Shifty you sure hit the nail on the head about axle placement and hauling projects and other items. Worst thing to have is light tongue weight. If the tongue is light or almost so before a vehicle is loaded it will be a nightmare ride. Especially one with no motor. You just cannot always load to compensate for bad design
Good call PR - I've got a Prodigy, Tekonsha's predecessor to the P3. Having owned several controllers over the years, I've got to say, it's hands down the finest I've ever used. It knows when the trailer's loaded, and when it's empty, and applies braking as needed.
Goztrider put up an excellent thread on finding your trailer's natural balance point, well worth the read. See it here http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=298766
I re-habbed my 18 footer a couple of years back with new paint/treated wood/tires/winch/twin spares/break-away/tool box. It has seen plenty of use and is still looking good. It is amazing how much use it gets.
Good job Shifty! I bought and rebuilt a trailer this past year along the same lines, now everyone wants to buy it. Something said there. Hope people pay attention to this. Most trailers never get the bearings lubed or tires checked or any maintenance for that matter. Maybe you saved some folks a lot of trouble here. Good job!
Fwiw, I retro-fit both my single axle 6'x 10' utility trailer and the tandem axle car trailer with spring loaded boat trailer hubs. (The 20' box trailer came with boat trailer hubs.) A shot of grease for each one prior to a trip worked well. Just make sure you're using a compatible grease.
C9 we call those bearing buddies here and you're right, they're great to have on the hubs. Makes it a snap to inject fresh grease and you can look at it and tell if it needs some. They're not expensive and most West marine stores or even Academy carries them. Shifty, I'll take you up on the electric brake information. A lot of boaters on the coast don't use them because of the salt water. Seems that if you don't rinse them properly they rust up and are good for nothing. Most folks use the kind that activate when they sense you've applied the brakes. So...fire away. Thanks.
Ya know, it seems like Bearing Buddies would be a good idea on 4x4's. I came close to drilling and tapping the hubs on my 77 Ford F-250 for an angle zerk so I could lube them from the outside. Only fly in the ointment was you'd have to remove the zerk every time you pulled the wheel, but considering what a pain in the ass servicing 4x4 bearings can be, a small price to pay.
IMO Lack of maintenance is the biggest reason some people have so many horror stories about trailering. It doesn't matter what kind of machinery it is, if maintenance is lacking it'll soon fail.
Agreed. One of the biggest probs I saw moving out here, especially the 200 mile run from Barstow to Needles across a really hot part of the Dez was tire failure. Some of it probaby inflation pressures are not up to snuff, but most of it overloading. Especially true on the little boat trailer type wheels and tires on some trailers. And no spare or the spare didn't last long. Key point is to stay within the gross of the trailer. I made a real point to do that and I think that, along with lubed bearings and properly inflated tires are what made it for me. Somewhere along the line you gotta quit throwing stuff in....
Just a comment on Brake Controllers. I ran one of the NEW styled electronic controllers on my old '37 Chevy Truck. Anyone who's ever had an old 30's or 40's truck knows the last thing they are is weather tight. Well ONE DROP of water got inside my brake controller and resulted it in going into FULL LOCK ON BRAKE MODE - not good at all. I had to disconnect the trailer brakes and continue my towing in the pouring rain - scary at best. Since then I want nothing to do with these 'lectronic gizmo's. I put an old style electric/hydraulic unit in BOTH my old trucks. They are reliable and won't smoke due to a drop of water. Now granted my arguement won't hold up if you're driving a New Fangled truck, but if you're running an OLD TRUCK - I'd think twice before running any of those high end brake controllers. YMMV
Hello, I have been reading this thread with some interest due to the fact I am thinking about finding a trailer and redoing it. My question is about brakes I have used electric and surge brakes both have worked ok for me, but I have not pulled that many trailers or for that many miles. My drag car went to the strip on electric brake trailer but only about 10 miles week round trip. Used somebody else's trailer once with surge brake. So some of you guys with some trailer dragging miles behind you which do you like better and why? By the way this is a great thread I have already learned alot Darrell
HemiRambler, I like the old type myself, but they don't work correctly with the newer cars/trucks anti-lock brake system. Louietrucks, I've never used surge only electic. Think of this though. With a surge brake set-up you need to get out and flip a lever or something in order to back up. If you have a sway problem you don't have any means of applying the brakes to straighten it out. Surge brakes are only for boat trailers in my opinion
Surge versus electric- Surge is great for boats due to the water issues, and for rentals since most people renting trailers don't have brake controllers. Electrics offer a significant advantage, manual override and on the fly adjustment for maximum perfomance at every load level. The manual button is the best solution for trailer sway, without em all you can do is ride it out, or accelerate out. You have to tension the hitch connection to stop sway.
OK since there's interest I'll touch on electric trailer brake controllers but don't wanna veer too far in that direction. Nowadays they make super smart brake controllers that read your mind, but I'm not talking about those on purpose, similar reasons to my avoiding enclosed trailers. They're awesome, but what you woulda found in earlier years is the good old fashioned (and still produced/sold) 4 wire controllers. They're also a LOW buck solution that gets the job done. Mine is a Draw-tite "Activator". Google if you would like to see one, they're identical 1975-present. Good solid performance. Every hitch manufacturer offers an equivalent model, 4 wires, button on the face, size of a radar detector. First one came in the truck, it was bad. A buddy had an identical one in a box, I ruined it on first try thanks to the truck having a shorted output wire where it passed the muffler. (guess that's why the first controller was bad) 3rd one used off the auction site, $11 delivered. Wires 1- ground, it is electricity after all 2- power, pull it off a reliable source because of it's importance 3- output, kinda obvious but this one goes to the trailer 4- trigger, goes to the brake light switch above the pedal, whenever the brake lights come on, so do the trailer brakes. Theory of operation, greatly simplified as I am a simple man- There's 2 adjustments, one is the rate of gain because the voltage to the brakes is ramped via the controller circuitry. This is the primary adjustment and is on the controller face. You'll turn it up and down depending if the trailer is loaded or empty. The second adjustment determines the total voltage sent to the trailer, I think they call it sensitivity. This adjustment is usually on the side or back, most people adjust em at installation then leave that one alone. Then there's the controller inertia mechanism inside to sense sudden stops. If you ever heard controllers need to be mounted near level, this is why, the inertia dealie won't work right. It may even be a simple mercury switch like a house thermostat. So now you're saying I see those on junkyard trucks all the time and they fit in my pocket, but you don't wanna steal something that's junk. You'll need a continuity meter. If you find 2 of the 4 wires have continuity when the manual button is pushed, but open up when the button is released, that controller is probably good. Oh and don't steal, it's bad for karma, the junk man prolly only wants $5 anyway
Shifty the controllers HemiRambler was refering to were produced up into the late 70's maybe even the 80's. They worked great and never a problem with having to have them level. Also the newer ones such as the Prodigy or P3 can be tilted up to about 70 degrees, so no problem with them either.
I just recently got finished (well almost) re-doing a 20ft tilt bed car trailer that I bought from a guy for cheap. I sandblasted, painted, made my new fenders removable, painted wheels, new bearings, Re-did the tilt mech, bed lined the d-rings, and a new tounge/hitch. I still have to wire it, mount the lights,winch, and tool box and then I will be ready. I need to know the rules and regs of how the lights are suppose to be placed and if I am suppose to have reflective tape on it. Can any of you guys point me in the right direction on this or shoot me a link to where I can find this info?? I will try to get a few pics posted in a day or 2 when it stops raining. Thanks in advance!!
Look here for all requirements http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/Cars/rules/standards/conspicuity/Trlrpstr.html On my 24' trailer I have the 3 lights in the rear center, dual lights on top of the fenders, lights on each corner and of course tail/brake. On the sleeper I have them on each front corner, 5 across the front top and a set of tail/brake lights there also. I used LED lights for tail/brake on both. I feel there's no such thing as having your trailer lit too well. I want to been seen when I'm out there.
Awesome, learned something new today. That other link is sweet. Can't really tell but it appears they'd want my trailer to have a center mount taillight. Yikes, high risk area for plastics.
Yes indeed, an excellent post subject Mr. Shifty. Look up your states - and maybe the Feds as well - and see what the rules say about the red and white trailer reflective tape. In some states, running the tape all the way down the trailer and across the back indicates to the enforcement troops that you have a 10,000# and up gross trailer. Which also means you need to pull into the weight station. I've heard that the weight station troops will chase you down if you pass by with your 20', 7000# gross trailer taped up like my enclosed trailer is. So far, I've been going by them with no probs and I hope it stays that way, cuz the new and still clean tape reflects up a storm and is a big help visibility-wise at night. The tape is kinda expensive at the big diesel parts houses, but worth it so far. I would not hesitate to plaster it around a flat-bed trailer. And . . .if you know a lineman at the power company he may be able to get you a few of the white pole reflective strips. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I used to take a bunch of these reflective strips home and then hammer em onto the big power pole at the corner of my street off the highway. An unlit area and I'd spell out "D" St. with them. The lineman from the adjacent district would yank em off, a few weeks later I'd put em back on. They finally won after more than a few go-arounds so I put some blue reflectors on the pole and far as I know they're still there. Their thinking probably was, the Viz strips arranged in a specific way means a particular piece of equipment was on the pole.
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