Trailer Rebuild Advice - Probable MH Axles

I've been looking for a decent tandem axle trailer for a few months. Last week, I came across a fairly cheap one on craigslist. Brand new deck, but everything else was getting a little old. No chains, no jack, no lights, very old useless hydraulic brakes. Home built with no tag (trailers in GA do not need a title but do require a tag). Basically a project. The owner knew enough to know he was in over his head, so I got a decent price.

The kicker is it has mobile home axles, I think. Seller was upfront with this. Has the Dayton hubs which clamp the wheels on. The only thing is, it doesn't seem like a mb axle. My understanding has always been that the old dexter mb axles had a few big disadvantages - the 5 lug dayton hubs, single leaf springs and brake backings that where welded to the brakes, subpar spindles. So I get under the axle, and I notice that it does not have a single leaf suspension and appeared to have the 5 bolt connection for new brakes. I closed the deal and brought it home.

After taking the wheels off, I can confirm it does have the normal brake backing plate. Now I'm not entirely sure what I have. Is there any other way to check the axles? For some reason, I believe the total length may be different but I'm not sure. I've looked for some kind of number on them, but no luck.

What I want to do is put new electronic brakes on with new hubs. Would you guys put them on both axles? New hubs would also allow me to go with normal wheels and tires - 6 lug. Of course, new lights and chains. Oh, and weld some D ring attachments for tie down points. Any advice for placement layout for maximum use?

What else would you guys be looking to do? I know little to nothing about trailers but I'm looking to learn. My truck is over in the wood hauler thread. (https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/post-a-pic-of-your-woodhauler.104154/page-14#post-1718286)

Thanks for the advice. With that in mind, I went ahead and order new brakes, hubs, wheels and tires all the way around. 1.25 outer, 1.75 inner bearings with a 2.125 seal. D rated ST tires with a spare. I looked at putting LT tires on it, but everyone seems to have conflicting opinions on that.

I've since removed the ramps because they weight a ton and I won't need them as I don't plan on carrying any vehicles in the immediate future. I'd rather have that capacity for wood. I also picked up some of those weld on D rings. I will have to spend some time planning the layout because I want them for both securing a vehicle/tractor and wood/lumber.

I'll post pictures when the goodies come in.

gzecc said:

Keep one of those ramps on for rolling up rounds. They roll like wheels, it saves the back!

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Great advice, I will put one back on.

Jags said:

Maybe removable sides?? I like sides better than tie downs for firewood. A lot less work.

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The only problem I see is that the trailer sides are not flat steel. They look to be i-beams (forgive my lack of terminology). Cannot think of any way to do removable sides other than those mounting brackets and I'm not sure they would fit.

Mpodesta said:

Thats an equipment tag trailer, I assume its for a pintle hitch? Those are not "mobile home" axles, those are utility hubs used on higher load older axles.

I have 9ton tri axle heavy equipment trailer with them

mine has 6 8x14.5 14ply tires, they can be had for about 90-100$ a pop

I rebuilt the hubs and brakes awile back along with new tires and they have held up great with 0 issues.

I found no need to switch everything over to a lug style hub, to much $$$ investment for no real gain

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Looks to be just a standard 2 5/16 hitch to me. I think you are right about the axles given the brake plate and spindle size. Part of the confusion was at least one of the wheels had a mobile home tire - said it plain as day on the side. That really threw me off. It also had two different sized tires (8 x14.5 front and 7.5x14.5 rear if I remember correctly), a hub was missing a lug, a rim was bent and two tires where breaking apart and barely drive-able. I could have saved money going with the old hubs, but I just didn't want to mess with that.

Charlie2 said:

You may not have to have a title, but you will have to have a Deputy Sheriff come to your house, I had to show bill of sell and he looked for serial numbers. This was one of those 1.5 to Army trailers, bought from the military surplus.

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Cobb County DMS told me to bring it to their location. Said the security officer there would check it out and I could pay at the same time. I think some counties do it a little differently because the guy in Paulding County told me the exact thing you did.

Now for the pictures.

In order: New safety chains. Brakes mounted with new hubs in view. Wheels on.

Brakes are Dexter Nev-R Adjust. I also put a 5k A frame jack on. Have not attached the chains. Whats the best way? My welding is only so-so at this point.

Thanks for everyone's advice. I had a period when I was too busy at the office to get any work done. I have gotten around to welding 10 stake pockets onto the inside of the C channel frame. I had to cut out the deck to fit them in, but I am very pleased with the results (minus the quality of my welds...they need some work). The sides are removable, so it should convert back to a car/equipment hauler with little effort. I cut too many notches because I didn't realize HD only sold 12 foot boards. Probably will be ok, since once I add a back gate it will give me a few feet to carry any tools, like my sawbuck, on the back of the trailer. Also have 10 D-Rings welded on the frame (4 on sides, 2 up front) to secure objects.

One thing that I would recommend to everyone is a junction box for all of the electrical connections. They are cheap and make all of the connections much cleaner.




Next, I want to mount a winch on the front, build a removable arch to pull logs onto the dovetail and add fenders. This is the winch I'm leaning towards but I have never purchased one before. What I plan on doing is buying a large drop/rise ball mount and turning it to raise the coupler (only when stationary). Almost to the point where the dovetail is on the ground. Seems like winching logs into the trailer would be easier that way.

http://www.amazon.com/Superwinch-15...bs_auto_5?ie=UTF8&refRID=00FD8WQPTB3Q2BVJEKGJ