Trailer question

[GregCO]

I have a 20 foot flat bed trailer built in the 1980’s sometime. It has a 12,000 lb GVW (two 6,000 mobile home axles). I have decided to sell it and move up to a 20,000 lb GVW trailer that would be better suited for hauling hay.
I have had several people come and look at it and when they see the mobile home axles they turn tail and run. What gives here? Is there something wrong with these axles that is scaring the heck out of everybody? I have never had any issues. I has been a good unit for me for many years, just can’t put enough on it to suit me any more.

Thanks for the input.

Greg

 

[keh]

First, I have a trailer I made with MH axles, no problems.

Criticisms from others: MH axles are intended for one time use, delivery of MH, and bearings are poor quality. Trailer sales places typically reuse the axles over and over. If the bearings are not good enough, well, bearings have numbers, go replace the bearings.

I'll bet you never had to replace bearings on the one built in the 80's. I don't know how much a MH weighs, but I doubt if the load per axle for what you have hauled is as much as the load per axle for the MH.

MH tires are designed for one time use and are not legal for use other than for MH. That's true here, so I replaced the MH tires with what are called low boy tires, solving that problem. Trailer sales places typically reuse their MH tires until they are worn out and I don't know how long that takes.

The electric brakes probably are not that great, but they can be replaced also. Trailer supply dealers(not MH suppliers) sell everything to replace the brakes.

Maybe the prospective purchasers don't want to buy a homemade trailer and are using the MH axles as an excuse.

KEH

 

[Puddles]

I’ve always heard it was the tires and some axles have a disclaimer tag on them to tighten the lug nuts every so many miles.

http://www.ehow.com/how_5594991_tighten-nuts-mobile-home-axles.html

 

[504-2]

We have one right now for sale, best offer so far is 300.00 and for that it will go for scrap(110.00 per ton today)I had one guy say that the new tires cost too much,new 7-14.5 last week were 97.00 plus tax. You can t buy a pick up tire for that money. Some people believe every thing they read on the inter net.

 

[Butch(OH)]

Well it partialy depends on if they are indeed modile home axles or if they are the same design that everyone calls MH axles? It is not a a urban legend that a true mobile home unit is not much of an axle. Everything about them is just barely good enough to get from point A to point B,, ONCE. As one of the earlier posters said even the tires are so bad that it is illegal to run them for any other use in a host of states, add to that the brakes are such in name only and have all of a matchbook cover's worth of lining and the rims themselves are made of tissue paper and anyone who has been around would consider them about the same as no axles. Now there are sililar axles that take the same whells, tires etc that are made for trailers. We have owned one for 15 years at work that was built by Dynaweld. The axles and brakes are OK but they share an inherant design flaw with the MH axles. You cant keep the wheels on when you load them down, the tires, real tires that is, still get hotter than the blazes and shread like confetti all too often. I think the design is all but gone from use now for commerial trailers, havent seen any on a new unit for ages?

 

[PJH]

The wheels seem to come off easily.

A friend gave me a pair of MH axles with no wheels. At the time, I was marking patches on the interstate in S. Illinois. At lunch time, I'd grab a sandwich and walk the tops of the backslopes. I found 13 MH wheels in five 30 minute lunch breaks. Also found a Chevy pickup wheel with elongated lug holes and a brand new tire, a 20" truck tire with the sticker intact complete with tube and liner, and an un-used Budd wheel with no tire. These were all laying up high above the line of sight, and in the case of the truck wheels, off an embankment in a multiflora rose patch.

I have a friend who has a deck over equipment trailer, and I remember him losing a wheel once. He has the axles that resemble the MH axles, but came on the factory made gooseneck.

There's lots of them in use, but I think I'd check the lugs often, and never try to run with a lug missing.

Paul

 

[brokenot]

Criticisms from others: MH axles are intended for one time use, delivery of MH, and bearings are poor quality. Trailer sales places typically reuse the axles over and over. If the bearings are not good enough, well, bearings have numbers, go replace the bearings.

Check the Dexter Axle site's faq section. Dexter is one of the companies that [i:52ae8b13dd]builds[/i:52ae8b13dd] mobile home axles, as well as traditional axles. They say themselves that the mobile home axles are of inferior quality and only suitable for very limited use.

Here's a link:

http://www.dexteraxle.com/faq_s

Mobile home axles can be found cheap, but like most things....you get what you pay for.

 

[Mel in SW Iowa]

I may be wrong, but I believe Lo Boy tires come
in 7, 8, and 9 x 14.5 sizes in 12 or 14 ply
versions. I used to have a 3 axle deck over commercially made trailer with fold up ramps that was probably built to haul a backhoe. It handled
the weight of 2 narrow front 7,000# tractors.
The only trouble I had with tires is limited availabiliy. Find your tires before you need them. I don't think they are available at Wal Mart.

 

[souNdguy]

some places you cant get trailers tagged with MH axles..

soundguy

 

[Anonymous-0]

I've heard it depends on what type of backing plates they have, welded or bolted(can't remember which is bad)and that the clips that hold the rims on can come loose. A lot of trailers have been built with MH axles but not recently. Mobile homes aren't normally doing 60 mph down the highway. Even the coupler on a MH has a higher rating for a MH(25,000 lbs.)but only 10,000lbs. for a conventional 2 5/16" ball trailer. You should check with your local DOT to make sure what is allowed and what isn't. I think the MH hubs can be converted to conventional wheels and bearings though. Dave

 

[schmuck]

This has been discussed on here before. Mobile home axles are NOT 1 time use. They pull them out and re-use them time and time and time again. If someone doesn't want them they are worried about availability and it can be hard to find someone to install them (new tires) due to the large open center in the rim. Most places have to treat them like a small truck tire. (IE - more money).

 

[paul]

The axle is not always rated right to make the DOT and the insurance co happy in all locations. Other areas it is no big deal.

What rims do you have on it? The mh rims most people will run away from - they are a pain to get a tire for if you haven't gotten them upgraded to 15 inch or whatever. Harder to work with.

The tires themselves - if they are the 14.5 inch that say mobile home only use - then you have serious DOT and insurance issues, and everyone will run real fast away. Instant ticket if it is ever noticed.

--->Paul

 

[Leroy]

Your are right, they are not normally doing 60 down the highway, normal is 65 in a 55 zone.

 

[S2710]

I talked to the DOT inspector in the state of Wisconsin and he said that if the Mobile home Tires were not legal he would get cramps from writing tickets. All Mobile home tires are and have to be DOT approved. Bob

 

[Puddles]

I knew I had this saved somewhere. So much for windows search! :roll:

 

[brokenot]

Champion Trailers knows how "most" mobile home axles are constructed? Apparently not. I've had a couple dozen apart over the years to repack bearings and such, and I've never come across one yet that takes the same size bearings as a "standard" 6 or 8 bolt trailer hub. Not only are the bearings much smaller in a mobile home axle, but the hub depth and resulting distance between the bearing races is much narrower as well. So you have smaller bearings....and less space between them. That all adds up to less capacity/lighter duty....no matter how you do the math.

I posted a link above from Dexter Axle.....a company that builds axles. Not just mobile home axles, but standard trailer axles as well. Read the comments in their FAQ section. They ARE NOT some company commenting on how SOMEONE ELSE'S products are constructed. They build them themselves. They list their intended uses themselves. They list their drawbacks themselves.

Sure, mobile home transporters re-use them. The amount of distance they cover and the loads they haul still qualifies as very limited use though. Companies like Dexter build different "lines" of product....why? Because they're comparable and interchangeable?

Don't think so....

;-)

 

[Anonymous-0]

That should clear it up. Obviously who ever told me about the backing plates and rim clamps knew what they were talking about. Thanks for confirming it. Dave

 

[Puddles]

brokenot I think you misunderstood my motive for posting that article. I don’t have a dog in this fight! I could care less if GregCo ever sells his trailer; I know I wouldn’t buy it without every intension in the world of changing out the axles! I’ve personally seen what a PITA mobile home axles are on trailers!

On the whole I just post information I have saved over the years so people can make their own decisions! I have my opinions on things, as I’m sure you have yours! :wink:

 

[brokenot]

It's all good.;-)

I just didn't want anyone to end up regretting their choice. One thing I did forget to mention, was that on several of the mobile home axles I have packed the bearings on, the inner "seal" isn't really a seal at all. It looks like one, but instead of the metal seal body and rubber or composite seal lip that rides on the spindle to create the seal, (like a conventional grease or oil seal would have), these "seals" were just an all-plastic piece to take up the space a seal would normally occupy.

I went to a local bearing supply with the axle and hub in the bed of the pickup. The rep came out and measured the hub and spindle after not being able to make heads or tails of the original plastic "seal" dimensions. Nothing in the CR or National product line matched up. And if something had matched up, the roughly machined spindle seal surface would have taken a lot of polishing in order to not destroy the seal's lip.

Years ago I seem to recall there were some companies that used to sell hub kits that could be used to mount different hubs onto trailer house axles, so users could then mount easier to find 14" or 15" wheels and tires.

If they do still exist, I don't see how it would be worth it...

 

[charles todd]

There are tires made in 14.5 for "lo-boy" trailers. They are 12-14 ply tires. They have an unreal amount of load capacity, but they get hot! I have a trailer with 6000 lb camper trailer axles and 15" tires. I wanted 10 ply tires. My tire man talked me out of them and recommended 8 plys. He said the small tires with many plys can carry heavy loads but blow out regularly in hot weather because they cannot disapate heat like a 16" or larger.

CT