upgrading to a dual axle trailer

[mosquito13]

Bought the boat with a single axle trailer. Converted it to all stainless hardware and POR 15'd the axle and hubs. Has held up nice but I regularly trailer up to Tampa Bay and down to Port Charlotte.  Pays to be true to your mechanic. He just arranged the deal on a dual axle torsion  set up for a my boat in decent shape . Need to give the brakes a little love .  Hoping to get that done for under $200 , should be a wash when I sell the single axle. Looking forward to  not have to be watching the reviews the whole drive.

[Juan]

I think you'll notice a big difference in how it pulls. I know I did when I changed from leaf springs to torsion. There are pros and cons to dual axle vs single axle but I think the pros far outweigh the cons.
PROs: There is far less area to rust, It pulls better, Wheels work independently, With four wheels, you won't have to stop for a single flat tire.
CONS: Four tires to maintain. If you do have a flat, you might not notice before you have serious tire damage.

[gtinga]

I have a dual axle under my '05 SV1900 and like it. The trailer and tires are rated for twice the weight of the boat, I like that safety margin. In the last two months I've pulled this rig about 1,100 miles on two trips, in both cases the hubs have not gotten much warmer than air temp. This I assume is due to the load being carried by four rather than two sets of bearings. Probably will help the tires last longer also due to reduced wear and tear.

[mosquito13]

Have had a dual axle for my car hauler . Its got a surge break. My "new" trailer had surge but was disconnected and new brake free hubs were installed some time in the past.Missed that when I looked at it ... Leaving it like that. Today I took the trailer to Sturdy Built and had them measure up at the u bolts and fasteners, tongue , and wheel bearings to get new and S/S , and a new heavy duty winch strap. Got the winch cleaned up and painted with galvanized paint and greased. Same for the coupler after removing it from the tongue. Removed the tongue. Cleaned the new tongue and painted it with POR15. Will overpaint that with galvanized paint tomorrow. Then drill it . Axles and hubs will get removed tomorrow. Lots of time with the needle scaler and wire wheel on the angle grinder expected on those before they get osfo and por15 treatment. Hope I do not have Juans fun with the wheel bearings. Then its is on to the lighting... Had the empty trailer on the freeway up to 80 for about 10 miles . Pulled like a dream.

[mosquito13]

Life slowed down the project this week. Got the tongue back together and centered to the front axle. Axles are taking a bit more with the needle scaler and twisted wire wheel on the angle grinder. Only did one so far . Taking some video and pic's to post up a how to on youtube. Nothing good out there on how to bring back a axle. Lots of folks dealing with surface rust , but nothing on real scale. Will do a link when I get it sorted.

[mosquito13]

King tides and nice weather has taken pressident over axles... Got a good start on front axle. Just nocking the scale back no treatments yet. Rear is untouched. www.flickr.com/photos/15777931@N07/shares/jm3ykW

[mosquito13]

Front axle done next the rear... Needle scaled, twisted wire on angle grinder followed with 60 grit flap. Ospho then por15 and top coated with three coats cold galvenized spray. New bearings/races and seals. ( think i will get loaded hubs for rear large race was a bitch on both sodes. rims hit with wire wheel then ospho'd ready for a couple coats of cold galvenized spray(zinc). and two coats in. three coats and a top coat of diamond clear. pic dosnt do the finish justice. Zinc with clear pops the metal flake.

[freezerfiller]

Looks nice, but won't the diamond coat and the POR-15 prevent the galvanized from doing it's sacrificial duty?

[mosquito13]

The diamond coat was just on the outside surface of the wheels as a top coat. Guilty of vanity over utility there. Though should make cleaning any grease spouge from the hub easier. The hubs axles wheels got several coats of cold galvanized( high zinc solids paint) over the por15 . Por15 is a rust sealer , the top coat zinc paint is the sacrificial . Have done this on two other trailers with good success . Added a layer of gasket material between the axle plate and the frame of the trailer and . With that the only place galvanized steel contacts the aluminum I beams is the tongue and the fender braces. I will need to pick up some flat stock and bend up braces... Need to get a pic of what the galvanized U bolts did to the cross beams. Not terminal, but another year or two.

[985crabs]

I'd say that's the damn finest tire-taping job I've ever seen.

[Juan]

Oct 19, 2017 11:41:34 GMT -6 985crabs said:

I'd say that's the damn finest tire-taping job I've ever seen.

Me too. How long did that take? Smearing grease on the tire will keep any overspray from sticking.

[mosquito13]

Bout 15 min. each wheel with the grinder. axle was around 6 hours with 5 of them using needle scaler and the angle grinder the rest quick paints with time between coats. Pulled the other axle today hoping it goes faster with better technique on the needle scaler. Wiring up the trailer is what is going to take time. 

[gnrphil]

Had to google "needle scaler" to be honest, I have a use for one of those.  emthup

[Juan]

They make a tool for scaling needlefish?

I had to Google it too.. Learned something new.

[mosquito13]

Trailer is all together. Just need to float the boat and adjust the bunks for it. Think I will start a new thread on wiring it up. As I am scrapping all the lights that are one the trailer and running all new wiring.

[mosquito13]

Finished! Put around $400 in S/S hardware, paint, and lighting. Paid The Judge $800 for the trailer. Took awhile to finish it up but in real time about three and half days of worky. Lot of sweat equity but will be worth it next time I park it next to the Judges new swoopy big $$$ trailer at the ramp. He has a newer 2100CC.

[Juan]

Looks great. Where ya gonna mount the spare?

[mosquito13]

Looking for a junk axle and will weld up a rig to carry fresh hub and spare. Priced a hub mount unit at $100 and it looked cheap. Put word out at the two trailer stores I use. Figure a working axle end unit is worth a pizza and some soda's at lunch time.  I used two loaded hubs as I had issues with the big bushings on first axle.  The replaced hubs still felt good,  so will use them as spares. When that happens will post up a build. Turns into a good motivator and means to think thru a project for me.  

[tigerhead]

Man, you did a great job cleaning up those axles. I worked as a boilermaker/ironworker for a good portion of my early work life, so I know that took some serious effort. I don't know if you did this already or not, but if you know someone with an ultrasonic thickness gauge, you might want to get them to scan those axles. They looked pretty rough on the OD, so the ID may be even worse. I had a galvanized axle fail on me once. From the outside it looked fine, but the inside was trashed.

[mosquito13]

The guys at the trailer shop I use looked at them, hit them a bunch with a 2 lb ball peen all over and gave it a thumbs up. Old school thickness gauge. I get the blocks on my engines checked out for cracks before I build. Same tool?