Building trailer from trailer house frame/axles, have a few?????'s - Diesel Forum

Bottlefed89 · 06-28-2006, 06:31 PM

Alright, I am building a few trailers from some mobile home frames that were given to me. I have just the I-beam frames, one is 60' with 3 axles, the other is 66' with 4 axles. My plan is to cut each of them down, and make several 25'ish trailers... Though I will need to get some more axles, I want to have 3 axles per trailer..
Now, before anyone tells me about using these as trailers, let me be clear on what they will be used for...
I own a firewood bundling business. We get in 10-15 cords of wood per day, most of it sits for several months, and then is split. Once split, it is stacked on trailers, and brought in the barn to be bundled. So, these trailer will be used to transports stacked, dry wood a distance of less than 1/2 mile round trip... So, I am just trying to stay cheap with them. They will never hit the road.. and they get beat up, so I don't want to invest much in them..

My question is.. I move trailer with a skidsteer or a pick-up, I can push or pull a whole lot of weight, but tongue weight may be an issue. How do I know where to locate the 3 axles to give the best pull, and have a manageable tongue weight??

03six0 · 06-28-2006, 07:11 PM

I would just go and copy the dimesions off of another trailer made by a large company. Have you looked closely at the frames on the mobile homes. The I beams are the thinnest I beams made. I used one a couple of time for a pull off at the dump with chain run around a 4' section, and the thing bent. I wouldnt trust them with very much weight. Remember those m-homes are only thin wood walls -- very light.

barrelhorses · 06-28-2006, 10:26 PM

Have you considered setting your trailers up like hay wagons? That is with a tongue that basically has no weight and is connected to the front "steer" axle. Sure they won't pull as nice as a regular trailer, but you said you were only moving 1/2 mile or so. Also backing the trailers won't be as easy, but with a little practice you can get the hang of it.

LongRider · 06-28-2006, 11:05 PM

Put the axles dead-center, so the trailers will be balanced and the tongue will only pull the load, not carry it.

olddieseldude · 06-28-2006, 11:39 PM

I would agree with barrelhorses here. If you use a trailer style setup tongue weight is going to be a constantly moving target as the trailers are loaded and unloaded. If you don't want tongue weight you need to consider a wagon style instead. I suppose another option would be to put a self steering dolly wheel at the front end that would carry the tongue weight and still allow trailer style maneuvering.

durantdiesel · 06-29-2006, 04:34 AM

as far as the Ibeam goes if it is W12 x 4" than the lightest it could be is 14# per foot and for a 25' trailer that is ok, most trailer mfg outfits use 14# I beam on a 20+5 wether it is a dual or single, you will want some tounge weight or the trailer might want to start to fish tail on you at speed. I know it is for off road use but it will inevidably see pavement and at least 55 mph,then you need to figure out which axles you will use and set the frame up to mach the spring centers on the axles, tandem dingle is at 60" wide, tandem dual is 51" wide hope this helps.

T_Bone · 06-29-2006, 07:10 AM

Hi Bf,

Here's a few considerations.

A tri-axle trailer has no load sweet spot like a tandum axle. In fact on a surface other than flat, you will apply reverse torque to the tongue of the trailer so severe that with 4000lbs of load weight on the tongue, I snapped a 1/4" chain holding the pintel to my ball while on a "gentle" rolling surface.(I didn't have a pintel hitch built for my receiver when I bought my tri-axle, hence the 1/4" chain use). This is due to the way a tri-axle suspension works. So if you can't hold downword tongue weight, you sure can't hold the upword tongue weight and the trailer will eat you alive when you try to move it fully loaded on a uneven ground surface. I will never buy/build another tri-axle trailer!

A tri-axle takes special spring hangers and equalizers, about $50 in the Dexter tri-axle hanger kit and you can NOT use tandum equalizers as they won't load the springs correct.

You can buy a new 6-ton ag-wagon frame complete (tires, alxes, frame) for about $1500. This will let you move 12,000lbs at under 15mph and twice that at 5mph. This way you will have no tongue weight to contend with. I think the 10-ton ag-wagon frames were under $2000.

Tying to place the axles at 50% of overall length would mean you would always have to unload the back of the trailer first without creating to light of tongue weight as the load weight is removed as it would pick up the moving vehicle off uneven ground.

The correct axle placement on a tag trailer, is real close to 66%, that is of over all trailer length x 66% is the distance from the pin/ball to the axle center line. On a tri-axle design then the center of the second axle would be 15ft 10-1/16" on a 24ft trailer.

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LongRider · 06-29-2006, 10:58 AM

Old farm auctions almost always have wagon gears for next to nothing.

You might have to buy them with a grain-body(gravity-bed), or an old rotten flat; but, they can be had cheap.

For your use, just load them until the tires pop.

Bottlefed89 · 06-29-2006, 11:14 AM

Thanks for the ideas everyone. I like the wagon idea, and I very activly look for them ,but as of yet, have found none.

larry_minn · 07-01-2006, 12:18 AM

I agree wagon idea sounds best. Slightly higher bed height but otherwise. I looked in local (farmer to farmer) type paper and trailers go for $300 with imp tires (add said no cracks in tires) and a 8 ton trailer. I have a couple trailers for moving stuff. Kinda handy.

cdnsarguy · 07-01-2006, 08:56 AM

You could buy an old running school bus about $300 and convert it to a trailer. Most all our homemade bale trailers were school buses at one time. One fellow I know just removed from the driver back and still uses the engine and drivetrain to haul heavy loads.

Farm technology.........

olddieseldude · 07-01-2006, 09:22 AM

[ QUOTE ]
You could buy an old running school bus about $300 and convert it...

[/ QUOTE ]

This is not a bad idea, but why convert it to a trailer, just strip it down to a chassis cab and use it as a self propelled unit. Or, strip it down to the frame and leave the axles on it and add a tongue to the steering wheels. The bad would be that the height of the frame might be an issue.

LongRider · 07-01-2006, 10:09 PM

I was at a friends farm and the kids were practice-driving an old school-bus around the pasture.

When they got close enough for me to see, right behind the seat was boxed in with planks and the bus was filled from stem to gizzard with ear-corn.

The seats were still in there, under all that corn.

Rick M · 07-01-2006, 10:15 PM

Old cotton trailers would be what you would be looking for around these parts. These on eBay are located at Frogmore, LA which is about 25 miles from me. Cotton Trailers

olddieseldude · 07-02-2006, 12:39 PM

I wonder how heavy a load the cotton trailer would be good for? A load of cotton is probably not very heavy, relatively speaking.