how far to the front or the back should i go on a single axle trailer
axeman.,
May 13, 12:39am
hi there it not for butting car on, more thing like fire wood.
stevo2,
May 13, 12:55am
On the few I've built, I've gone 150mm behind the centre. They all seemed well balanced to me. Cheers Stevo
rivermist8,
May 13, 1:01am
The information I was given some years ago was 25mm behind centre for each 300mm of tow bar. My 8x4 towed well. That is what I will use on my new one being built.
axeman.,
May 13, 1:10am
my dad is 1" to the front of the centre and i used a trailer that is 100mm to the back of the trailer and it was to heavy on the towball, it made my car head light shine upwards.
paul861,
May 13, 1:42am
half inch back from centre for every foot of deck
mrfxit,
May 13, 2:04am
100mm is far too much for most small trailers
Built & rebuilt a number of small trailers over the years 50mm back from center has always worked out to be a good safe general offset. All my trailers have had custom built leaf springs with a good load capacity & minimal compression They all travel well, empty or full
I . HATE those mass produced spring sets with massive curvature, because as they compress with weight increase, the center shifts backwards by a fairly large amount & stress's the leaves a lot. Too much alteration of load balance for my likes. Sits the deck up a lot higher as well. You don't see truck springs built that way
Technically, my trailers do get a bit overloaded from time to time, but I have never had any of them sway or blow tyres or bottom out the springs even at normal highway speeds
1 trailer I bought, (8' x 5' ) had to be altered really fast because it had a 100mm offset axle & it resulted in a 2 handed squat lift JUST to pick up the drawbar & put it on a tow ball . EMPTY. It was built that way because the last owner had a diesel welder bolted on the back of the deck permanently along with full length tool box's along the sides
At the other end of the scale was another trailer that had a 100mm forward set axle. Nasty thing to load & control like that. Nearly took off my head 1st day I had an even load on it when unhitching it & the draw bar flew past my head. Got rebuilt in a hurry after that.
mrfxit,
May 13, 2:07am
Thats a 35 year personal experience advice. ^ ^ ^ If you want PRO advice, go ask "UNIDECK"
stevo2,
May 13, 2:38am
Yeah, we need Unideck back again.
serf407,
May 13, 3:08am
Even on a 8 x 5 I would consider a tandem axle before a single axle.
mrfxit,
May 13, 4:27am
It's like this >>> 8' x 5' is on the border line of being .>>
Too big & floaty for a single axle Too small & rigid for a tandem axle
Single, Too big for a small light tow vehicle + can't see past it. Tandem, too small & looking stupid on a large heavy tow vehicle + can't SEE it.
mrfxit,
May 13, 4:53am
Spose a lot depends on what you know about towing & what you use to tow with & of course "the loads"
morrisman1,
May 13, 4:58am
Hope you overinflated those tyres! I pity that gearbox
mugenb20b,
May 13, 5:02am
Far out! That's way overloaded!
mugenb20b,
May 13, 5:45am
I towed a trailer just like that once in my old.Estima diesel, full of gravel. As I accelerated from a standstill, I could hear the turbo screaming (had an a/m air filter at the time) and I slowly but comfortably got to 50km/h. A few minutes later, I noticed a couple waiting to cross the road at a pedestrian crossing. No worries (or so I thought), so I braked to stop for them.only to find that "braking" did SFA to slow me down, lol. I stopped just in time (with both of my feet on the brake pedal), and then carried on home.at 30km/h, lol.
mugenb20b,
May 13, 5:49am
I thought that such a trailer had a 750kg limit.did you have a bent axle afterwards!
stevo2,
May 13, 5:59am
No, its on durotorques and quite honestly, its easy to tow behind the van and due to the large brakes on the van (its a commercial vehicle after all) stopping is stress free to. Just leave decent following distances. The van has towed 3 tonne payload plus the weight of the tandem so around 3.5tonne! Tows straight as a die but slowed down on the hills. I had to do heaps of dodgy towing when I was an apprentice such as 3 tonne tandem behind a Morrie Minor ute and that wasnt cool.
kevymtnz,
May 13, 6:00am
id say pending on the drawbar weight and then with only a few kilos on the towbar also what u use for sides like wood or completely metal
mrfxit,
May 13, 6:46am
750kg limit. LOL a 3rd of that would be it's empty weight It's pretty solid 2" x 4" box section axle & 2" x 3" box chassis (not blimin tubing) 5 stud Trojan hubs
It's had FAR worse then that by the previous owners
Not going to bend THAT any time soon in normal usage Had 1.8ton net over a scrappys weigh bridge 1 day & it was still riding on the springs , NOT on the chassis. Rides nice even when empty
fordcrzy,
May 13, 6:57am
i always worked on the towball to trailer axle distance was 1.5-1.6 times the vehicles wheelbase.
mrfxit,
May 13, 7:19am
That part helps with backing & specific vehicles, got nothing to do with weight carrying ability's/ distribution. Backing can be slow or fast / lock up easy or easy to correct depending on TOTAL length between the tow vehicles back axle & the trailers pivot axle/ center.
Backing abilities is easy to compensate for (sometimes painful but correctable) , load distribution isn't so easy
quickstitch,
May 13, 7:47am
balance the trailer on axle stands, pull some bathroom scales under the drawbar. move them around until you get approx. 80 kg weight on the scales, and thats the point you want the axle mounted
h.e,
May 13, 7:53am
dont want to argue with you because you must be a huge bas@#$d if you are willing to ift 80kg at the drawbar.but most towbars have a maximum down weight and its nowhere near 80kg
h.e,
May 13, 7:55am
single axle about 50mm off centre to the rear.tandem central
bilang,
May 13, 8:45am
i put a kea 8 x 5 on my car tonight, (2003 vy holden)the trailers axle was about 100mm to the back of the trailer and it was to heavy on the towball to, it made my car head light shine upwards. my car has good shocks.
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