Went to pick up a load of wood from a friend from work this afternoon. He wasn’t sure what it was, but it was mostly cut to length and it was free, and I knew he would help me load. Lucky for me it turned out to be oak! Between my small trailer and the 4x8 “bed” in the back of my Suburban I figure I was able to get about a cord. There was some left that I may go back for in the future. My dad lives in that same town, so maybe during the next visit with dad. Here’s the adventure part. I was about 2/3 of the way home traveling at a moderate speed of 60 mph on the highway. I had just made my way into the left lane for an upcoming left exit highway junction, when all of a sudden something with the trailer drastically changed. Maybe a flat or a seized bearing? I was able to get all the way back to the right and on to a close by local exit ramp. This is what I found when I got out. The wheel had broken right off the hub. I at first feared the hub had seized causing the wheel to break, but once I got the axle in the air I was happy to see there was nothing wrong with the hub. Fortunately I always travel with 3 or 4 jacks when I am towing the trailer. I had to do some creative jacking with the axle and trailer so low to the ground. This is all that was left of the wheel. It’s the inner and outer portion of the wheel center. Glad I was able to get off the highway safely and get the spare on and get home. Figured you guys could appreciate the trials and tribulations of wood hoarding. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I'm no trailer expert, but I think you're missing parts in the first picture. Not sure what, but it doesn't look good. Glad you got pulled over with nor major issues to get a spare on. Sounds like a good score for wood. but no pictures of that.
Wow That brings the heart rate up. .... Hope the parts that left didn’t cause anyone damage. A pretty big object rolled somewhere???
What kind of trailer were you towing? Is it possible it was overloaded? Most single axle trailers I see around are only rated for 3500 lbs and that’s including the weight of the trailer. A cord of green oak weighs a lot more than that, I know it’s listed on this site somewhere but I bet it’s 5,000-6,000 lbs. Snapping an axle with a big haul in tow is something I’m always worried about with my oak scrounges. I can easily fit more oak on my 5x 10’ trailer than it can safely handle. I’m glad you and your load of oak made it home safely. Major props for being prepared with a spare and plenty of jacks to get the job done.
Eeeww the rim rusted off. Not much fun. Good you got it stopped with no major accidents. Good indeed. No brakes on that trailer? Keep it loaded light from now on friend of mine called me bout three weeks ago. “I’m in trouble, flat tire on my trailer”. Get there and find out it’s his second flat in two miles. Loaded 3 yards of soaking wet topsoil on a trailer like yours. Bent the axle so bad the tires were wearing against the fender guard. Crazy!!
It’s an old Eric, 4x6. The suspension was reinforced by the original owner with coil springs added to the leaf springs, and with a full length of 1” rebar welded to the original axle. The load capacity rating stamped on the trailer is 1,500 lbs. Im sure I was probably over loaded based on the manufacturers rating, but I usually figure the extra suspension “add-ons” give me some extra wiggle room. I usually get a 1/3-1/2 cord in that trailer depending how tight I can load it. I am pretty sure the wheels were the original wheels, so it is time to replace those. I can’t have this happen again. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
In fact, after I got out and realized the wheel was gone, that was the first thing that went through my head. I would feel terrible if it caused accident or injury to someone. I’m pretty confident it didn’t though because I was on the side of the highway exit for a while and never heard or saw any indication of an accident. Thank goodness Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Yup, I’m thinking the same about the rim. My buddy said the same thing when he saw the pics. And you are correct that there are no brakes on this trailer. I had the wheels off this summer to replace the bearings. Never really gave the wheels a second thought. Wish I had! Always something to be learned. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Oh, snap! Looks like too much rust? Scary stuff and glad it was okay. A good adrenaline rush for sure. PITA when stuff like that happens, but good lesson learned. We're you on 91, which exit?
Glad that turned out as well as it did saewoody. I'm sure your heart jumped a bit both when it happened and again when you saw the damage.
Since I wasn’t able to post pics of the load because it was dark the other night, I figured I would post them now. The first pic is the original load once it was unloaded from the trailer and Suburban. But it was dark out, so it’s not the greatest quality. The second pic is the oak all split. I got it all split between yesterday and today after work. There’s about a dozen rounds @18” in diameter of white oak from a separate scrounge in the rain on Sunday that is added to the pile. The pile is about 5’ high. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
That's crazy, so the wheel just broke off at the rim? You were able to simply jack it up and take off the lugnuts and put the spare on and you were off?
