So in looking for a wood hauling trailer, it occurred to me that a travel trailer frame with tandem axles, might make a good wood hauling trailer. So if I found a fire or storm damaged tow-behind, rated for 7000 or 8000, a wood deck and some sort of sides, would be fairly straight-forward build. Finding a tandem axle on a smaller unit might be the challenge, I dont have need for much more than a 10 foot trailer. Are there any issues you folks see that might be worth considering? Otherwise, I found a 2900# gvwr for a good price, new. Happy 4th! Sca
campinspecter found an old old travel trailer abandoned in the bush so he took a chainsaw and cut the chassis free from the frame. Brought home the frame and built a hauling trailer on it. We moved children several times to college and a brother's things with it. campinspecter then took the house off it and it became a firewood hauler. He had removeable sides on it to cut down on the windage when moving it empty. It was only single axle but we moved a lot of wood with it.
The biggest drawback would be campers/travel trailers have fairly low gvw for their length. And as you said trying to find a dual axle that's shorter would be a problem. I did it with a pop up that had been in a fire worked great till I spun it out and bent the frame. But it was a single axle so I never put more than 1/2 cord in it
16' is about the shortest travel trailer frame you'll find with dual axles...and the single axle ones are pretty light duty...I had one, had to beef it up quite a bit, and then the springs were a lil on the light side...finally just sold it, moved on. The tandem axle frames tend to be kinda light duty (for their length) too...but if you found one where you could shorten it and move the axles forward...
Everything about travel trailers are light.. Axle, springs, frame, tires... Start with something heavier.
Yeah....thats about what I was starting to think as I looked at used trailers. Just dont want to spend $4-5k to haul 5500#. But that might be the smartest shot. Thanks guys/gal. Sca
Currently I'm running a converted boat trailer. It's 6×10 dual axle. It was originally longer but cut the back end off before converting. I don't know the gvw but I guess 3500k axles. Biggest problem is it doesn't have brakes
While everything manly about me wants a bigger trailer, most of the places I get into are easily accessed with the 4x8. Bigger than that, turning radius changes, backing around yards and up to wood piles....would be much more of an issue.....12' and 16' would make some places impossible to access. I wish my 4x8 was sturdier with 2 axles, and tall enough to hold a full cord. Sca
I was going to do a tandem axle boat trailer conversion/build, but ended up finding a good deal on one that is all ready to go...or close enough anyways...might do some minor mods on it, the guy built it as a firewood hauler, but it has some strange "features"
I've looked at converting older camper trailers into hauling trailers. The older campers are built way stronger with thicker steel than the newer ones. Old ones used standard thickness c channel, square tubing, and I beams. The newer stuff is much thinner because they are using the floor and walls of the camper body to stiffen up the trailer and act as part of the structure. Everyone wants a bigger trailer behind their SUV or half ton. New trailers are more likely to have axles, brakes and rims you can use and get parts for. I bought a used trailer a few months ago. It was a small pop up camper in it's past life. Maybe early 80s. Regular 3 inch c channel. Very strong for a 5x8 trailer. Previous owner narrowed the frame up to be all inside tires. It had a Dexter drop axle with brakes. Bearings were in great shape. Spring shackle holes were over sizes and oval, spring bushings were gone and bolts were half worn through. Combined they would not let suspension move. Hub bearings were in great shape with good grease still. Tires were trash, dry rotted car tires. No lights. So I sunk $300 into my cheap trailer over a month and drove it 600 miles with 3400# on the 3500# axle in one day. Buddy already borrowed it once. I pulled the trailer across a scale at the county dump to get trailer weight unhooked and hooked to find tongue weight. Tongue weight is 18% of trailer weight...a bit high but towed very well...much better after I rebuilt suspension. It rode like a small car crash at every pot hole and bridge joint the first 60 miles when I first bought it. If it was going to be used off road or on the farm only I would have probably put used LT tires on it and used it as bought. Since I needed to make a fully loaded 600 mile trip I put new trailer tires, a rim, lights and all new shackles, bushings, and bolts. Plus some redneck poly drum fenders to cover state laws since I traveled in 4 states. I look at trailer frames like I'm buying the axles. I know the cost of a new axle and I want a good axle on the old trailer or I can't get it home easy. Everything else on the trailer is bonus. I may pay more if the trailer frame is usable without any more work from me. I figure my time is $50/hr, easy math, plus metal and consumables. Steel is $2/lb or more. At the scrapyard it's $0.03/lb. The total cost of the trailer has to be a savings or it's too much. It doesn't cost me $$ for my own time and I may wave that cost in my calculations if I want to do something. I'm a mechanical and manufacturing engineer by training and a machinist/fabricator by 25 years of trade. I can fix and build a trailer. But is it worth it?
Meche, Im ok to find someone to weld another axle on, and maybe diddly-dink with improving this that and the other, but once we get into shortening, narrowing and modifying, I don't have the time to learn about balance, loading, handling characteristics, esp., with a second axle on something built for one. Then there's insurance questions, particularly if there's a whoopsee. Im driving state to state here too, not always with firewood. Kinda resigned to buying one. Half a cord is sufficient weight wise. Sca
