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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2013
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    nsw
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    Default are your trailer components aligned?

    how many trailers out there on the roads are spot on?

    ive been looking around at a few tandem trailers to buy and have noticed up to 10mm gap when placing a straight edge along the tyres!

    anything to worry about ?

    is your trailer perfect?

    regards

    meadow

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  3. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
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    Lebrina
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    Default

    The better they are aligned, the better they tow and the better the tyres wear.
    The mass produced budget trailer market is a really good area to observe how not to do a quality job.
    When you consider how many trailers are built, treated, overloaded and poorly maintained, it's a wonder that they perform as well as they do.

  4. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
    Location
    Brisbane
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    Default

    don't worry the axles are probaly bent from being overloaded and the wheels wont be ballanced or running true.

    As for being built straight in the first place...well hell.

    Seriusly the level of care and diligence in relation to trailers is pitifull.

    cheers
    Any thing with sharp teeth eats meat.
    Most powertools have sharp teeth.
    People are made of meat.
    Abrasives can be just as dangerous as a blade.....and 10 times more painfull.

  5. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
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    Lebrina
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    1,099

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by soundman View Post
    don't worry the axles are probaly bent from being overloaded and the wheels wont be ballanced or running true.

    As for being built straight in the first place...well hell.

    Seriusly the level of care and diligence in relation to trailers is pitifull.

    cheers
    So true.
    There is a tandem trailer that I see on a semi regular basis belonging to a fire wood merchant. The wheels are now cambered at near 15 degrees and the center of the axle is gradually meeting the ground from regular overloading. To add insult, the override brakes do not work, nor do the lights most of the time. Every time I see the monstrosity I ring the Police and give them accurate details of it's travel, yet they never seem to catch up with the feral creature that owns it.
    One day it will make the headlines for all the wrong reasons.
    I also had the experience once where a single axle trailer travelling towards me loaded with wood, lost its axle. The trailer jumped and swayed like an enraged rodeo bull, spewing fire wood all over the road into the path of oncoming traffic. After I helped clear the road, I loaded the wood onto my truck as I was heading to town anyway and took it to the owners residence. A rough measurement of the wood gave a weight of around 1.75 tonnes. All on a crappy 7X5 trailer with no brakes and an axle fabricated from old Holden stub axles.
    I like to learn from my mistakes, but obviously they didn't, as when I was returning home from town, I spotted them with the wounded trailer upside down on another trailer, tied down with..............you guessed it, baling twine.
    Another headline waiting for a place to happen.

  6. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2014
    Location
    Perth, Western Australia
    Age
    72
    Posts
    58

    Default

    I have only a single axle but help maintain my friend's two tandems. They are all in good, roadworthy condition.

    My own has a small tool box on the 'A' frame and LED lights. I also fitted a small junction box to one side at the rear with a terminal strip inside to join all the wires from the light units and the plug. I stripped two wires from the transverse five core cable just to keep it all neat. More than 7 years ago now and still going strong.
    Good; Fast; Cheap. Pick any two.

  7. #6
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Sydney
    Posts
    910

    Default

    You worry about trailers?
    What about cars? The pink slip in NSW has become a joke and there are thousands of cars on the road that belong with the wreckers.
    that's nsw ... now I went to SA once ... wow!
    “We often contradict an opinion for no other reason
    than that we do not like the tone in which it is expressed.”

    Friedrich Nietzsche


  8. #7
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Bendigo
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    51
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    662

    Default

    Learnt a long time ago how far out of whack many trailers are.

    Spent a lotta time making up spacers and trailer height extensions for trailers. A square trailer was a bit of a novelty
    www.lockwoodcanvas.com.au

    I will never be the person who has everything, not when someone keeps inventing so much cool new stuff to buy.

    From an early age my father taught me to wear welding gloves . "Its not to protect your hands son, its to put out the fire when u set yourself alight".

  9. #8
    Join Date
    Jun 2012
    Location
    Dungog
    Posts
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    Default

    I guess all care no responsibility. Along the same same lines I got new tyres on my trailer and when I asked if they had been balanced I got the death stares, with the comment " no mate don't be stupid you don't need them balanced"
    it cost me an extra hour but I got them balanced much to the disgust of the tyre fitter. Any wonder you see some many towed vehicles wonder and bounce around the road.

  10. #9
    Yonnee's Avatar
    Yonnee is offline Trailer Bloke & Mild Mannered Moderator
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    Tooradin, Vic.
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    52
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    1,885

    Default

    Yes, I wonder how many tyre fitters have actually towed a trailer with tyres that haven't been balanced...??

    It can make the difference between a dream trip and a nightmare, especially with hitch receiver type towbars and the constant "rattle-rattle-rattle" from the towbar!!
    Too many projects, so little time, even less money!
    Are you a registered member? Why not? click here to register. It's free and only takes 37 seconds! Doing work around the home? Wander over to our sister site, Renovate Forum, for all your renovation queries.

  11. #10
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
    Location
    Brisbane
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    Default

    I supose a lot of trailers never travel over 60kph and trips less than 10Km.

    Then of course there are those who don't seem to notice things or understand that things CAN be better.

    How many people realy know or can be bothered adjusting their tyre pressures so their vehicle handles, rides or carries load best......if it is a trailer as long as the tyre does not look flat..."who cares"

    There is a world of difference between towing an ocasional load of rubbish to the local tip and a highway trip or a trailer that is towed all day every day.

    Unfortunately there is a very sad low standard of expectations surrounding trailers.

    It was not all that long ago that quite a few people didn't balance rear tyres on their cars.....it was certainly the case when I was a kid back in the 60's and 70's.

    As for me....I get every tyre I put on a rim balanced...why wouldn't you.

    If people paid a little mor attention to their trailers, perhaps we would not see sad and forlorne trailers by the side of the highway every week end.

    cheers
    Any thing with sharp teeth eats meat.
    Most powertools have sharp teeth.
    People are made of meat.
    Abrasives can be just as dangerous as a blade.....and 10 times more painfull.

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