Refurbishing a Trailer Part V

Today we worked on the axle. We cut grooves in the spindles to match the weld seam inside the tube.

 Drilled 5/8 inch holes near the base of the spindle in the tube and then welded everything in place. We covered the spindles with Cardboard and aluminum foil to protect them while welding.

 We packed the bearings and installed the hubs.

  We test fit the axle on the leaf springs but found our U bolts are too short. Chris will see about getting replacements.

Refurbishing a Trailer Part IV

We spent this day getting the second leaf spring mounted, and lined up as close to the first one as we could.

We had to make a front bracket that was taller as the 2 leaf springs are mis-matched. This side is shorter than the other side.

We also had to make new brackets for the expansion hinge because of the difference in bolt size.

Lining up the 2 springs required moving the trailer to the patio and leveling it as best we could. we used a straight edge, plumb bob, and levels. We managed to get it pretty close.

The big things that the bow of the 2 leaf springs are the same height and the holes are somewhat lined up.

Next week we will be building the axel and mounting the spindles to it.

Refurbishing a Trailer Part III

 I obtained a 64 inch section of 2x2x1/4" square tubing. We notched out a section of the square spindle end to accommodate the seam on the inside of the square tubing. the spindle fits in nicely.

 We attached the front hinge for the leaf spring on one side, installed the bushing in the leaf spring and temporarily mounted it on the trailer. I welded the hinge in place after checking that it was as true as I could get.

 The rear hinged and its expansion joint were attached, lined up and clamped in place. Then the bolts removed and the hinge welded in place. The expansion joint is connected at about ~2 degrees over center to prevent it from moving in the wrong direction during a bounce.

 The fully attached Leaf spring.

 We also added gussets to the tonge for extra strength.

Refurbishing a Trailer Part II

This weekend we Worked on Creating the new brackets for the leaf springs

We had purchased some brass pipe to use as bushings but we ended up only being able to use one set of them. The 2 leaf springs are not the same. The place for the bushings are different sizes and we were only able to get one set in.

 We had to ream them out after pounding them in place.

I had to order a set of steel bushings for the other side as our options were limited. We could try to drill out the spring steel to use the brass bushings we made, but could not find a place that sold the right size drill, and did not have a lathe to turn down the bushings to fit. I ordered steel bushings because I could not find brass ones with the correct (or even close) Inside and outside dimensions.