New Trailers

Jeff,
Hurry, your going to be late for New Years in Bradenton, I'm already there!:D

Jeff, Mr. Dingle tells me you been on the phone with him pretty regular latley.

Sounds like the ride home has been very educational:eek:

We are over here looking for ya.

Joe-

Yes, I had a bearing burn up am dealing with service. I didn't post it yet because I know their is going to be the "I told you so" to deal with. Even though I was only going fast for short uphill running starts and don't think this was mortally wounding I still got to take the medicine.

I couldn't have broke down in a worst out of the way spot. 100 miles north or south to the closest decent resources. I got a new spindle welded on to the axle. Got the axle back on today and went to check bearings is the rest of them and the front bearings had too much eveidence of being underwater and some rust. Already purchased the bearings when getting the other parts so I'd have them on hand.

As an aside, the mechanic used to be an authorized installer for Zip Dee awnings. He told me tonight that an awning spring can kill you if you go to dissasemble it carelessly. That is good information to have that I didn't know. I had my awning let itself out from a severe cross wind not too long ago and I was lucky that it did'nt get totally ruined but instead I was able to extend it and watch as it rolled the flapping canvas back up just like it was supposed to. I was shocked that it didn't tear itself off the bus. I can easily see where I may have needed to remove it under different / less lucky circumstances and might have found this out the hard way.

Be warned.

I'm going to put this under it's own thread.

jeff-
what're you towing? just a car? golf cart? bike? i bought a 20 ft. optima, twin 5000# axles (10k gvwr), weighs 3400 empty. our toad is only 15+ feet long, so theres lots of room up front. nice construction, all aluminum.

and nowhere near 90 large. not even 20.

Billy- I'm hauling a 1966 Thunderbird in the back which is a big heavy boat of a car. I just want to get this car back to Florida. I don't want to trailer this car regularly but rather either the collectable Beetle or Porsche that I have. These cars are both fairly narrow and lightweight and I think they might even fit in a motorcycle trailer but I guess I might as well get the full width size trailer since the bus is already wide. My thoughts are leaning toward a trailer that can also be towed with a truck or SUV. I guess the towing capacity of the typical SUV is about 5,000 pounds. Do you tow your trailer with car behind anything other than your bus ? Could you ?

depends on the car/truck. i think most pickup trucks can do 5k, and the f250 (and like) do around 12k. gotta be careful of gcwr tho. this optima as i said weighs 3400 empty. a vw bug weighs in at about, what, 200 lbs? ;-)
anyway, having a garage is really nice sometimes, esp when i can park the trailer on the pad with the bus. its wired for 30a svc, has lighting. no a/c or heat tho. mine has 10k gvwr, so 10-3.4=6600#. i opted for two 5000# axles rather than three 2750 due to the toll situation, plus it drags the wheels less in a turn. has electric brakes, so if you don't have a brake controller, you'll need to install one. its not rocket science, but you'll need to find a couple spare wires in your fore to aft wire bundle. but you may already have one.

i also opted to get the flat front rather than the V-nose. i didn't think the windage would be a factor pulling along behind a 8.5 x 14 ft wall of stainless, and the V takes up a lot more room than you might think.

we're trying to get painted this spring and we'll likely have a swirl or two added to the trailer just for S&Gs.

i would imagine you could find one on ebay, etc. for a lot less than new, altho used ones i looked at seem to have held their value.

Say Bill & Jodie,

Instead of paying too much to get your trailer painted to match the bus, why not see if a local sign company can duplicate your graphics on vinyl decals... ans install them for you. Then if/when you decide to sell the trailer the graphics can be removed rather easily returning the trailer stock or original condition.

"Houston, The Eagle...."....., ummmm make that "....The Turkey has landed". Finally made it to the house in FL with the trailer after a blown axle and then a flat tire in Louisiana a couple of days ago. Only down for 1.5 with the flat. Rim had hair line crack in and let the air out it seems. 2,900. After a couple of break downs the stress and anticipation of the next problem begins to take the joy out of traveling.

Needless to say my vote for these VERY heavy stacker trailers is not "No" but "Hell no". Maybe a lighter weight one perhaps but these things that are 13' tall and full of stainless are just so dang heavy that you can barely get them around empty at 12k pounds nevermind a full payload. I'm here at the house and can't even back it into the driveway until I borrow a truck because the geometry with the bus attached won't work so I can't even unload it tonight. Baaa Hum Bug on the trailer.

Jeff.. Sorry to see your bad experience with the trailer. I would guess that if the tire and axle problem were on the bus, they were not caused by the trailer. We have towed cross country with a triple axle box which is 10' tall and 26' long more than a dozen times (knock on ss) so far, no problems. In the past, however, I have had a blowout at speed (no trailer) and a melted, welded tag axle bearing (no trailer). I have learned to always did I say ALWAYS, check my oil level in the hubs and the pressure in the tires. Trailer only weighs 5800 lbs.

Jeff,

Glad your back to Borington safe and sound! I think you may have opened some eyes about, "some trailers are just to big and heavy, even behind a Prevost".:rolleyes:

Boys, I am with Toy Box on this one. 2 trips and about 15000 miles with a 30' Stainless stacker, weight full at about 17,000lbs. No tire problems, no axle problems. I did however spend a lot of time before I started the trips to insure that we had nothing but fun on the trip. I find that if you do the work at home before you leave it is not only easier, better job and a lot less Lew Bucks.
We are staying with the extra weight to have all the kids "stuff" that one just has to have when camping.
Kevin
75' and wishing I had more, story of my life!

The axle problem and the flat were on the trailer, not the bus to confirm.

Your right about the checking the oil on the axles (20/20 talk). I was up against the whole X-Mas holiday thing when I finally got the lights working right and everyone was shutting down and I was so late leaving that I "went for it" and lived to regret it. I did regularly stop and check the hubs but it still got away from me. I THINK it needed grease but I'll never know because it's out in the New Mexico dessert somewhere with the rim. I suspect that I would find it needed grease.

Kevin spoke wisdom when he cautioned me upon my departure. I remember that he said that in the long run you don't save time by rushing beucase your not broken down. An ounce of prevention......

I'm just glad I didn't have a flat on the front steering axle of the trailer. I would hate to how that would affect the control. Yikes. The trailer manufacture recommend replacing the axles with 8k pound axles (x3) in place of the 7k pound axles the provisioned it with. Evidentley there have been a number of axle failures due to the 7k axles. He also recommended ordering the axles with disk brakes instead of drum brakes. FYI for anyone else considering a trailer or having one built, customized, etc.

After taking a breather here in FL, I have to make run up to PA to get a little VW Beetle I bought. I don't want to even use to borrow this trailer again for the job because it's too heavy. Since I'm going to take my time and find a used trailer I like, I was thinking of renting an open car hauler from Ryder, etc. I think they rent ones that get the car all the way off the ground which is what I want for this car since it's collectable, has custom paint, and I don't want to risk any rock chips on it. Any suggestions on who rents the better trailer for this ? Any one rent one big enough to put two cars because there's another one in the North East I might get if I could bring them both home together. I don't think they rent a two placer.

Hi Jeff. Thanks for taking a bullit for all of us regarding the trailer. It s all great info for anyone considering getting a trailer. Regarding picking up two auto's, if you are taking your Bus, it becomes a weight issue for your bus hitch. If you rent a Rider Truck with a trailer behind it, put one in the Truck and one in the Trailer. Gary

I'm want to tow the car(s) back behind the bus. Can't deal with renting a Ryder truck and driving it all the way from PA to FL. I drove my Spartan rolling showroom chassis from NY to FL last year and cursed every mile. I won't drive it that far again myself. The noise and the ride. Ugghh. Can't do it. The Ryder probabley not as bad but I have shell shock still. I'm looking for a replacment bus for that rolling showroom in fact so if anyone runs across a bus chassis that has tanks and gen but has a trashed interior this would be ideal for what I need since the front will be for products and fairly plain and therfore not a full blown interior needed for my purpose. Anyway, I have to go up north for a week or so of business anyway so want to pull the car(s) home with the bus. Never used a flat car hauler before. I guess Ryder is the best place. Nobody rents enclosed car haulers that I know of.

Jeff,

U-Haul also rents a flat, open car hauling trailer, I used one to take a car to Myrtle Beach a couple of years ago. The trailer they rent uses hydraulic brakes and had a 4 wire flat electrical plug. You can rent one way or round trip and they charge by how long you have the trailer in your posession. All electrical connections are dope at the renting location. It might be prudent to check with your local dealer to see what kind of plug might be required so they don't cobble up something to work for you. It's also been snowing up here in Ohio so you might get your bug salted down hauling on an open trailer this time of the year.....

Jeff,

If it is not a space issue, your geometry is not going to change with a truck. If this is the trailer pictured earlier, backing up is just the opposite of a regular trailer. Good luck, it's confusing.

John

[SIZE="3"]Jeff, Something that you might find better suited to your needs. http://www.autoracingtrader.com/race...ansporters.htm adds #694 & #814 seem to me what you need for making a mobile showroom and crew hauler. You still go in the buss. Two rigs better than the fleet you now have. http://www.prevostownersgroup.com/forum/ http://www.prevostownersgroup.com/forum/ JIM

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In my trailer searching I came across this Craigslist posting if it can be of use to anyone.


Reply to: sale-266376441@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-01-21, 11:42PM EST

I am looking for someone responsible to tow my trailer from the Crestview (50 miles east of Pensacola) area to los Angeles.
It is a 26' enclosed car trailer (empty no car inside), has brakes, lights etc...
Can be a good opportunity for someone needing to bring a car to the west coast, free use of a brand new trailer + cash for gas
Let me know if you are interested
Thank you

Do I dare ask why your not pulling it yourself?

If I pull it with the bus ya gonna cover fuel:eek:

That trailer I posted is not mine. Some stranger on craigslist is looking for someone to pull the trailer. You email him at the craigslist address at the top of his posting which I cut and pasted.