New Trailers

[truk4u]

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

[Joe Cannarozzi]

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

Sounds like the ride home has been very educational

We are over here looking for ya.

[Jeff Bayley]

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.

[bill&jody]

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.

[Jeff Bayley]

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 ?

[bill&jody]

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.

[Orren Zook]

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.

[Jeff Bayley]

"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.

[Toy Box]

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.

[truk4u]

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".