Moving wheels back on home made trailer

[Busbey]

just got the trailer. when i got there i realized it was home made. since i was minutes away from picking up the boat and no other way to get the boat home, i decided to just buy it and fix it up later. tires are good, lights work and i had a 4 hour drive home. screw it.

so now i have it and working out just fine but need to move the tires back about 2.5 feet. seen below in the picture you will understand why. . . is there any particular things i need to do, other than measure perfectly?

i plan on going from the tongue to a certain point and measurement on either side. i am sure i can get that part figured out. just not too sure exactly where i should put the center of the tires. is there some measurement to follow or part on the boat that i want the tires to be?

 

[PATRIOT2]

That appears to be a modified Harbor Freight trailer. A good rule of thumb is to place the axle so you have 60% of the total weight in front of it for good tracking and to make launching and recovery easier. I have the same trailer with the 12" wheels.

 

[Busbey]

ok then, so how am i to figure exactly where to put it by the 60% rule? i understand what your saying but how the heck do it do it?

 

[bobberboy]

It's probably by trial-and-error. Two things will affect the balance - where the axle is on the trailer and where the boat is on the trailer. I would start by figuring out where the boat is best located and then move the axle forward or back to find the best balance. You'll need the motor on and any other heavy stuff like batteries, etc in the boat. I guess in theory if the trailer is balanced there would be no weight on the tongue. I'm not sure how to exactly get the 60/40% divide but you should be able to get close by just working at it. If the tongue pops up when you unhitch it's too back heavy. If your headlights are pointing up at outer space, probably too front heavy. Maybe not very scientific, but short of taking it a truck scale I'm not sure how else to do it. If there is a formula surely someone on this site knows it.

 

[Busbey]

the problem is, i am going to have to drill holes for the leaf spring mount. dont mind drilling but dont want to have the perfect hole inside 2 other ones that were wrong and ruin the strength. i guess i will just have to do what i can. maybe some clamps or something to hold as i test. i was also hoping to do this with the boat off but i guess thats not going to work now either.. hmm...

 

[lckstckn2smknbrls]

How about lengthening the tongue moving the boat forward and cutting off the back end of the trailer.
Or maybe taking the tongue off the front of the trailer and putting it on the back of the trailer.

 

[Busbey]

i think the best, fastest and cheapest option is to just move the wheels back.

 

[BOB350RX]

I JUST PUT ONE OF THESE TOGETHER FOR A GUY AT WORK, AS A UTILITY TRAILER, MOVING THE AXLE ON THAT IS GOING TO BE A LIL MORE THAN DRILLING NEW HOLES AND MOVING IT, THEY USE THE SPRING MOUNTS TO HOLD THE FRAME TOGETHER, LOOKS LIKE THE TOUNGE IS BENT ALREADY, I WOULD ADD TO THE TOUNGE AND CUT OFF THE REST AND BUY NEW HUBS,THOSE HUBS ON THAT THING ARE CHEAPLY MADE THE ONE I PUT TOGETHER HAD A STICKER ON THE HUBS STATING TO NOT GO OVER 55 MPH,OR HUNT AROUND FOR A USED TRAILER MADE FOR A BOAT, THE ONE I PUT TOGETHER THE GUY IS USING TO HAUL A MOTORCYCLE, DONT KNOW IF I WOULD TRUST IT FOR THAT, GOOD LUCK

 

[azekologi]

Looks exactly like a '88 Nu-Way utility trailer that I have (think order it and build-it-yourself, before Harbor Freight came about).

Truthfully, the darn thing looks completely backwards.

I hear ya about wanting to move the axle, that being cheaper, etc. But I can't imagine that it would be any cheaper, or any easier for that matter, to just cut the tongue off, weld it (or a new one) on the other end, and swap the lights from one end to the other. That way you don't have to worry about getting your measurements/position on the axle perfect, especially considering that the tongue would be a little more forgiving if you're off by a smidge. You may want to seriously consider that as an option, especially if the tongue is bent, which it looks like from the picture.

Keep us posted on what you end up doing.

Good luck. :wink:

 

[Busbey]

thats a good idea. though the tongue is actually not bent, it is a separate piece of metal if that makes sense. there are 3 bolts holding it together. almost like it was made to be this way. this trailer is no gem, we know that. but it gets me to the water.

i will get some better pics soon.

 

[z0mbie f1sherman]

i agree with the poster above who said it looks backwards

I.e. if you remove the tongue and are left with just the rectangular part with the wheels and spin it around 180 degrees, that's about where you need to be

 

[Busbey]

as soon as our schedules agree, i am bringing the trailer to my buddys house. taking the tongue off, swapping it to the other side. while i am doing this, i plan on taking the 4 bolts off and welding that piece together.

 

[Busbey]

sold this crap. got a proper boat trailer. i will post some pics this weekend hopefully. tomorrow i will have the garage door open and working away on the boat.

 

[Jonboat Jerry]

That's probably the best solution Busbey.....ya don't have to worry about it any more.
Pix???????

 

[PATRIOT2]

The previous owner was on the right track if he modified this HF trailer. He just needed to replace the stock tongue with a longer piece of square tubing at $2 a foot so no need for the rear extensions.

 

[Busbey]

a few pics here guys. hopefully soon i will have the boat off the trailer to flip it over and finish getting all the paint off. then i will take some more pics. only thing it needs that i can see is lights, 2 rollers, adjust bunks once rollers are installed, drill new holes in tongue to make it shorter and light sand and paint here and there. sounds like a lot but compared to the old trailer.. WHOA, huge difference.