Axle Parts

I learned all about axles recently… hopefully enough to be able to put one on my trailer (daring!).  Oh yeah, and I have to learn to weld… that’s my goal for this week.  I am taking the week off between Christmas and New Years Eve.  My only hard set goal is to get the third axle on.  I want to do other stuff too, and I will if I have the time, I will be content though to get the axle on.  I have the extra axle from the guy who sold me the trailer, Dustin, but I needed to pick up some new leaf springs to actually attach them (I learned what a leaf spring is and that it comes in a lot of different varieties).  I got leaf springs to match the others, it was actually pretty simple once you start to understand it but that stuff is daunting when you have no idea about it.  I just called up places and look like an idiot enough times and ask enough dumb questions until I start to understand.  Anyway, we are lucky enough her in Boise to have an awesome trailer shop, Henderson.  The staff over at Henerson was extremely helpful, Ann in particular was able to tell us everything we needed to know and after hearing about my tiny house project became a sponsor. 

After closer examination of the trailer I have decided to reattach all of the axles.  The two existing axles were held on in a way that they could shear off, and were actually already starting to do so.  Because it was a home-made trailer I expected some of this stuff to happen, I am just happy to have caught it and to be able to fix it to get it right for my house.  Ann gathered everything we needed to rehang all three axles from a phone call and had it ready by the time we got there.  She gave me a discount on their already reasonable prices in order to help support my project.  Awesome!

Here are all the parts I got at Henderson.

Here are the leaf springs

This is an idea of what it will look like on the trailer.

Shackle connection.

Another shackle connection up close (there will be another leaf spring to the left). This is the point that gets welded to the trailer.  The shackle allows the weight to be distributed evenly to all of the axles.

This is the end piece that attaches directly to the trailer as shown.  The shackles are only in between two leaf springs to distribute the weight.

This is the U-Bolt connection.  This connects to the center of each leaf spring to actually attach the axle.  The saddle is the piece that sits inside of the U-bolt, it gets welded to the axle to prevent spinning, giving a solid base to the axle.

This is what I have learned in the last few days.