[TheForge] Trailers

[Stephen McGehee]

Phlip
I would echo your desire for "standard" sized wheels and tires, I have a
dual axle trailer built onto a couple of mobile home axles and the tires
are only available from trailer setup people, the  axles are tubular,
and not even Sch. 40 pipe either.  The single most important feature of
such a trailer is GREAT BRAKES.  (Voice of experience here)  As one of
my friends dryly commented, "it ain't so important that your truck can
pull the load, can it stop it?..."  Interstate 44 going into St. Louis
at rush hour with 5,000 pounds of air hammer and steel stock and a pair
of perfectly straight skid marks 400 feet long taught me that one...  My
axles are now bent into a gentle curve and the wheels tilt in at the
top.  I can probably carry my 2,200 pound Ditch Witch around locally,
but if I had to haul it any distance I would want to keep it down to
about 50 mph.
    So, metaphorically speaking, kick the tires befo' you buy.

 Stephen McGehee
 Publisher of
 Irony, the sketchbook of an apprentice blacksmith
 P. O. Box 9822  Pine Bluff, AR 71611
 irony@epowerc.net
 (870) 540-0142
 (479) 643-3299 (farm)
 You can see a sample of IRONY magazine here:

  http://lametalsmiths.org/news/page4.htm  )