Trailer ruh roh....

[nightfighter]

Was out admiring my new winter cover, when I noticed the right rear tire was back against the fender.... broken spring... guess I'll be ording them sooner than later....

[PRBuzz]

It is a nice looking cover and better a spring breaks in the off-season in your yard vs fishing season on the road.

[Van]

Trailer Parts Superstore & Eastern Marine Delaware Showroom

[angler management]

Do you take the weight off the tires with jacks or just let it sit?
I had heard tires will get "Flat spots" if you let them sit too long. Is this a myth?

Do the tires make a difference?
I have a tandom axel trailer and blew a tire on the last trip this year. The tire place did not have a Bias ply tire to replace it, so I ended up with a radial. Now I have a mix (Also heard that was not good to do, although I did not get a reason why and I would not have cared to get the trip in)

[Mr. Sandman]

I think if you get a little flat spot that in most cases when you start using it with weight on the trailer, they heat up a little and round back out. But I guess if you let is set for years in the same spot you could do permanent damage. In most cases it think a few months in the same spot will not kill a tire. But if you can get the weight off then do it.

I use to have a whaler and took the wheels/bearing's etc off and greased everything and covered the Axel...but that was when I was young and had energy...On my larger boats since then...I am too lazy and just leave them on and leave it parked in the same spot till spring. (If you can get in off the wet ground and put it on a plank I think that will help also)

If you have to trailer a lot or long distances or at high speeds, I would make sure everything is shipshape, you don't wnt a problem on I-95 but if you are going down the street to splash it for the season...mixing tires or a flat spot will not matter much.

[ProfessorM]

I prefer to jack up trailer frame and put blocks under it letting the axles hang free. I take off wheels and put in cellar. Sun does damage to the rubber and sitting in one spot doesn't help either. I trailer a decent amount of distance and have melted a wheel bearing before so I do everything possible to avoid any mishaps on the highway. I take everything off down to bare spindles and store and repack or replace wheel bearings and such at my leisure during the winter. Crap I still got to do all that to 2 boats yet.

[ivanputski]

I had my bearings melt on me on 1-95 in norwalk on the way home from buying my boat... "how are the bearings on this trailer?" Seller: "oh, great... great..." I got 30 miles, and had a long stressful experience... It was a long time before I rolled into 'gansett

[nightfighter]

Well, the list includes replacing leaf springs on both axles, change out wheels, bearings and removing the four brake drums, change tongue connector and wheel stand.....

The eye on starboard rear spring has broken on the forward end, so that tire has slid back against the fender. Thinking of jacking up just to replace that leaf, and then do the remaining leafs, wheels and bearings after getting the boat off the trailer. Or, I could do them all now at a friend's shop if I dragged it down there. (He has torch and the air tools we'd need) Just skeptical of a 2 mile ride with that rear axle not fixed. Could I remove the two rear tires and get it there on one axle....?????
Thoughts?

[JohnR]

Originally Posted by nightfighter

Or, I could do them all now at a friend's shop if I dragged it down there. (He has torch and the air tools we'd need) Just skeptical of a 2 mile ride with that rear axle not fixed. Could I remove the two rear tires and get it there on one axle....?????
Thoughts?

Tough call, you have one rotten leaf spring that you will remove the rear wheels and double the load on the remaining rotten leaf spring ?

You may be better trying to somehow secure the existing spring with a pair of HD u-bolts and getting it to the shop intact.

[surfkaster]

yea,
i'm in the same boat, or trailer i should say. i have leaf springs also and it's getting to that point in time where i should start to think about replacing them. an option i am consdering is to replace my axles with torsion axles. I have been considering a bolt on torsion axle...and as long as they make the right size for your trailer, and you spec it out correctly you can convert pretty easily. i am seriously consdiering this. one of the things i like about them is if you do melt your spindle you can just remove the old one on the side of the road and replace. my spindles are permanent and i would be doa. but with that said, in five years of trailering ALOT, i have never had a problem iwth my springs or spindles. i am probably jinxing myself as i type this, but ikd, just trying to give some options...good luck

[thunder]

i'm van with trailer parts super store it was cheaper for me to have stuff shipped to franklin than to buy around here

[buckman]

There's a spring shop in Brockton, Can't remember the name( Carr Spring maybe?) but I brought one to them last year and they matched up 4, short money with new shackles and hardware. Grab a Sawsall a cut the old off. It's easy

[striperman36]

you just have to prop up the trailer even with the boat on it so there is no weight on the axle with the busted spring.