trailer question

[Turner-2000TJ]

does this look right? I picked up this trailer today that "needs work" and noticed this. it vibrates/bounces going down the road. It has 3 different size car tires on it so Im going to pickup a set of trailer tires for it soon. I guess if the shackles were all facing the same way then I wouldnt worry about it.


Left side



Right side

[spunebil]

thats probably from the mis matched tyres and the results from driving down the road.

we have a trailer with a silimiler suspension, so I wouldn't freek out how the shackles look yet !

[Guest]

It appears that the shackels are not free to move. Probably the bolts are rusted in the bushings. If so, some pentrating oil would probably loosen things up to allow it to flex properly.

[cjmoon]

I have had that happen before.

It will all shift back just get a jack under the right side until the left side is almost parallel. the shackle and the leaf spring that is. Put something in between and put a little pressure on the leaf to push it down and into the correct orientation matching the others.

it least that is what I think I did. hope it helps.

[rjh]

I pulled all my bolts and put in all new bushings & bolts last year. They flex much better now and don't "land" in that odd configuration when I stop. They were a few bucks at Croft in Olathe. The hard part was getting the old ones out.... had to cut one or two off and use a punch, etc. Yours look pretty rusty, the same as mine were. I think they were the originals from the 1992 build. :)

[spunebil]

actually now that i notice your arrows (front of trailer)

it looks like the axles are not perpendicular to trailer.

it has happened to our trailer before, but i can't remember what if anything we did to correct it. :roll:

I think it corrected itself after a bump or two !

[k5man]

I have had that happen before. I think I corrected it with a floor jack and a huge pry bar

[bwiencek]

What's "normal" is that the spring is above the pivot and the shackles go in a line from the spring-eye down to the pivot arm. (if that makes sense)

While you're doing maintenance on it - pull 'em apart, grease them up, check the brakes, re-pack the bearings, and definitely get the trailer rated tires!

Once you have your vehicle loaded and hooked up to the tow vehicle make sure the trailer sits level when towing - that way it won't overload one or the other axle - even a couple of degrees will make a difference on the axle loading.