Posted by David Sherman on Sunday, April 23, 2006 at 3:34PM :
I bought a M721/M722 container dolly set a while back, thinking I'd just use the tires off it on my D200, but now I'm thinking I could make a car/sno-cat hauler trailer out of it. It has a very wide stance, so most vehicles could fit between the wheels, and has real sturdy axles and the potential for an air-over-hydraulic brake setup. The air springs are kind of wierd, but the advantage is they can be adjusted according to the load.
My question is this: The trailer tongue pivots and steers the front axle. Why do they do this? Is it a "feature" I should keep? It seemed like a clever idea when I first saw it, but when I towed the dolly (with front and back sections bolted right up against each other), I couldn't go over 30 mph without it fishtailing back and forth real bad. I'm now about to tow it 400 miles, but I think I have the tongue rigidly fixed in place by means of binder chains so it should not oscillate. I hope.
Anyway, if I make a trailer of it, with the axles separated further, like they would be if it was doing its function as a container dolly, would the steerable front axle work better and would it actually allow me to get it around tighter corners? Or should I just weld it in place, or cut it off completely and move the two axles close together near the center of the trailer, rather than having one of them at the front? I don't know of any other trailers with steerable front axles, so I'm looking for ideas on what's good or bad about them.
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