Posted by mike on Thursday, November 09, 2000 at 12:42:28:
Just a note of warning... i have seen several postings over the last months asking about using mobile home axles for trailer to haul trucks. I have been running a set of 2 supposedly 6000lb axles under my trailer. I have logged thousands of miles hauling trucks , tractors,building materials, firewood etc.
My wife and 7 yr old son went with me on my last retrieval of about 400+ miles to bring back an excellent rust free and straight '47 1-1/2 ton. My wife was driving , and we were about 125 miles from home when she said "something's wrong" . I had barely time to say "trailer brakes" before the trailer dragged us from the slow lane, and landed us in the median.
Uppon inspection, it was discovered that the forward drivers side axle (improperly modified at some time) broke near the hub , allowing the tire/wheel to rotate back and lock the trailing wheel on same side..very bad night...
Fortunately no other traffic was near us, and we all walked away, I can only say someone had to be watching after us! A volunteer fire dept fella from I believe Lima OH, and i believe his son stopped and helped me regroup, get the nose of the tow vehicle out of the high speed lane, and calm the my family ,,, wish i had thought to get there names. Had the tow vehicle not bounced off the towed load already on it's side, we would have rolled. Dammage to both load and Tow rig is minimal but still expensive, I have been forbidden to fix the FUBAR trailer.
Bottom line is I will never cut corners and use mobile home axles again, and felt the need to pass this experience on to anyone else that might contemplate the same.
mike "aka packrat"