Trailer Improvement

[gungadin]

This is starting to get interesting. The boat and trailer are at my partners house, but l am going to the Marine show in CR. so l will stop off and copy down all the numbers, they are hard to read as they are almost faded away. I think we thought we were overweight, but after reading what you wrote, l am beginning to wonder if we were. We weighed the boat and trailer together to get that weight, and did not take the weight of the trailer into account. Tandem axle with 4"x8"x10' bunks, got to be close to 800lbs. We replaced the wheel bearings when we did the brakes ( they came with the new hubs) and they were both the same size. We are still going with the 14" tyres though, just to feel bit more secure. I am also going to have a good look at the springstoday as well, as this would seem like a good time to change them out as well.

 

[spring fever]

This is starting to get interesting. The boat and trailer are at my partners house, but l am going to the Marine show in CR. so l will stop off and copy down all the numbers, they are hard to read as they are almost faded away. I think we thought we were overweight, but after reading what you wrote, l am beginning to wonder if we were. We weighed the boat and trailer together to get that weight, and did not take the weight of the trailer into account. Tandem axle with 4"x8"x10' bunks, got to be close to 800lbs. We replaced the wheel bearings when we did the brakes ( they came with the new hubs) and they were both the same size. We are still going with the 14" tyres though, just to feel bit more secure. I am also going to have a good look at the springstoday as well, as this would seem like a good time to change them out as well.

Well I may not have been totally correct on the reading of the GVWR depends on what the plate says-if they can't read it they just total up the capacity of your tires. Much more study required-seems a bit fuzzy in places-for instance-when they weigh everything is the trailer hitched to the truck thereby deleting the hitch weight?? I can't find this in the BC gov't stuff

 

[Wild Bill]

Typical cheap 15" trailer tire rated for 1860 lbs each. Extra diameter will slow down the wheel rpm and should reduce bearing heat. Don't know why you would have to do springs, 3500 lb spring sets are 25 1/4" eye to eye. If you won't have clearance between wheels new springs and need to relocate front and rear shackles, that would suck.

 

[bigdogeh]

I was always under the impression that the gvw rating was the weight of the trailer and load combined. I always thought you had to add the trailer weight and boat weight to make sure you were within the gvw rating...
to find if your within gvwr you would drive over the scale with boat and trailer, and record the weight of everything combined. then unhook trailer, drive over scale again and weigh just truck alone. then subtract truck weight from truck and trailer weight combined to get the weight of boat and trailer. then to be legal you would have to be under or within the gvwr...
but it's definitely a subject that has a lot of people questioning whether the info they have or believe is correct and whether they are within compliance or not. you have to make sure all components are a rating greater than or equal to the rating of the trailer. truck has to be rated, hitch has to be rated, ball has to be rated, safety chains should be rated, etc, etc.... it would be nice if there could be a bit easier system.

 

[adrian1991]

Its all good and dandy until there is an accident and they look at the big heavy boat and your trailer papers thsy say its only good for so an so amount of weight and you are 2,000 over
unless you go though the propper routes with transport canada blah blah loop hole after loop hole designated facility for everything inspections ect.

 

[gungadin]

The plate was barely legible, but by rubbing some mud on it and letting it dry before brushing it off, it was readable. The GVWR of the trailer is 6000 lbs. Each axle is rated at 3000lbs (my bad for saying 3500lbs) dispite having the same size bearings inner and outer. The tyres are rated at 1360lbs each at 50psi.
My understanding (discounting the tyres) is that the total weight of the boat, motors and trailer cannot exceed 6000lbs. This is the weight we will stay under, but we will feel more comfortable with the 14" tyres with a 1860lb rating.

We might be replacing the springs as well, as they are getting rusty.

 

[Gunsmith]

That is the route I would take. Those numbers are not flexible even if you put a higher rated tire on the axle.

 

[Wild Bill]

Just for info, how often do they stop you? Do they carry scales or make you drive to one? With the weight you mentioned in your first post you are still just within limits of your trailer and boat. If you put larger tires on it I would just call that piece of mind. Somebody would have to have incredible judgement to be able to determine if you were 200 lbs over by sight. You still mentioned bearing heat, just hauled my 26' holiday trailer to the island from Alberta and at about 6000 lbs bearings ran just warm, maby 100 degrees f. Mostly doing 100 to 120 kph. 3500 lb axles with 15's. Brought back my flatbed 20' tandem not much weight but 110 to 120 kph and maby 80 to 90 f for the bearings. Good synthetic grease IMO and larger tire will reduce tire heat and bearing heat because of reduced rpm and tire running less load than rated for. Jmo

 

[gungadin]

I have been stopped three times , different trailers, each time, Registration checked, lights tested,, condition of tyres checked, quick look at the brakes, towing attachments (chains, brake away etc) checked. Never been weighed.

 

[Wild Bill]

To conclude, 3500 Lb axles and trailer de rated because of tire size. I would not worry about torsional stiffness of the frame, you have fantastic brakes on it now. I would put 15" on it just because of the wheel bearing rpm issue and running the tire at 75% of load ( I didn't bother calculating). There may be litigation issues regarding overloaded recreational trailers causing accidents however I feel holiday trailers and their gvw's would be more of a target. Their weight doesn't include batteries, propane tanks, and lots of guys travel with full water putting them over without packing their clothes, bbq's and stuff.
Like I say your data plate is debated because of tire size and you stated the axles are rated at 3500 lbs each. Put some 15's on it, reduce tire and bearing heat and trailer away!
I brought my flat bed back because I need to haul a skid steer back to the island. Skid steer is about 7000 lbs and have 2 3500 lb axles and only one with brakes. Not good enough to do the kokeahaula. So I'm adding a third axle and brakes on all. sucks for me, I'm going to have a fleet of 22 15" trailer tires with spares with the 2 boats, holiday trailer and skid steer trailer...

 

[gungadin]

Installed the axle blocks and new wheel and tyres this past weekend. Went well about a 5hr job. Boat is in marina right now so we will see if any trimming of the fenders is necessary once we get some weight on it. Still have to figure out where to put the spare, for now it will be in the truck. If the pictures upload the first one is for tyre size comparison, the second shows them installed and the third shows how the blocks were installed.

 

[Titanium48]

I guess it is a little late now that you have jacked up your trailer to install 14 inch tires, but I think your cheapest and most launch-friendly option would have been ST175/80R13 tires in load range D. These have a 1610 lb load rating. They are a bit hard to find for some reason (I ended up ordering mine from the US), but they give you the extra load capacity without lifting your trailer and making launching more difficult on shallow ramps. Cost me $150 each, shipping, duties and taxes included. Probably a bit more at current exchange rates, but still under $800 for 4.