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Trailer tongue replacement.

16K views 36 replies 18 participants last post by  VPT  
#1 ·
First off, I have NEVER been near this trailer with anything other than a camera!

That said, it belongs to a friend of my friend. He does concrete work and uses this trailer for, well, anything! He called me up asking if I can put a new tongue on his trailer. I told him I would look at it. Now I know I can do the job, and I would make it alot heavier duty than it is. And the actual frame of the trailer is not rusted out or anything. At first glance it looked very strong. I WILL be looking at it closely. I just wanted to show people here what happens when you grossly overload a trailer! Look at the negative camber on that axle. And that worries me. Not that I will be blamed. But it really pisses me off that this guy is proud to have hauled "10k lbs., and checked it on a scale"! (I find that hard to believe, but then I consider the source!) To me that is moronic. And he has every intention of getting it fixed, either by me or another shop, and he will most definately overload it again. Opinions?






 
Discussion starter · #10 ·
Sticky, as your partner in crime, I would suggest you be too busy to fix it. We're going to Ghana anyway - you won't have time to be working on that. :)
:laugh::laugh::laugh:



Neat! A trailer designed for left hand slopes! I guess he needs another one for right hand slopes as well.

There's no legal way to fix stupid unfortunately. They did like it when you shoot these sorts of idiots.
You got it! It's for an oval track, left turns only!!!:laugh::laugh::laugh: You're correct, you just can't fix stupid! DSW, would you fix it? I was thinking I would, IF, the frame is as sturdy as my quick look revealed.

Note; I am not going to stop this guy from getting it fixed. I can make it so that the tongue won't tear off. I'm afraid of who he will take it to, if I don't fix it?:eek: He is totally the type to trust someone with a 115v welder to patch it back together!:eek::eek:



personally i think he is a bull**** artist trying to make you think he's a big strapper and boost his own ego telling you he loaded it to 10k unless he loaded on the scale and never moved it. did he show you the certified scale tag? no doubt he lost it. first little bump would have blown the tires,snapped springs, laid the frame on the ground or at the very least did far more damage to that light tongue than what we are seeing. from what i see the fool had to much tongue weight and like DSW said parked on a slope and jack rolled sideways to the right and twisted the left frame rail it's attached to but not the right side. maybe even rolled off a block and compounded the stress. like the others have said tell him to go find somebody else to pay his lawsuit.
He told me about the 10k happening in the past. That was when I told him he needs a heavier duty trailer. And the place he dumps concrete and pick crushed stone, has a scale. I found it hard to believe also, because of the very points you made. But like I said, I consider the source, and that means anything is possible!

And yes, it was overloaded, dropped on the street (road crown) and happened because of the slope.
 
Discussion starter · #19 ·
:laugh: Tbone, Dude, I can believe Mr. JBM, cause you really get me laughing. I still can't respond to your long post over in "Off Topic". I just can't think of anything good enough to compete!!!

But when you refer to yourself as :angel:, I kinda think you should be thinking :jester: or maybe even :alien: cause you really make all of us here :dizzy: to the point that we can't wait till you go to :sleeping: even if you think you are just too :cool2:. And now that JBM got hurt and is :cry: and he even had to call his niece for :help:, I think you should apoligize so he can :D again!

Alright, dump the OP because this got too out of hand. Mr. JBM, if you really cracked a rib because of us, I am sorry, but THAT is just too funny. I DO NOT mean to be rude, but what are the chances. And as long as you're ok now, it is too funny and we can laugh WITH you. Please don't be mad.
 
Discussion starter · #22 ·
Let's get serious and back on topic here....

Cut the top rail off(not needed because he has the plywood as sides).
Cut the tongue off flush with the front of the trailer.
Use some of the angle from the top rail to make a new tongue, butt welding the 2x2 angle to the 3" channel and call it good.

With all the weight saved, there will be no need for a new jack.

As for the axle, turn it over, gets more ride height and fixed the bad camber

Thats how we would do it in Texas.
Oh crap! Now I think I'M gonna break something. CAN ANYONE BE SERIOUS IN THIS THREAD???:laugh::laugh::laugh: