I apologize if this is too far off-topic. This just seems like the kind of group where someone might look at this and think "oh yeah, I saw one of those once." Lots of Internet searching hasn't gotten me anywhere, so I figure it's worth a shot. I recently bought a home-made motorcycle trailer. It was assembled in 1972, but the person who built it is long dead, so I can't ask him about it. I've become pretty curious about the axle, which I think is considerably older. It's a front I-beam axle, kingpin type, with the steering disabled through the simple, expedient method of bolting the center link to the axle beam. I'm wondering if anyone can hazard a guess as to what it came from. Unfortunately there aren't many markings to go on. (Some may be underneath multiple layers of paint.) The only one I've found so far is the number "485226F". The axle is 49.5 inches from kingpin center to kingpin center. The spring perches are 27.5 inches center to center. At its center the I-beam is about 1-7/8" wide. The brake backing plates are just under 12" in diameter. The hubs have a 5 on 6.5" pattern, but I don't know if that's original, so it may not be relevant. (In my research I have yet to find *anything* that used that pattern.) Incidentally, the hubs use caged ball bearings (not rollers) and are quite large by modern standards -- the previous owner used soup cans as dust caps, and they fit perfectly.
Can you post some pics of the backing plates and spindles?(both sides) Could be an "orphan" make....Stude, Nash, Essex, etc.
Got the thing back together with fresh grease in the bearings. I should replace the cone for the outer left bearing at some point, but given the light loads involved (200 pounds of trailer plus 300 pounds of motorcycle) it's not urgent. I'll have to take a picture of the whole rig later. It's an interesting construction. Most of the frame is pieces of the frame rails of some other vehicle, on their sides so the open U-channel faces up to support and stabilize a couple motorcycles. They took advantage of the frame's natural taper and turn-down at one end to set up the trailer's A-frame structure.
Bearings should be super easy to replace. I had a 35 Mullins trailer. They came with Chevy hubs and wheels. Somebody told me to put 40 Ford hubs and wheels on it. They fit perfectly. Your spindles might also except Ford hubs and bearings.
I took the numbers off the bearings but they're not in any catalog -- must be obsolete. I've reached out to a few local places, but they don't seem interested in doing detective work for such a small sale.
Here's the trailer in action. It tows beautifully. I had it up to 70 mph at one point without any signs of sway. (Normally I cruise at more like 55-60, the van's gearing seems more suited to those speeds.) The tires are P215/70R16. A big improvement over typical small utility trailer tires when the road gets rough.
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