car hauler, house trailer axles ??

got a chance to pick up a small trailer to haul my 31 sedan on for $500. but!! its got house trailer axles and wheels bearings, question, is there a wheel, bearing, tire, combo that i can swap to... thanks guys

 

My trailer uses house trailer axles and it has been all over the country.Just make sure you have good tires and at recommended pressure.

 

do yous till run the house trailer tires and rims, hubs, bearings??

 

As long as the axles are rated for more than your car+trailer weighs, you should be ok, also make sure you run trailer tires, and not car tires.

 

i was told the HOUSE trailer tires are junk, will these wheels take a TRAILER TIRE??

 

I have a trailer that has the house trailer axles with brakes, i built it 35 years ago because it was the cheapest way, i use the hwy tires that are 6 or eight ply. I don't use it as much anymore since i have a different trailer,but it has a ****load of miles on it, never had any trouble with it, these days i use it for my tractor and a utility trailer,there are a lot a nay sayers about these axles but ihave run them for years with no issues.

 

I know here in az you can no longer get a new registration on a trailer with mobile home axles, they are really only designed for one trip and to be s****ped out. that being said, there are tons of trailers with mobile home axles that have logged 100,000 miles... but that's just what they do here. I don't know how it is everywhere else....

 

Some places will not licence any trailer built with mobile home axles, so look into that as well.

 

I dont know for sure but I have been told that the wheels are an odd size.I know they have to hunt down new wheels and tires instead of putting new tires on the wheels. I know that here in Tn. it is actually now illegal to have a trailer with house trailor axles. Good luck.

 

While the house trailer axles are legal to use. If the tires state for mobile home use only. the tires are illegal. Some14.5 tires are marked lowboy those are legal. However the dayton type wheels gave me lots of trouble. A couple of months ago I started a thread wanting to know if some other hub bearing combo would fit house trailer axles. Another hamber posted a Ebay link to a place that sell,s a 6 hole hub& bearings. I bought 4 of them . OldWolf

 

The house trailer axles that are banned up here are the ones that say something like "not for highway use" on the hubs. About half are OK for now.In Sask. anyway, Alberta will make you hire a trailer to cart your trailer out of their country if they catch you with any 14.5" rims on anything!
A friend found some farm supply house hubs that take 6 bolt rims and put 16" tires on his flatdeck. Chev half-ton drums worked too. But the axles turned into pretzels in a year of use and we changed them out.

 

I built my 18 foot flat trailer using old house trailer axles. I've never had a problem with the axles, just keep the bearings packed with a quaility grease. The tires are the odd 14.5 size on Dayton style rims. I've about used up my supply of old tires that I collected over the years, so I will be looking for some new ones before long. There was a seller on eBay a while back selling the ones marked "for lowboy use" that are legal. The key thing with the Dayton rims is to get them on straight, and tighten the lugs good. If the nuts are tight, the wedges can't slip and let the rim rotate on the hub. Some of the axles even have electric brakes, mine were worn out so I didn't use them.
I'd like to have that link to the guy selling the conversion 6 lug hubs. It would be a lot easier to find standard size tires if you were on a trip and blew one out. I always carry a spare, but if you have to use it, then you're SOL if you blow another one.

 

The problem more so lies with parts availability when you have a problem. Not only are the wheels, drums, and tires odd but no one has mentioned the brakes. IF you have a problem it will not be easy to find a solution in a timely manner.

Joe, owner of Joe's Truck and Trailer Supply

 

There are those that say house trailer axles are junk, meant for one use, etc. We built a tri axle equipment trailer in 1987 using house trailer axles. That trailer is still in service. I also had a late 70's car hauler with house trailer axles, and I have/had three jobsite trailers all with house trailer axles. Lots of miles over the years and I've had one outer wheel bearing failure and that was because of poor maintenance.
The mobile home axles use smaller wheel bearings than the similar utility grade axles. You just have to stay on top of the maintenance with the house trailer axles.
The reason some states have outlawed house trailer axles is because of the lousy way the wheels mount. You need to retorque the lugs periodically.
Often times the mobile home tires are junk. They're usually one time use throw aways. You can still get good/legal 14.5" equipment trailer tires though.

Someone is now making a 6 lug hub/drum that will retrofit on house trailer axles. You can use regular 6 lug, 16" wheels with those hubs.

There are axles/hubs that are similar to house trailer axles. These are UTG...utility grade axles. They have removable backing plates, and the wheel bearings are a bit beefier. The hubs are slightly different too but they still use the goofy wheels and lugs.

As long as you have the good equipment trailer Dayton tires, keep the wheel bearings lubed, and periodically retorque the lugs you shouldn't have any problems. I've drug trailers all over the midwest since about 78 or 79 and I've only had the one wheel bearing failure.

 

Joe,
Our local Farm & Fleet stocks 14.5" Dayton low-boy tires, and at least one of the local mobile home dealers stocks the brakes and wheel bearings.
I suspect that may not be the case everywhere, but parts availability is certainly not an issue here.
Pops

 

All good info posted here.. One more bit of info, first thing to do is pop the grease cap and look at the end of the spindle.
Hollow spindle is one trip junk.
Solid spindle is good 7k axle and will last forever if maintained.
Dave

 

You can click on my user profile. go to satistics and find all threads started by oldwolf. You can find the posted link and more info on trailer axles. I paid about $180 shipping includedfor all four hubs bearings seals caps& lugnuts. OldWolf

 

I bumped my old thread for you. OldWolf

 

If you don't have brakes you have to watch out what States you drive in. Many require brakes on every axle. I know a guy who got caught in Minnesota who ended up trading his trailer for one with brakes.

Modern house trailer axles are built to haul a certain weight a single trip so they aren't built any heavier than necessary. Older axles were designed to haul the trailer on trip after trip with all the owners belongings inside.

 

All good information. I just picked up a older 1959 built, 16 foot stock car trailor, with ramps, and a hand winch It was built extremely well and pulls great, but it does have the older trailor axles, and at this time I have about $250.00 invested in it, I was just gonna use it for local hauling, but after reading these threads I might have to update it.
Thanks...John

 

Here in Washington you can't register a new trailer with house trailer axles under it but the old ones are grandfathered in.

The tires are an odd size and not readily available at tire stores.

There was someone selling replacement hubs for them to run "standard" wheels a few years ago but I don't have a link.

If it had a well built frame and was what you wanted outside of the axles and tires I'd buy it and think about changing axles later for that price. But make sure it has a clear and up to date ***le on it so all you have to do is transfer the ***le. No ***le = no deal unless you want it for a farm rig.

 

I have a tandem axle trailer that was built w/ mobile home axles in KS for a one way trip to Anch AK. A GI built it to move his house hold items and I bought it from him in 75. It has 7K lb axles. I started to collect 14.5 mobile home tires/rims and had lots, they were about $10 a piece then. Used the trailer all over AK and elsewhere. Retired in 92 and started the move to ARRIDZONA, 3948 miles one way, door step to door step. After the 1st half dozen trips, I was running out of tires and while in AZ, I went to Auto Safety House here in Phoenix and ask about hub conversions. They had everything I needed to convert to 8 bolt 3/4-1 ton wheels, to include everything to upgrade/repair my orig elec brakes and to add to brakes to the second axle. This was hubs, bearings, seals, etc and 8 bolt rims are everywhere and usually cheap and now tons of 16in instead of 16.5. I have lost track of the number of trips I have made with that trailer and still have some to make. Hauled most of my Hot Rods, tools, household items to complete the move. would usually pay for the return trip to AK by hauling cars or whatever my friends needed to be brought to AK. Always used a Chev or GMC 1T dually to make the trips as I was always HEAVY. Now have a 1T Dodge ***mins dually I use, much better than the 6 to 8 MPG with the 454 and T400. As previously stated the big key to this is BEARING MAINTENANCE and GOOD tires!! Every time I stopped, every couple of hours, I did a walk around and felt the hubs and tires for heat and low/flat tires, just doing a general check. Many, many miles and long distances of gravel, dust and snow on the ALCAN Hiway to have problems with no one or help for miles in either direction. Although you can buy complete axles now days, probably cheaper in the long run too, i wouldn't hesitat to use the MH axles again. Still going to use my orig trailer to AK.

 

My 19-foot car hauler was built 25 years ago and has house trailer axles. It has seen thousands of miles since I bought it in '05. Like everyone has said, it uses oddball 14.5 bias-ply inch tires. I had all 4 of mine replaced this spring for $300. I have taken the hubs apart a few times and re-greased them. I also replaced the leaf springs and equalisers. That $600 trailer has hauled about 100 junk cars with NO PROBLEMS!

Now that I have seen that above link, I wouldn't mind converting them to 5, 6 or 8 lug so I could use p***enger car or truck tires.

 

your right, been broke down twice in rural locations, the next town always had parts. for regular trailers.

 

I worked at Kelsey Hayes in the early seventies as an Engineering Co-op in the brake design department. Kelsey was the largest supplier of MH axles/brakes at the time.

One of my "bosses" was responsible for design of the electric brake ***emblies and specing the bearings. He had two jobs.

First, to make these things as cheap as possible for the design life (I remember 3000-6000 miles max). Second, to work with the attorneys in lawsuits where somebody built a homemade trailer with cast off MH axles and there was a bearing, brake, or axle failure.

I remember one case in particular where a bearing failed and an equipment trailer (with truck and driver) went off the side of a mountain in Pennsylvania.

Real axles and brakes are cheap. The MH axle bearing design specs (size, surface finish, hardness, geometry tolerances) were really loose compared to regular axles, and the brake magnet size, softness, and lining thickness / material were set up to only get a MH to its final resting place.

Why take a chance of hurting someone?

There is a reason these things are outlawed some places

 

The 7-8 14.5 tires seep...You need to check the air in them EVERY time you use it, they are stiff so they may look fine, but they lose air sitting.

I wouldn't spend any money on the axles,....I accasionaly see good 3500lb car trailer axles used for sale from guys that have put 5k lb axles under their trailers.

I did some trading for this..my trade was worth about 500.00...This is a pic when I brought it home, every light on it was broke and the trailer was from texas, I guess they don't require brakes there. The axles were 3500lb... idlers (No Brakes) 5 on 5 bolt pattern. I bought four new backing plate brake, hub, with bearings ***emblies for 325.00 so now I have a good trailer with 4 wheel brakes and new wiring (good wiring with a juction box) and lights for less than half the cost of a new one.

 

It's my understanding house trailer axles themselves have not been outlawed. It's the goofy hub/lug/wheel combo that's the issue in some states.

For those that have had trouble finding tires or parts....I suspect you were looking in the wrong place. Most tire dealers won't have the tires, but most farm supply stores do. Trailer dealers won't likely have brakes or other parts, but house trailer (manufactured home) dealers may.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is the wheels don't have a normal bead. They can be a ***** to mount tires on, and low air pressure can cause the tires to get knocked off the rim.

 

The reality is like most things, they probaly will work but if you have a problem they are just not as common to get parts EASILY. NORMAL axles wont be much more.

 

thanks for the help everyone, YOU CANT PAY FOR THE KNOWLEDGE ON THE HAMB, ask and you will receive, thanks oldwolf, ill check it out , just got the trailer home for $450 needs a little work but will haul my 31 to the track..... thanks friends

 

I have a trailer with house trailer axles without brakes running house trailer only tires. Bought it in Ohio drove back to Minnesota, licensed it and drove it to Arizona. I never had any problems with loose lugs or bearing problems.
Ignorance is bliss, now I'm sure all the tires and bearing will explode in a ball of fire if I dare use it after reading this post.