10k or 12k axle trailers with single wheels?

[YotaAtieToo]

This happened today at work....

Axles are supposedly only 2 years old. Trailer is right at the limit everyday, ~21k on the axles. Would probably be fine if I wasn't always pulling into tight places almost daily.

For now I'll be using a regular low deck tilt trailer. It's also 3 axle and has a retarded long tail behind the axles. I don't think it's going to work well for what I do either.

I want to try and talk him into a 24k 2 axle trailer with single 17.5s. Any reason this isn't the perfect trailer?

Something like this?

24K HD Tube Tilt - Behnke Enterprises

The 24K tube tilt is a beast of a trailer, with no peers in its class, and is equipped with twin 12K torflex axles with 17.5 super single tires. The trailer is built with a heavy duty frame, while still maintaining a full 83″ between the fenders and has an added standard option of fenderContinue...

behnkeenterprises.com

 

[2big bronco]

This happened today at work....

Axles are supposedly only 2 years old. Trailer is right at the limit everyday, ~21k on the axles. Would probably be fine if I wasn't always pulling into tight places almost daily.

For now I'll be using a regular low deck tilt trailer. It's also 3 axle and has a retarded long tail behind the axles. I don't think it's going to work well for what I do either.

I want to try and talk him into a 24k 2 axle trailer with single 17.5s. Any reason this isn't the perfect trailer?

Something like this?

24K HD Tube Tilt - Behnke Enterprises

The 24K tube tilt is a beast of a trailer, with no peers in its class, and is equipped with twin 12K torflex axles with 17.5 super single tires. The trailer is built with a heavy duty frame, while still maintaining a full 83″ between the fenders and has an added standard option of fenderContinue...

behnkeenterprises.com

Looks like a badass trailer but super heavy at 6000lbs. I also have the decks that arnt full tilt. Ive never used one but imagine they are all wonky if you want to pull a cclb up or haul 2 things.

 

[YotaAtieToo]

Looks like a badass trailer but super heavy at 6000lbs. I also have the decks that arnt full tilt. Ive never used one but imagine they are all wonky if you want to pull a cclb up or haul 2 things.

6k lbs is light for that capacity. My work trailer is near 10k

My 22' deck over is about 5k


The partial tilt is nice for equipment. You have a place to put extra buckets, Wacker, ect. This trailer would have the same 13k lb kubota mini ex on it 99.9% of the time.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Tandem singles can be problematic when you have a blowout or snap a spindle at that weight. All of a sudden all of that weight is riding on one tire on that side, which will undoubtedly be over its weight rating.

Question: when that spindle snapped, you were able to continue on to your destination right? I'm not sure the non-broken axle would have survived if it was just a tandem setup as opposed to triples.


Other than that, no reason not to go for the 24k tilt.

 

[YotaAtieToo]

Tandem singles can be problematic when you have a blowout or snap a spindle at that weight. All of a sudden all of that weight is riding on one tire on that side, which will undoubtedly be over its weight rating.

No different than if a spindle snapped on a tandem dual. All the wieght is on one axle, and 2 lower capacity tires.

As far as blow outs, we try to keep nice tires on the trailers. The 3 axle is good for scrubbing the tread off before the get old

Question: when that spindle snapped, you were able to continue on to your destination right? I'm not sure the non-broken axle would have survived if it was just a tandem setup as opposed to triples.

No, I stopped immediately. It's already loaded to 99% of capacity. I was only 1/4 mile from the shop and would have limped back, but there was a dot cop sitting between me and the shop so I unloaded the ex first.

Other than that, no reason not to go for the 24k tilt.

The same company makes gravity tilt tandem dual trailers also. They basically look like what you see behind dump trucks. I think it would be over kill for the size machine we have. You end up with a huge tail swing again, and why go deck over when you don't have to. They're also a fair amount heavier than the one I linked.

In reality, a 20k would probably be plenty. I'm usually at or a hair over 20k on the axles and I'd think I should loose at least 1k lbs on the trailer it's self.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Sounds like your mind is made up. Go for it, post an update after you get it. A tandem axle set will scrub a hell of a lot less than triples.

 

[YotaAtieToo]

Sounds like your mind is made up. Go for it, post an update after you get it. A tandem axle set will scrub a hell of a lot less than triples.

Not my call anyway.

I'm aware of the concept of 2 axle vs 3, 3 axle vs tandem dual, dual tire vs single, ect. I was looking for specific info on 10 or 12k singles. It seems like a win win except for kinda specialty tires compared to regular 16s or even more common 12 or 14 ply 17.5s.

 

[472man]

Not my call anyway.

I'm aware of the concept of 2 axle vs 3, 3 axle vs tandem dual, dual tire vs single, ect. I was looking for specific info on 10 or 12k singles. It seems like a win win except for kinda specialty tires compared to regular 16s or even more common 12 or 14 ply 17.5s.

I like my triple axle srw gooseneck because I'm usually hauling at or beyond the capacity of a 3/4 pickup and it's seems much easier to balance the load with lots of axle spread. I wonder if I would lose weight off my trailer by swapping to 2 of these axles and keeping the spread so my loads balance easily. I know you have a monster tow rig so the rear axle weights probably aren't an issue for you. Sorry for the hijack

 

[YotaAtieToo]

I like my triple axle srw gooseneck because I'm usually hauling at or beyond the capacity of a 3/4 pickup and it's seems much easier to balance the load with lots of axle spread. I wonder if I would lose weight off my trailer by swapping to 2 of these axles and keeping the spread so my loads balance easily. I know you have a monster tow rig so the rear axle weights probably aren't an issue for you. Sorry for the hijack

Thats one thing I wonder about. It's a newer F550, but still off the bumper with a decent over hang. I'm curious if a 2 axle is going to porpose more on bumps.

If I wasn't getting into tight places all the time, I think the 3 axle would be fine. Probably better on the open highway.

 

[Gbkeith]

So what ended up happening? I’ve wanted to try tandem single 12k axles.

 

[YotaAtieToo]

I just kinda adopted the new gravity tilt 3 axle without asking

It's nice being only 3' off the ground vs 6' when it's slick out.

I showed the boss that trailer around the time I made this thread. He seemed interested, but didn't really say mu h either way. Shortly after we switched to snow plow mode.

Fwiw, going across the scales, this trailer is about 16.5k on the axles. So I think a dual 8k trailer would be fine being lighter. On the other hand, I had to put 2 6x10 trench plates under the ex on frieday and it's nice to not worry about being way over wieght.

 

[Coyote]

I feel your pain. We went thru this with our bumper pull trailers at work. Due to overloading I swear we were replacing an axle every 8 months. I got sick of it so I ordered spindles and made our own axles out of 3 1/2" 1/2" wall tube. That was 3 years ago and haven't replaced one yet.

 

[350TacoZilla]

For easy to find tires with a higher weight rating why not go all the way to 19.5's? They seem to be way easier to find in stock along rd type of deal and you can even score take offs from the service trucks that will last awhile longer under trailer.

 

[YotaAtieToo]

For easy to find tires with a higher weight rating why not go all the way to 19.5's? They seem to be way easier to find in stock along rd type of deal and you can even score take offs from the service trucks that will last awhile longer under trailer.

I think I've seen 1 trailer with them. Was pulled by an F550 and I suspect it was custom ordered to use the same tires and wheels.

They're typically taller, so you end up with a taller trailer. The biggest problem is that I think anything but the common tires used on F550 and similar will be easy to find. The wieght rating is no where near enough for a 12k single wheel axle. In fact I'd bet you can get 17.5s with higher weight ratings than 19.5s.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

I think I've seen 1 trailer with them. Was pulled by an F550 and I suspect it was custom ordered to use the same tires and wheels.

They're typically taller, so you end up with a taller trailer. The biggest problem is that I think anything but the common tires used on F550 and similar will be easy to find. The wieght rating is no where near enough for a 12k single wheel axle. In fact I'd bet you can get 17.5s with higher weight ratings than 19.5s.

The only problem with them being taller would be fender interference right? A taller tire means lower bearing speed which is better always

 

[2big bronco]

I think I've seen 1 trailer with them. Was pulled by an F550 and I suspect it was custom ordered to use the same tires and wheels.

They're typically taller, so you end up with a taller trailer. The biggest problem is that I think anything but the common tires used on F550 and similar will be easy to find. The wieght rating is no where near enough for a 12k single wheel axle. In fact I'd bet you can get 17.5s with higher weight ratings than 19.5s.

19.5 tires are typically rated between 3 and 3500 lbs where as 17.5 are typically rated at 4k and above.

 

[350TacoZilla]

According to online calculator's there isn't much difference in height.
225/70R19.5 = 31.9"
235/85R16 = 31.73"
235/80R16 = 30.8"
235/75R17.5 = 31.38"

 

[bdkw1]

According to online calculator's there isn't much difference in height.
225/70R19.5 = 31.9"
235/85R16 = 31.73"
235/80R16 = 30.8"
235/75R17.5 = 31.38"

Hummm, they would be slightly shorter than the Goodyear I currently run.

 

[YotaAtieToo]

19.5 tires are typically rated between 3 and 3500 lbs where as 17.5 are typically rated at 4k and above.

Pretty much.

I know you can get 16 ply and higher 19.5s. But the sky is about the limit with 17.5s.

According to online calculator's there isn't much difference in height.
225/70R19.5 = 31.9"
235/85R16 = 31.73"
235/80R16 = 30.8"
235/75R17.5 = 31.38"

Fair point

Most equipment trailers I've seen use 215/75r17.5s which are 30.2" tall.

But either way, less than 1" larger radius isn't going to make huge difference.

 

[350TacoZilla]

Ah ok 235 was first thing that popped up when I looked at 17.5 trailer tires. I just know around here its pretty easy to find the 225\70R19.5's since that's what a ton of the 450-550 or 3500hd-6500 trucks run. On weight rating yeah you can pretty much buy how heavy you want. When I had gotten my F550 years ago the place that had it before me had put F on the front and H on rear because they hauled tractors on a kingpin style deckover.

 

[YotaAtieToo]

Even load range H is only in the 4200lb range. For the trailer I'm talking about, we'll need 5k at bare minimum, but more like 6500lb ea. I think 17.5 is going to be much easier in that regard.