Sometimes nothing goes quite right. 3ish years ago I picked up a
gooseneck trailer to haul stuff and help my dad get his collection of
junk vehicles in order. Then my dad started making it difficult to do
the things we agreed to do, so I parked the trailer and let him decide
how he wanted to handle it. Well, he passed away last month and nothing
was done. In fact there is now yet another vehicle that needs to be
dealt with. Along with everything else and taking care of my mom.
I started to get the trailer ready to go recover a truck on the other
half of the state (can't drive it as far as I know), and figured I'd
finally get around to fixing the brakes on the trailer. One axle had
brake (not plural) and the other axle had no place to put brakes. No problem. If I am careful brakes on one axle would be adequate. I
figured I'd buy two brake assemblies. Install one and replace the one
that was still there, so they would be new good chappe and matching.
Yeah, not a freaking chance. As near as I can tell nobody anywhere
makes trailer brake hubs in that configuration anywhere. The original manufacturer is still in business, but they list them as long obsolete.
After days of chasing parts, emailing, and calling a new axle was the
only option. They are drop axles so just swapping the spindles would be problematic.
I started chasing axles. Nobody makes an axle in quite the right configuration with the same bolt pattern hub either anymore. So, both axles, and new rims... I figured new tires anyway, but still. It got to
be a quite expensive purchase. Two new electric brake drop axles. 4
tires and rims, assorted hardware. I found one (JUST ONE) company that
had something that would fit if I customize it slightly myself. They
listed them as two plus weeks to ship, so I contacted them to ask what
two "plus" means in real world time. The person I chatted with assured
me they were in fact in stock and would ship within a day or two. On
the third full day after I paid for them I asked when they would ship.
"Oh no. Those are not in stock. We have to get them from the manufacturer." To say I was not happy with them would be a little bit
of an understatement.
It's been ten days and they were supposed to be delivered today here in
Yuma between 12:00 and 1:00pm. They were. Between 12:00 and 1:00
Honolulu time. They definitely were not shipped in 1 to 2 days. On a positive note it hasn't been two plus weeks either.
So now a week behind schedule I have to put these axles on this trailer.
Images visible here: https://www.yumabassman.com/2024/03/21/those-axles/
If you are going to call me up and tell me how I could have done it
better faster cheaper... please don't. I have the new axles now. I may not have checked every possible option, but I spent a lot of time
chasing down options, and the expensive solution was the best I could
find. **
If you are going to call me up and say you will take those free axles f
I am going to throw them away... because you are that kind of person... don't. I have plans for those axles on trailers that do not require brakes. Bearings and seals are still available, so they should last a
long time in a lighter load application as long I as repack them, and I
don't burn up a bearing so bad it takes out the spindle.
** Well, there was another option I considered. I have an old "junk"
travel trailer with similar drop axles, and the brakes are complete all
the way around. I considered jerking them out from under it, and
setting the frame on blocks so I could use those axles on the
gooseneck. It would have been double the work, and they are old too. If
I needed parts I'd have probably run into the same issues with those
axles. I thought it would be faster to just order new axles with good complete brakes for the gooseneck. Yeah, maybe not. LOL
Sometimes nothing goes quite right.
So now a week behind schedule I have to put these axles on this trailer.
Images visible here: https://www.yumabassman.com/2024/03/21/those-axles/
On 3/21/2024 4:27 PM, Bob La Londe wrote:
Sometimes nothing goes quite right. 3ish years ago I picked up a
gooseneck trailer to haul stuff and help my dad get his collection of
junk vehicles in order. Then my dad started making it difficult to do
the things we agreed to do, so I parked the trailer and let him decide
how he wanted to handle it. Well, he passed away last month and
nothing was done. In fact there is now yet another vehicle that needs
to be dealt with. Along with everything else and taking care of my mom.
I started to get the trailer ready to go recover a truck on the other
half of the state (can't drive it as far as I know), and figured I'd
finally get around to fixing the brakes on the trailer. One axle had
brake (not plural) and the other axle had no place to put brakes. No
problem. If I am careful brakes on one axle would be adequate. I
figured I'd buy two brake assemblies. Install one and replace the one
that was still there, so they would be new good chappe and matching.
Yeah, not a freaking chance. As near as I can tell nobody anywhere
makes trailer brake hubs in that configuration anywhere. The original
manufacturer is still in business, but they list them as long
obsolete. After days of chasing parts, emailing, and calling a new
axle was the only option. They are drop axles so just swapping the
spindles would be problematic.
I started chasing axles. Nobody makes an axle in quite the right
configuration with the same bolt pattern hub either anymore. So, both
axles, and new rims... I figured new tires anyway, but still. It got
to be a quite expensive purchase. Two new electric brake drop axles.
4 tires and rims, assorted hardware. I found one (JUST ONE) company
that had something that would fit if I customize it slightly myself.
They listed them as two plus weeks to ship, so I contacted them to ask
what two "plus" means in real world time. The person I chatted with
assured me they were in fact in stock and would ship within a day or
two. On the third full day after I paid for them I asked when they
would ship. "Oh no. Those are not in stock. We have to get them from
the manufacturer." To say I was not happy with them would be a little
bit of an understatement.
It's been ten days and they were supposed to be delivered today here
in Yuma between 12:00 and 1:00pm. They were. Between 12:00 and 1:00
Honolulu time. They definitely were not shipped in 1 to 2 days. On a
positive note it hasn't been two plus weeks either.
So now a week behind schedule I have to put these axles on this trailer.
Images visible here: https://www.yumabassman.com/2024/03/21/those-axles/ >>
If you are going to call me up and tell me how I could have done it
better faster cheaper... please don't. I have the new axles now. I
may not have checked every possible option, but I spent a lot of time
chasing down options, and the expensive solution was the best I could
find. **
If you are going to call me up and say you will take those free axles
f I am going to throw them away... because you are that kind of
person... don't. I have plans for those axles on trailers that do not
require brakes. Bearings and seals are still available, so they
should last a long time in a lighter load application as long I as
repack them, and I don't burn up a bearing so bad it takes out the
spindle.
** Well, there was another option I considered. I have an old "junk"
travel trailer with similar drop axles, and the brakes are complete
all the way around. I considered jerking them out from under it, and
setting the frame on blocks so I could use those axles on the
gooseneck. It would have been double the work, and they are old too.
If I needed parts I'd have probably run into the same issues with
those axles. I thought it would be faster to just order new axles
with good complete brakes for the gooseneck. Yeah, maybe not. LOL
I did have one thing sorta go right. I received a message from Linked
in yesterday day saying if I took a survey they would give me five
dollars. It was a very short survey, and today five dollars appeared in
my backup PayPal account. **
I went on Ebay and discovered with tax I could buy something priced at
4.69 and it came out to exactly 5 dollars. I bought an automatic center punch. It would have been cheaper at Harbor Freight, but hey, this was basically free money, and no gas to go get it (free shipping). I was
torn between the automatic punch or a receiver hitch pin.
** I have two business PayPal accounts. One for CNC Molds N Stuff, and
one for my old contracting company. The Security Consultant. I let
them send the money to the older account because its linked to my
throwaway spam trap email address. Just in case they figured five bucks
was a cheap way to harvest an email address they didn't already have.
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