- This topic has 36 replies, 17 voices, and was last updated 2 years, 2 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Thanks @ArtisticAdam, I’ll likely be flipping it this weekend. Did you have any issues with the wheel fenders? Did you have to move them up a little for clearance? Right now, mine are mounted at the lowest setting. I don’t think it would interfere with the shell if I had to go up, but was definitely curious.
-Adam
I also just flipped the axle on a Trailer trailer with the 12″ wheels to the ‘over-spring’ position for our teardrop and now have two concerns on the fenders.
1) The L-bracket for the fender has to be in the highest position for the fender to now clear the tire. Even in this position there is only about 1.5 inches between the underside of the fender and the top surface of the tire (and this is with no teardrop on the trailer.) Is this enough clearance as the springs flex on a bumpy road?
2) With the fenders mounted in this ‘high’ position, they will interfere with the sides of the teardrop. I considered shimming them out a bit, but that requires longer T-Bolts, the ends of which will then come perilously close to interfering with the side of the tire. Another approach would be to cut an arc off the inside edge of the fender so that it clears the teardrop.
For any of you that have flipped the axle on a Trailer trailer with 12″ wheels, how did you handle the issue with the fenders?
Thanks!!
I was talking to a guy today who has an interesting idea. He wants to take the bed off of a pickup and mount the camper onto the truck frame. Might work!
@tentnomore – I flipped my axle this past weekend. I was not happy with the reduced clearance between the tire and the bolt on top of the fender (I was measuring about 3/4″). Also, since as you mentioned you have to go to the lowest mount points on the L-bracket, I found that it interfered with the side of the camper as well. I attempted ‘bending the bracket out a little bit, but ultimately nothing I could do was enough to get it away from the camper enough to make me comfortable. So, I ended up putting the axle back into it’s original configuration. :-/ Oh well. Hopefully someone else has had lunch with this and can provide some insight on how to do it while maintaining adequate clearance for both the tires and the camper shell.
@abrightwell – Well here’s how I figured out how to flip the axle with the 12″ tires and have the fenders work without all the previously mentioned interferences. I was actually searching the web for different fenders that might solve the problem when I stumbled across an ‘Offset Fender Bracket’ on Amazon. It didn’t have any real dimensional specs with it so I couldn’t tell if it would work on the teardrop but it gave me the idea to make my own. I went to Home Depot and found a flat bar of aluminum – 2″ x 1/8″ x 36″ for ~ $10. And then bent it by hand in my bench vise with some wood and dowels for bending forms into the shape in the photo (and I made a pair of them – each required a bit more than one linear foot of material.)
The long part is bolted to the trailer frame. The outward bend spaces the fender away from the side of the teardrop. The shorter arm bolts to the underside of the fender.
The next photo shows the bracket mounted on the trailer. It also shows two of the plastic mounting discs (that are supposed to go under the trailer) mounted as 3/4″ spacers for ‘pinching’ the edges of the fenders. You could use anything for these spacers. I used hockey pucks under the teardrop so I had these on hand and they are good and weather proof. The Trailex provided T-Bolts are only 3/4″ long and are not long enough to go through a 3/4″ spacer. I searched and couldn’t find where to buy longer T-Bolts like this, so again I improvised. I bought 2″ x 3/8″ Stainless Steel carriage bolts. I then filed down their rounded heads a bit so that they would slide into the Trailex track. The square part of the bolts just under the rounded head fits nicely into the slot in the track and keeps the bolt from turning when the nut is eventually tightened down.
The final pic shows the fender mounted. It has ~3″ of tire clearance and I tweaked the bracket so that the fender is just flush to the side of the teardrop. I positioned the little rubber edge strips on the fender to be at the point of contact between the fender and the teardrop so there is no scratching. And you can pick however much tire clearance you want since you are making the bracket!
While my offset bracket is not as rigid as the Trailex supplied bracket, it is plenty stiff with the combination of the bracket and the ‘pinch’ clamping at each end of the fender. If desired, you could make it as rigid as you want if you have access to thicker metal bars and a way to bend them.
Hi folks, reopening this thread!
I’m likely to purchase the Trailex with 12″ wheels. But 12″ wheels seem SOOO small. What am I missing? I’m not looking to make the camper into some offroad ADV rig, but 12″? Has anyone used a trailer that has a suspension and “real” wheels/tires?
Thanks for your thoughts!
John
I have pulled similar trailers with 12″ and 8″ rims forever. Usually a bit heavier loaded in fact. Single place snowmobile trailers with 12″ and 8″ and also boat trailers with 12″and 8″ . All held up fine (to include several cross country trips). Obviously your axle bearings are spinning faster than a larger diameter, but I never had an issue, either with bearing problems or excessive tire wear.
Some additional info here on over vs underslung.
https://mechanicalelements.com/overslung-underslung-trailer-springs/
Interesting looking at your pic. Your rear shackle, any chance it can bolted to the rear hole, vice what look’s like a V shaped extender piece? (just remove the extender)?
@LSaupe thanks for sharing your experience and the link to the article. I’ll admit I wasn’t following the over/underslung language in previous posts.
We also thought the camper/galley height was too tall on 12 inch wheels and changed the axle to overslung. To solve the fender issue, I made an extension for the kit fender bracket to raise it up a few inches. I used a piece of 1/8 inch thick aluminum cut to 2.5 x 6 inches. The 2.5 inches will just fit into the grooves that are on the inside of the bracket though the grooves on mine were crimped a bit at the ends and had to be ‘opened up’. I used a die grinder and cut off wheel but a file might work. Also, the 6 inches doesn’t matter as much as the 2.5. You can see in the picture that my extension goes all the way to where the kit bracket curves but also leaves enough length to drill two bolt holes for attaching to the trailer. I added a couple of aluminum pop rivets to help hold things together but if you cut the extension piece right, it should be a very snug fit. I had to hammer the piece into the kit bracket to get it in all the way.
Before hammering the extension into the kit bracket, I ‘opened up’ the angle of the bracket. I started by tracing the outline of the bracket (to know where it started) and then set it on a concrete floor like a tent and gave it a couple of good whacks with a small sledge hammer. Don’t go crazy because it will be very hard to bend back but since the new extension will be bent a little bit outward to clear the camper, the fender would be crooked without the bracket having a wider angle. You can see below how much I changed the angle and it seemed about right. I also added a couple of aluminum rivets to help keep things together though if you cut the extension correctly, it should be a very snug fit.
You’ll need to drill two holes in the extension piece for bolts. I held mine in place against the trailer and marked where the channel/track was. Two holes about an inch apart seemed good. The picture below shows the extension/bracket attached to the camper. I used rubber washers as spacers rather than try to bend the extension to fit snug up against the trailer.
Once you have it bolted in place, it should look like the picture below. It’s slanted a bit upwards because of opening the angle before but now just push on the bracket to bend it and the extension down so that the top of the bracket straightens (levels) out. This will also pull it away from the side of the camper. (My camper is slightly wider across than the trailer and if the bracket goes straight up, there’s not enough room for the camper to fit much less have a little clearance.) Then go back and use tentnomore’s idea of spacers and longer bolts to pinch the ends of the fender.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.