Replacement for Mac Trailer

[seahouse]

Yeah Sum – the surface hardness and smoothness have a huge impact on how easy it is to hand move. IIRC, the Mac video shows an employee pushing a Mac M out of the factory by hand, no sweat. He probably does that all day long- all because the slope/ flatness of the concrete he’s pushing it on is favourable for it. That likely shows good planning at the factory layout stage. My driveway is exposed aggregate concrete, so it’s flat, lightly sloped, and I have lots of traction.

Having the ability to move by hand, even a small amount, makes hooking the trailer up to the vehicle much faster and easier too. Back up, guesstimating within a few inches by eye, then get out and pull (or "wrastle" a bit) the hitch the last inches and yer dun. No precise camera, mirrors, magnetic balls or any other appendages to complicate things needed. (Not that there’s anything wrong with those of course).

But, as you point out, in future years (one hernia surgery less than 2 years ago for me) I might be looking at some things differently.
My 4WD Kubota tractor is ready with a hitch on the FEL, and another on the box blade, so I'm prepared now for that eventuality.

-B.

[Boblee]

I agree, Tandem Trailer is so much better on the highway for long distance. No one wants a blowout in a single axel trailer going 60-65 mph.
That second wheel is there for a blowout, bearing freeze, failed springs etc.
Better to be safe.
My Aluminum Trailer weighs 999 lbs /with front brakes 1150 lbs. includeing all attachments.
Dave

Been watching this thread from a distance because it's mainly all been discussed before and better to let it run in case some new ideas pop up but the above quote by Dave is only correct if both axles have the same rating especially if you need to keep driving, have had all the listed failures except the bearing freeze plus a few extra and no problems with the amount of checking don't expect to get that.
Notice some say the mac trailer is just a launching trolley well ours has launched on some pretty long ramps , sure it has been modified a little especially those dicky little springs and tyres but for me travelling probably more than 90% of owners (and on much worse roads) it's been great except for the rating here, it needs to be rated at 2500kg or 5500lb and it would be quite easy to do but would much prefer the single axle rather than two.
Yes it probably could be galvanised and if I was going to do major mods would do it but the channel steel works pretty good as it doesn't collect water and ours was painted again over 12 months ago and just recently checked there was no rust still, the only reason I would put duel axles under it would be to make it easier to sell as many people seem to think a tandem is better for reasons like daves above imho wrongly.
Guess just like many things it's how you use it and your personal preferences but think our trailer has had a pretty good workout and come through pretty good.
With my experience and advice from people who should know I certainly would not have an aluminium trailer but then if they have performed over the same terrains as ours I guess it comes down to opinion, not many of them out here as yet as very few bitumen roads near many waterways.

[kadet]

I have to agree Boblee,

No one wants a blowout in a single axel trailer going 60-65 mph

No!! but have done just that when a truck dropped a load of sheet steel right in front of me on the motorway at 100KPH and it completely shredded the starboard trailer tyre. I sheeted myself waiting for the car and boat to jack-knife and the boat to fly from the trailer.

However the thing pulled up straight with no sway what-so-ever. And that was with my old tow vehicle which was on it's upper limit towing the
Significant numbers of caravans, camper, box and powerboat trailers etc. are single axles and I am certain a fair few of them carry around pride and joys worth a lot more than my .

I always thought dual/triple/quad axles was about weight distribution and tongue weight not redundancy, though this is a nice side affect it is not the reason it is done. If this was such a safety issue I am certain my "Nanny State" would have legislated by now that all new trailers will be made dual axle .

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

To clarify for Robert, I never push my trailer around when it has the boat on it...thats just plain too heavy. But with no boat on it, I push it with 3 helpers, then its not so bad, and the tiny little alley I have to get it through is a royal pita with a tow vehicle attached. I used to be able to push the stock trailer around with 1 helper.

As for Boblee's opinion, I drove my single axle trailer around for the first 4-5 years with a minivan and sure, it worked, probably put a lot of strain in the torque converter pulling it out of the water and stuff, but overall, it got the job done. Inaddition to the redundancy factor that Dave mentioned, there is also a lot less sway with the tandem axle. With the old rig, you would start getting that white knuckle feeling at anything above 60-65mph, not so with the tandem, even at 80mph, it just tracks nicely with no sway.

[Tomfoolery]

In addition to the redundancy factor that Dave mentioned, there is also a lot less sway with the tandem axle. With the old rig, you would start getting that white knuckle feeling at anything above 60-65mph, not so with the tandem, even at 80mph, it just tracks nicely with no sway.

That's why the PO's of my boat added the second axle (after moving the original forward). They towed with a minivan, and have dragged it all over the north, to all five great lakes. Or so his widow told me.

Since I've never towed my with the stock trailer with single axle, I can't make a first-hand before/after comparison, but having had other boats of similar size and weight, my impression is that this boat/trailer has the least tendency to sway, even with my short(ish) Highlander, and too-light tongue load (under 200 lb - should be about double that). I could move the axles back a little more, but that's a lot of work.

I'd only consider doing that much work if I put the hangars onto a subframe that could be adjusted, like Sumner did. Hmmm - come to think of it, I could do that off-line with new hangars, and retrofit at a convenient time. I'll have to think about that.

I'll be adding two spare tires to the front of the trailer this winter, and I have to see what I can do to move some more weight forward, to reduce what little tendency there is to sway. Draining the gas from the two 6-gallon tanks should help. I'll go through that much in no time in my lawn tractor anyway.

[Sumner]

....I'd only consider doing that much work if I put the hangars onto a subframe that could be adjusted, like Sumner did. Hmmm - come to think of it, I could do that off-line with new hangars, and retrofit at a convenient time. I'll have to think about that....

Actually my sub-frame....



...won't slide back and forth. I put the hangers where it had been suggested by another owner that didn't extend his stock frame rearwards and mounted the axles as far back as possible on the stock frame. I could of moved mine further back since...



.... I also lengthened the frame and added a third bunk. I"m very happy where the axles are. I probably have 400+ lbs. of tongue weight which is no problem for the Suburban and the trailer tows so much better vs. when it was a single axle and now the boat is even heavier.

I added the sub-frame to reinforce the main frame and to also strengthen the splice where I extended the frame back to the third bunk and to strengthen are area where the stock frame rails bend towards the tongue. Others have built short sub-frames just long enough to put the spring hangers on and can slide them fore-aft. If I did this I'd make them longer than needed for the the hangers to spread the weight over a larger/longer area of the top frame.



It has been some work, but the trailer tows and launches much better than when we bought it. All of the mods (almost all) are here....

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner ... index.html

Sum
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[Boblee]

The stock trailer is a bit like the boat, fairly basic and we towed it for probably 10,000 k's prior to doing anything other than change the tyres and repair a brake line but when the stubby spring on the port side broke at the hanger took the opportunity to put longer and heavier springs on and added a third bunk in the middle of the other two, also put a roller to lift the bow onto the front one and fixed the front support and winch.
When I started towing with the little 5ton truck I reinforced the front drawbar and put a webbing under the "A" bars due to concern over the stiff truck suspension and since have only added an aust compatible pull which is way better than the original and has a proper handbrake.
Have no idea how many k's it's done but like the motor probably twice as many as I thought, not much on documenting things.
While I have had the trailer up to 100k's it's rare that it gets towed much over 80 simply because the roads are too rough and not so much on the trailer but the tow vehicle, very few if any stone chips on the boat but if we went much faster would be a fair chance, on one road we pulled off 25m to let a road train go through and got a broken windscreen and that was a highway 12' of bitumen and BIG potholes on either edge and 400k's long (Barkley).