found trailer ,need lift

[LUISJG]

I was driving arround town and saw an bought this little small heavy duty
utility trailer, the leaf springs are in perfect shape, all I need is to remove the old paint and paint it match my jeep and also. want to install atleast 31 inch tires ,,som my question here is
how should I lift this ."shackles" or ...? Im going to be using it to haul stuff to our orcher and carry apple boxes, but want it to be even with the jeep.,
and want to stay away from a hitch drop .
i do have 33 inch tires on the jeep .

thanks

 

[LUISJG]

pics...............................................

 

[TheGillz]

Looks like all you would need to do was attach the axel on the other side of the leaf springs with the same brackets, so that the axel is on the underside. You should get a good 3-4 inches that way.

 

[LUISJG]

oh,,, thank you!!
didnt thought about that spring over deal.

 

[Robert Bills]

You have two choices - longer shackles or flip the axle to a "spring over."

I don't know how much lift you need, but if it is only an inch or two, then longer shackles will work fine. Bear in mind that you only get 1" of lift from 2" additional shackle length. Also, longer shackles don't do well with side loads and you can wind up with squirrelly handling.

A "spring over" axle flip will require only new u-bolts and nuts, available from any spring shop. Your lift will be approximately the thickness of your spring pack. I would probably try this first. If it isn't what you want you can always go back to spring under.

 

[LUISJG]

thanks,, good project for tomorrow.
I now have to go early and find a good paint remover, ..

 

[jagular7]

Think those fenders will accept a 33" tire? You may have to really raise it to get them under them. Take some string and knot it to the radius off your Jeep tires. Take string and pivot the knot off the bottom of the fender front and rear. Where they insect is the axle center where the tire will interfere with the fender. Or if you have a spare mounted, take it and put it under the fender. Raise the trailer with a hilift, floor jack, etc safely till the fenders clear. How much of the frame raised?

I just put together a luggage trailer frame from a old boat trailer frame. I added 2" drop brackets for the leafs recentering them. It was already sprung over running on 4.8-12's. I'm wanting to run 13" rims for a 26" tire. The frame should be near 20" off the ground.

I got the drop brackets from a local trailer supply (Croft trailers). ~$5 each. Oh forget about the paint remover, take a look at a farm supply place for tractor primer and paint. If anything, take a sanding disc to the rusty spots.

 

[GeoTracker90]

If you decide to use longer shackles, be mindful of the shackle angles. With regular trailer springs, in other words short springs, the shackle angle is going to start changing pretty quickly. On a lot of the utility trailers that I have seen the shackles were pretty close to verticle from the factory.

If it were up to me I would buy a new set of spring pads to weld to the top of the axle and flip the springs on to the top. The other option I would look into would be a longer set of springs. I believe that I saw one trailer on here that recieved a set of new OME Suzuki front leaf springs. Looked like it turned out realy nice.

Just a little heads up about using the longer shackles. Please take with a grain of salt.

 

[LUISJG]

did the spring over,,, man !! its perfect! gain a lot of hight.

strated stiping the paint with a zirconia grinder sand disc,,,takes it of like butter.

 

[MoGas]

did the spring over,,, man !! its perfect! gain a lot of hight.

strated stiping the paint with a zirconia grinder sand disc,,,takes it of like butter.

Pics?

 

[GeoTracker90]

Stop being a tease. Still waiting for pics!!

 

[LUISJG]

sanding of the paint,,,spring over done with new U bolts.

ordered cragars soft 8's same as my jeep.

notice the space between 28 inch tire and fender

 

[GeoTracker90]

Just my opinion, and you know what they say about those, but I would cut off the shackle mount from the frame and move it forward. The shackle angle should be just about opposite from where it is now. As it is the trailer will ride very rough as the spring will actually be working against the shackle instead of being allowed to pivot freely. Doing the spring over had no affect on this. This is a manufacturing defect; the shackle is in the wrong place.

From my Redneck Trailer catalog they list the following specs for spring and shackle hanger spacing. The spacing is measured from the center of the front spring hanger bolt hole to the center of the shackle hanger bolt hole. Springs are measured from center of bolt hole to center of bolt hole.

For 20-1/4" springs spacing is 20"
For 25-1/4" springs spacing is 25-3/4"

Well that's what the book said for spacing. Myself I like to run them a little closer together than what is recommended. Not a lot; just a little. This allows the trailer to ride a little smoother it seems.

 

[LUISJG]

you are right,, the guy from the trailer shop told me the same,,im going to take it to him and he will repack the bearing and fix that.
you have a good eye.!
if you look at the tire on the other side you will also notice that is a bit forward off center from the fender.
fixing the shakle thing will center preety good.
at first I thought it had the wroung spring on it till they saw it and told me what you just mentioned

 

[GeoTracker90]

OK folks, move along. Nothing to see here. LouisJG has it under control.

Good job of taking it in for a professional evaluation. Keep posting pictures as you go. I love to watch these things come together. The Soft 8's should look pretty good on there.