That'd be excellent if you don't mind.
Here you go...
Here are two ways the HF 1720-lb. 4x8 trailer might be reconfigured to 4x6. The difference between the two is the axle position. In the stock HF kit, the two frame halves are joined by the spring hanger, which is centered on the joint between the front and back halves of the frame. If we want to keep the axle centered on a 6' frame, the spring hanger won't span the joint, so additional fishplates must be bolted to the side members to join them.
Here's how it works:
Crossmember "a" is cut in three pieces, and now serves as part of the center backbone (2' of it) and to join the rear half to the front half (two 1' sections). We can get away with 2 1' sections because the middle 2' of that crossmember doesn't do any real work in the original design.
Crossmember "c" and side member "d" form the rest of the center backbone.
Side member "e" is cut in two 2' sections to form the sides for the back half of the frame.
All of the crossmembers are narrowed 4" to make the frame narrower for the military-style tub, and to allow for Jeep-sized tires to fit with the stock axle.
Configuration 2 uses the spring hanger for it's original second purpose as the fishplates to join the frame halves, although I haven't pushed it back far enough to fully center it on the joint, it's position so the axle is only 6" back from center. Additional fishplates are not necessary, this entire configuration can be built from the parts that made up the original 4x8 trailer.
Also, can the hubs be changed on the 8ft trailer to accommodate a 6x5.5 lug pattern?
The HF axles and hubs are metric, so you'd have to find some combination of 6x5.5 hubs and bearings so everything was the correct size. If it were me, and I was using big 'ol 6x5.5 bolt pattern wheels and appropriate tires to go with those wheels, I'd probably make up a brand new 3500-lb. axle to run them on rather than trying to fit them on the metric HF axle. A place like KMT Service Parts (
www.kmtparts.com) offers 6x5.5 hubs and also builds custom 3500-lb. axles for $111.99 (that's with 5-lug hubs, you'd have to check with them for a 6-lug unit). For that price, why mess around with trying to find strange-sized bearings?
