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Trailer Repair Recommendations (finished) (update)


Luvit

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After 3 weeks of research,emails and calls I have now found out that one of the torsion axles I have is fully seized and require replacing. I've had a enough of this and going to bite the bullet and change the axles,hubs,bearings over to Australian. In hindsight I now know the best thing to have done in the first place was sell the US trailer the boat come on and just bought new Australian one but, I didn't have the money at the time.

So now I will have spend nearly as much on the old repairing it as a new one.

My question is has any one had this work done and any recommendations around Brisbane?

R & M Trailers are suggesting to replace with torsion again.

Brisbane axles are saying change over to spring suspension.

Any comments will help me decide which way to go.

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Sorry to hear that mate. What a pain in the bum and pocket. 

Good on you for biting the bullet and changing it all over. So worth it in the long run and better than band-aids. That photo of the split bracket gave me nightmares! 

I don't have an opinion on suspension. you said you were keen to keep it on bitumen and not dirt roads. Will that be a factor in what you should do? 

What is the most common way to set up a trailer for a boat your size?

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The comments regarding the bitumen was more to do with the trailer it is not a heavy duty one so doing a trip like Stanage is not an option.

R & M have said the way the trailer is made it is best to use torsion again because it makes up part of the frames strength and advised against putting springs under it. Life span of Torison is approx 10 years and mine are at 9.5years. 

The set up I have 

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Only one choice if it gives strength. I've not regretted the new suspension setup I got custom built for my new trailer, load sharing all the way.

Any chance of new trailer and selling what you got? Take off the hydraulics before sale as that's the expensive bit.

Trailer mobs I have used won't remove boat for you and need trailer empty. Tires in backyard worked perfect for me.

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Thought about it but, a new trailer is going to be around the 12k mark which i don't have.

At the moment I'm looking at $5k supplied and fitted for 2 x torsion axles, 4 sets of Jap bearings, 4 new hubs ford hubs and 4 x stainless steel brake calibers. At the same time I will change the aluminum mudguards to galvanized ones that don't crumble when you stand on them.  I know my lights are excellent and the rollers are set for the boat, tyres are good and brand new jockey wheel. The only thing I can see to replace own the track will be 2 cross members when they rust out. The rollers etc are normal wear and tear which I'll do when needed.

I didn't want to sell a dodgy trailer either. 

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2 minutes ago, demarc said:

Also Wayne. I've rebuilt 4 trailers myself so far, don't be afraid to jump in and do it yourself. I'm I.T by trade so if I can do it, any one who is logical can! Happy to help in any capacity. 

Mate, it doesn't look that hard, no offence. If I had a large concrete area at home next to the shed I would consider it. Doing it on rock is painful.

But if it means I'm back on the water quicker l'll pay the labour. Just annoyed I've lost 3 weeks trying to fix it and have to replace them now.

Your trailer looks the goods. As you know when you jump to over 2000kg the trailer prices jumps up.

Thanks for the offer. 

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32 minutes ago, Luvit said:

Mate, it doesn't look that hard, no offence. If I had a large concrete area at home next to the shed I would consider it. Doing it on rock is painful.

But if it means I'm back on the water quicker l'll pay the labour. Just annoyed I've lost 3 weeks trying to fix it and have to replace them now.

Your trailer looks the goods. As you know when you jump to over 2000kg the trailer prices jumps up.

Thanks for the offer. 

You've offended me Wayne. 😚

It sure does jump up, I always put it down to the hydraulics and extras.

It's only dodgy to sell if you sell it "as new". If you're open about the problems it's not a dodgy sale. I got 500 for my old rust bucket. I just ensured the buyer knew 100% what they were getting into.

Good luck with the repairs!

P.S I hate torsion axles too! But they get your clearance lower...

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10 minutes ago, demarc said:

You've offended me Wayne. 😚

It sure does jump up, I always put it down to the hydraulics and extras.

It's only dodgy to sell if you sell it "as new". If you're open about the problems it's not a dodgy sale. I got 500 for my old rust bucket. I just ensured the buyer knew 100% what they were getting into.

Good luck with the repairs!

P.S I hate torsion axles too! But they get your clearance lower...

I'm no IT person and in fact I'm no electrician either so you definitely have the drop on me there.

To save time off the water I would have to fork out for new trailer first and then hope I would get a couple of thousand for the old one.

Have to wait for the trailer to be made then drop the boat off and remove my 3D transducer so it doesn't get damaged on the ground.  Then set the new trailer up so it drives on well.

All of this is more time and the wife is not happy that I've spent the last 3 weeks working on it. So another 4 weeks and lots of running around, I think it best I have a work shop do it with all the tools at hand.

I actually like the torsion axles with independent suspension (when they're not rusted) .

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I have been to R & M Trailers and was comfortable with their knowledge and set up. Seem to know what they are doing so I’ll drop it in there on Thursday to get it done.

The down side is I won't have a boat for 4-5 weeks. It’s a long spell not being on the water for me, all up 8-9 weeks. It's a pity because this is the time of the year I look for Longtail up and down Bribie and headout wide for reefies.

As long as it comes back right, I can do other things in the means time.

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Looking forward to it being finished.

August to me is the worst month of the year for fishing but, l will be going anyway. 

The family and l have a trip planned for late September for 4 weeks to Cape York so I’ll squeeze in little bit of bank fishing. 

Once back it will time start offshore fishing again. Always something to look forward to. 

 

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American trailers sure are painful! Just about to do the same thing with mine i reckon. One of the bearings is on its way out and finding the right hub seals and such looks like a nightmare. Just spent 2 months tracking down the right dust caps for my hubs and still had to grind them down. Sure am keen on a new axle/hub/wheel arrangement 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just an update.

My axles are still a few weeks away however, I had to retrieve something out of the boat that my son needed.

So I shot down to R &M trailers and I found my boat and trailer safely blocked up in the corner with 1 axle removed, that went to AL-KO for the right measurements. What I was impressed with is that they had wrapped the whole boat in plastic over the rocket launchers etc nearly down to the anti foul to keep the dust out of it. 

So far they are doing everything right in my eyes.

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It's just waiting on the axles to be manufactured. Nothing has been done except one axle removed. 

Would have loved to have it home and be working on it till they were made but, it was an added risk on not getting it right.

 

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1 hour ago, Luvit said:

It's just waiting on the axles to be manufactured. Nothing has been done except one axle removed. 

Would have loved to have it home and be working on it till they were made but, it was an added risk on not getting it right.

 

Its a shame you are not dragging it to the cape.... now that would be an adventure 🙂

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have the boat & trailer home now.

When they rang and said it was ready, I asked if they had checked it all over and taken it for a road test. They said they would take it for a road test before I arrived and were confident there would be no problems.

I was very happy with everything that R & M did except one small thing. When I checked over the new mud guards the 8 x U bolts that were securing them, were a tad short.

They did not extend past the end of the nyla-nuts.🤔 I asked the boss to feel them and he agreed they were to short.

I was not happy and said so, and who ever did needs a kick in the arse because it is not right and the knew it when they did it. 10 minutes later he said he had located some longer ones and would be back in 30 minutes with them and replace them. They did this and I was happy. 

Other than that it all seems good, they put 2 x hoses barbs into the axles so l can connect a hose and flush them out which will extend the life of the axles. Now I have stainless brake calipers as well. I purchased a full set of spare bearing, seals etc for next year.

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So here is to 10 years plus of trouble free trailering. Cheers.    

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Unfortunately on my return from 1770 trip I had a flat tyre.

I removed it for repair and when I was checking things over I found a nut missing off the brake calipers. 

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After expending over 5k to have the work done and waiting 5 weeks.

My summary so far is 

Pros

Trailer tows well.

Advice they provided was good

Cons

I should not have had to tell R&M to replace the U bolts that were obviously to short. They knew they were to short and it should have installed the correct ones. Which they did after I bought it to their attention.

The plastic end caps for the axles were not sent with the axles and they asked I return the trailer when they have  them and they would call me and fit them. Inconvenience. 

I called them yesterday to tell them that the nut was missing from the brake calipers. No apology,  it's blatantly obvious they did not do it up properly. 

I asked if the caps had come in yet and they had, sorry they just forgot to call me.

The wheel nuts where done up with a breaker bar and not tensioned with a torque wrench. I think this is lazy.

 

I have asked them to express post out a replacement nut and the plastic caps which I will fit myself.

They talk the talk and do know what they are doing BUT, lack attention to detail and checking their own workmanship has let them down in my eyes.

It makes me think how good have they done the bearings that are hidden from veiw. I will find out when I check them in 6 months but they running within temperature limits at the moment.

Overall I would say they are reasonable. What I wanted to say was they are excellent but can not.😕

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I have good components and stainless steel calipers.

Simple thing is you can not trust any one to do their job correctly. I will do all the maintenance now it is done.

It should be you pay the bill after a month when you are fully satisfied they have done what they claim. That would smarten a few of them up. Not feasible but just saying.

The best business I have dealt with was the Greens marine for the stainless canopy work. Fantastic workmanship. 

Happy to promote any good businesses out there because they are hard to find.

Insurance would not cover my problem it was just wear and tear.

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12 minutes ago, Luvit said:

I have good components and stainless steel calipers.

Simple thing is you can not trust any one to do their job correctly. I will do all the maintenance now it is done.

It should be you pay the bill after a month when you are fully satisfied they have done what they claim. That would smarten a few of them up. Not feasible but just saying.

The best business I have dealt with was the Greens marine for the stainless canopy work. Fantastic workmanship. 

Happy to promote any good businesses out there because they are hard to find.

Insurance would not cover my problem it was just wear and tear.

I hit a pallet that fell of trunk in front of me on the way home from 1770, lost 2 tires bent my trailer frame and damaged the side of the boat. 1 tire was sheered off the rim and the loose rubber got the side of the boat.

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