Axles on trailers are all load rated. I'm wondering how close to the actual working limits they are though. In my case, a Haulmark trailer. The axles are both 3500lb rated. Does that mean 3501 lbs they will start to bend/deform/whatever? There has be to be a FS on these things, not sure what they are though. I guess what I'm really wondering is if I go 10% over the rated limit with they deform over time?

All of this is already taking into account the weight on the tongue ~10% and not on the axles.

thanks.

 

Besides just the axle, the load rating also brings into play the tires, wheels and bearings.

 

robertmII:

I had a trailer with dual 3500 lb axles.trailer gross weight rated at 7000 lbs packed the trailer up to about 10,600. yes the axles did tweak, and the tires wore abnormally fast. not recommendin that you go much over the weight rating, or perhaps get some 5200 lb axles up under the trailer. The next trailer i will opt for the heavier axles, cause it does'nt take long to get a trailer up to its G.W. limit when your packin it up good.

 

I would imagine they would have a factor of safety of at least 1.5. These companies have to know that people will be over loading there trailers at time. If you plan on going 10% over the limit consistently you may want to invest in a heavier duty trailer.

 

Yah, I'm kind of in for a penny in for a pound at this point. I've invested a lot of time (and money) in it that I can't easily recoup. I'm just going to have to run about 770lbs (10%) over the rating and hope for the best.

 

Keep in mind the weight on the axles also includes the trailer deck/frame, there can be 1000 lbs on both axles without a thing on the trailer.

 

Being in the trailer service industry, I love people like you. You keep me in business.

I repair or replace trailer suspension and axles every day from people over-loading them. The things that can-not get fixed is frame tweaking from overloading where the floor cross-members are bent. This also usually makes the trailer un-sellable in the future as well.

To answer your question about overloading them:
Is there a unpublished failure rating. I'm sure there is but they are not about to tell anyone because people will try to load to that rating instead of their proven safe load. There are a lot of factors when Dexter (EDIT SPELLING) makes an axle. Tube wall thickness, support points, tube pre-load, spindle welds, etc., etc., etc.

There are also things out of the axle manufacturer's control on how the axle is mounted and the empty weight of the trailer. Some manufacturer's use 100% of the axle and don't subtract for the trailer weight when rating the trailer weight capacity. I've seen some u-bolts overtightened on axles where the tube was already deformed causing a weak point to fail.

The list goes on and on and on.

The point is the rating are there for a reason.

If you want to overload the trailer take it to a repair center or back to the manufacturer and have it re-engineered to support the weight you want to now haul. They can change to higher weight capacity wheels/tires, higher capacity axles, stiffen the frame and add heavier or more cross-members.

Something else to keep in mind; if you haul at 100% plus of capacity all the time you will wear the suspension out really quickly. (flatten springs etc.)

You should regularly tow at 80% or less capacity if you want everything to keep working correctly and almost indefinately.

 

I'm with Colorado - the ratings are not just the axles, it's for the whole system and usually to the weakest link. You want quick failure, load at 100% rating. You want sudden failure, load above. Same applies to trucks.

 

As much as I didn't want to hear this, I'm glad you provided the advice. I guess I will take one trip at 100% loaded by taking everything unessential out, then sell her. Thanks for input.

 

How are you going to put your kids thru college if you keep this up?

My dad woulda told him he was good to go and sent me to Harvard.

 

Sorry to hijack your thread here Robert but I'm in the market for a 7 x 16 enclosed trailer. I your opinion Colorado Osprey who would you rate as the best manufacturer in terms of build quality, price, etc. Also would you recommend a WD hitch for hauling a trailer this size? Thanks!

 

Without a doubt Sharp Manufacturing.
It is the only enclosed cargo that should be sold for commercial use....yeah they are that tough.
http://www.sharpmanufacturing.com/
Rob, the owner is also someone who will do anything for his customers and dealers. That is very uncommon in this industry.

7x16 with WD bars...couldn't hurt. Not required, but couldn't hurt and should help the rear end from sagging when the trailer is loaded.

 

Thank you!

 

One thing to remember as far as the WD hitch. The regular hitch, non-WD, is maxed at 500/5000lbs. Anything above that requires the WD hitch. That is your limiting factor.

 

Ah, good point! Mine is rated at 600/6000 weight bearing though. But still not as much as the trailer can handle.