Trailer Problem, Help Please

Technodad · Oct 8, 2012

If it was fine previously when unloaded and nothing has changed then something has changed from the time it was stored / parked. It might be advisable to check the inside of the wheel rims, if it was stored on mud there could be a clump of something in there causing an imbalance.

John

Gaf · Oct 8, 2012

I agree with John, that if it was OK before something must have changed. You may have picked up some mud or a rock on the inside of one or more wheels. Try taking checking the lug nuts for looseness, and also check the spring shackles. Is the hitch on the truck secure? Also as a thought, was the boat secured properly to the trailer? Good luck, let us know.
George

Ward H · Oct 8, 2012

Possibly an internal tread separation?

When I bought my boat with trailer it had a vibration that appeared to be getting worse as I drove. I stopped and inspected the tires. All appeared to be normal except one look a little low on air.
As I put air into it a bubble appeared on the sidewall. As it got bigger I could hear the rubber separating. I changed the tire and no more vibration.

Ritdog · Oct 9, 2012

I have the same problem, with a home-built trailer- tandem, made of 6" U-channel - it starts to rick about 24 MPH, and keeps going until 32. Mystery to me.....

AWalker · Oct 22, 2012

It is likely that the suspension is just too firm for the weight on the trailer.Since it has 2 axles and can carry at least 7000 pounds and you are operating it with no load the trailer just bounces. You can do a few things to offset this. First, make sure that the spring shackles move freely and have decent bushings in them, also make surethe equalizer is able to move freely. These things are best checked by removing/unbolting and inspecting. The other thing you can do for the ride back to get your boat is to simply lower the air pressure in the tires. You will notice that the tire pressure on the sidewall usually says something to the effect of '35psi at 1750 pounds'. That means that for a load of 7000 pound you should have it aired at 35 psi. For less weight you can run less air pressure. I have found that 22-25 psi is usually sufficient to reduce the violent bouncing yet not have to worry about sidewall heating. Be sure to air them back up when your boat is back on. I just bring a battery air compressor.

anchorclanker · Oct 22, 2012

Tires out of balance, faulty tire/bulge etc., stiff springs as suggested above while running empty. Or, flat spotted tires. I have a set on a tandem flat bed that do that, and the first 30 miles or so hauling empty after its been sitting a while it will shake the whole truck. If I had a CB radio I could s-oun-d lik-e a tr-uck dri-ver when I keyed the mike.

onecoolair · Oct 23, 2012

jdratlif said:
I have a tandem axle trailer that I tow my Oday 25 with. I put the boat in the water in the first week of August and I now need to go get the boat. When I drove back from launching my boat, the trailer drove fine at all speeds. Now when I get on the highway with the trailer attached to my truck, my truck and trailer violently shake up and down at 55 + mph. Below is what I have already done to try and solve this problem:

- Made sure the tire pressure in my truck tires was good.
- Had my trailer tires balanced and properly filled.
- Spun my tires on the trailer while they were jacked off the ground and looked for any wobbling. None noticed.
- Pulled and pushed on each tire to check for any wobbling. None noticed.
- Changed my truck shocks just before launching the boat.
- Tried adding tongue weight to increase trailer stability. No improvement.
- Inspected the leaf springs for any loose or broken pieces and everything looked to be in good shape and tightly secured.

My question is, what could cause my trailer to shake my truck so bad? I am going to inspect the bearings this weekend. What should I be looking for as far as excessive hub wear.

Just lower the trailer tire pressure when the boat is not on the trailer. Use a portable air compressor to fill tires at the ramp before loading boat back on to trailer. There your problem is solved.

justsomeguy · Oct 23, 2012

onecoolair said:
Just lower the trailer tire pressure when the boat is not on the trailer. Use a portable air compressor to fill tires at the ramp before loading boat back on to trailer. There your problem is solved.

caguy · Oct 23, 2012

Does it happen on all road surfaces? It could be your highway was made in sections. There are some freeways here that do the same thing. When you reach that harmonic frequency each dip magnifies the rest.

Does it happen only when you don't have a load? Could be that one axle is taking most of the weight and the other is just bouncing along. I would try either raising or lowering the hitch ball.

onecoolair · Oct 23, 2012

justsomeguy said:

Trust me it works ....same procedure when transporting a automobile tow dolly. A friend borrowed my Mac 26 trailer once to make long trip out of state to pick up a new mast. He called me just outside of town and said he was having a bad problem when he got up to highway speed. I asked did he lower the tire pressure? He said no... I told him to go by visual and let some air out, but not so that tires looked to be flat with no weight on the trailer. But when he got there and put some weight on trailer to fill accordingly. He called me once he got back and said the trailer tracked perfectly.75 All the way home....
TRUST ME IT WILL WORK !

justsomeguy · Oct 23, 2012

onecoolair said:
Trust me it works ....same procedure when transporting a automobile tow dolly. A friend borrowed my Mac 26 trailer once to make long trip out of state to pick up a new mast. He called me just outside of town and said he was having a bad problem when he got up to highway speed. I asked did he lower the tire pressure? He said no... I told him to go by visual and let some air out, but not so that tires looked to be flat with no weight on the trailer. But when he got there and put some weight on trailer to fill accordingly. He called me once he got back and said the trailer tracked perfectly.75 All the way home....
TRUST ME IT WILL WORK !

Ahh, thanks for explaining. I'd forgotton the OP was complaining about it bouncing without a load. Yep, a lighter trailer does tend to bounce when the tires are full up.
I'll try to keep up!