[eugene-rus]

Two weeks ago after a 300 mile trip to the river, I had leaf springs on both side crack:

It might be because of the poor road conditions in Russia, but it seems unlike the boat, the trailer has never been revamped. 20-30 years for a spring is quite a lot.

To make sure the bottom of the boat is not damaged while the new springs were made, I had to invent new suspension:

For sure it's an easy fix for everyone on this board. Just pop into the nearest trailer store and get the springs!
We don't have such small-size leafs on sale in Russia, so I had to order these to be hand-made in another city. Two weeks later and here we go:

They do look a bit brutal. Especially the "ears":

Notice how guys at the forgery added an extra leaf for insurance during the big bumps on the road:

I planned in advance for taking the wheels off so this was a good time to swap the rubber. The front one is the old small 175/65. The new one at the back is 195/70:

I don't like to think too much when I execute, so I did a diagram of the order I should do things in:

 

[eugene-rus]

The spring seats were welded to the axle, but someone did a really bad job at welding and they too broke off when the springs cracked. So before I could install the new springs I had to get the seats arc-welded back (I had a guy help me weld that back):

Here's the local arc-welding equipment:

I prefer to do things right so I used a level to get the two seats parallel to each other:

Here's everything put back in place. Notice that unusual U-bolts were used. I know they aren't right, but I couldn't find anything better here:

I did place an order at redtrailers.com for new U-bolts, shackle links and spring bolts. These were all worn out but I couldn't find the right size here so I decided to put them back until I get my order delivered at the end of July.

Here's the final result:

The work on the trailer is not finished. I have a bearing-buddy hubs in place. They look quite new but there's some loose movement in the spindle so I will either need to tighten this up or get the new bearings/hubs. I don't know what's inside so I don't know what needs to be replaced/done.

 

[bajadad]

Good job, Looks like you keeped your head on straight even though everything was going wrong.

 

[Delemorte]

Wow.. good job dude.. awesome you were able to get that fabbed up.. Personally i would pull those hubs and also replace the bearings.. Its cheap to do and if you are that far into it might as well... Just for comparison what did it cost you to have those springs fabbed up?

 

[eugene-rus]

The spring manufacture was 7100 rubles, about $230
Shipping was about 1400 rubles, $44

I agree on the hubs. We'll see if I can get that ordered too.

 

[GT Jets]

An awsome display of what can be done with little to work with.

Thanks for the post, makes me appreciate what we have as far as availability of parts and materials.

BTW I dig that welder devil

GT hand

 

[Delemorte]

The spring manufacture was 7100 rubles, about $230
Shipping was about 1400 rubles, $44

I agree on the hubs. We'll see if I can get that ordered too.

Thats more than we pay locally, for prebuilt, but im not sure i could pay a fabricator to do it for what you paid doing it from scratch. good job man!!!..


If you pull those hubs the bearings will have numbers on them.just tell us the numbers and we can look up your bearings. unless the hubs are busted no need to replace. I replaced mine just because i bought it all in one unit.

 

[eugene-rus]

What tire pressure should I have for the single axle trailer?

I currently have 2.2 and am wondering whether it should be more?

 

[eugene-rus]

As per Delemorte's advice, I pulled off one of the hubs today.
I didn't realize it would be so easy to do (5 minute job). Found a website that has video demos about the trailer repairs, just what I needed!
The inner bearing seems not too bad but the outer one was real rusty and doesn't rotate freely at all.
Without even taking the second hub off, I've decided to order a bearing replacement kit for both sides.
Unfortunately there are no numbers or any marks on the bearings but according to the measurements, this is the kit that I need.

Despite placing an order, I will put everything back (didn't remove the seal) and will use the trailer - the parts are only likely to arrive at the end of this month.
I'll try to tighten up a bit to remove the looseness.

 

[Doc Nozzle]

What tire pressure should I have for the single axle trailer?

I currently have 2.2 and am wondering whether it should be more?

2.2 bar??? (Must be what you mean.)

That's 32 psi in jetboat. You probably want to keep between 2.2 and 2.6. I used to have a single axle trailer with a boat of about 2,100 lbs and the tires always looked a little flat. I hope you can get it all fixed and back out on the water. I would love to see the looks you must get running that boat in Russia! Keep telling us all about it.

 

[eugene-rus]

Thanks for the pressure guidance. The tires are indeed a bit flat. Wondering whether I should keep it like that. I personally don't see anything wrong with that.

 

[Malcolm]

Do the tires have a max pressure printed on them? They are all different, but a single axle trailer needs good tires aired right to the max.