When the rust grows

[Obelix]

We discovered very heavy rust-damage inside the trailer tongue on our 2008 trailer.
We had these mods done, in preparation for our trip to the B.E.E.R. Cruise in Pensacola, FL.
Not trusting it for another 900+ miles, we had Renz trailers build us a new tongue from larger, galvanized steel-tubing. They cut the winch-tower from the old tongue and cut the old, rusted jack off. They manufactured a new base-plate and welted the winch-tower, minus the old jack, to the new base-plate and strapped it to the new trailer tongue.



A lot cheaper than a new trailer.

Obelix

[My Mistress]

Looks good!

[romden35]

Looks functional. May I know the cost?

[Tomfoolery]

Looks good. Now you won't have to worry about doing a Catigale (it broke on him on the road - there's a thread from a few years ago about it).

You're lucky (I guess ) that it's the later, aluminium trailer. My OEM trailer is a '99, all steel, and the pole tongue is welded to the two side channels. It would be a bit of a job to cut it out for replacement. I'm considering reinforcing mine as a preemptive measure.

Scabbing another 3x3x3/16" tube onto the bottom of the existing 3x3x3/16" will make it almost 3 times stronger, and almost 6 times stiffer (up/down - 2 times stronger and stiffer side-to-side), and would put the potentially thinning surface in the middle, where it does nothing anyway.

[Highlander]

Tom
Just cut the sucker off & then bolt a new one on like the Alum trl & then its just a bolt off/on replacement ! is that poss. with ur trl ?

J

[Obelix]

@ romden35,

I paid $900.00 for the repair, including the new coupler and painting of thecut-off pieces.

Obelix

[Tomfoolery]

Tom
Just cut the sucker off & then bolt a new one on like the Alum trl & then its just a bolt off/on replacement ! is that poss. with ur trl ?

J

Can't do it, John - it's an all-steel trailer and the pole tongue is welded in several places. Mine's 18 years old and still in good shape, so it's still worth it to do some repair if needed.

As a side issue, I'm considering adding a load-equalizing hitch, but the tongue isn't strong enough on its own, without reinforcement. Or replacement. But it's far easier to stitch weld a second tube than to cut the original out and start again. I can also cut and fit and tack weld it into place and have a professional welder I know, who lives and works right down the street, do the finish welding.

If I ever get around to it.

[Harrison]

Looks good. Now you won't have to worry about doing a Catigale (it broke on him on the road - there's a thread from a few years ago about it).

You're lucky (I guess ) that it's the later, aluminium trailer. My OEM trailer is a '99, all steel, and the pole tongue is welded to the two side channels. It would be a bit of a job to cut it out for replacement. I'm considering reinforcing mine as a preemptive measure.

Scabbing another 3x3x3/16" tube onto the bottom of the existing 3x3x3/16" will make it almost 3 times stronger, and almost 6 times stiffer (up/down - 2 times stronger and stiffer side-to-side), and would put the potentially thinning surface in the middle, where it does nothing anyway.

That's what I did. Even though the rust was minimal on the trailer, I wanted piece of mind.



---Harrison

[Tomfoolery]

That's what I'm considering, but I'd notch the bottom tube to fit the channels and stitch weld along the seams, with a fillet to the channels. It won't weaken the new tube, as being welded to the original puts the notch in the middle of the composite beam, where there's nothing but a little shear going on. But bolted or clamped at each end as you did, notching would weaken it substantially, so what you did looks good. I would just add a spacer at each end between the tubes to make them parallel, but that's a minor thing.

[TimLa]

Tom
Just cut the sucker off & then bolt a new one on like the Alum trl & then its just a bolt off/on replacement ! is that poss. with ur trl ?

J

Can't do it, John - it's an all-steel trailer and the pole tongue is welded in several places. Mine's 18 years old and still in good shape, so it's still worth it to do some repair if needed.

As a side issue, I'm considering adding a load-equalizing hitch, but the tongue isn't strong enough on its own, without reinforcement. Or replacement. But it's far easier to stitch weld a second tube than to cut the original out and start again. I can also cut and fit and tack weld it into place and have a professional welder I know, who lives and works right down the street, do the finish welding.

If I ever get around to it.

Having towed a lot of things from a 1 ton utility trailer to a 7 ton, um, classified thingamajig in the USAF, I really don't think a load balancing hitch is needed for a 2.5 ton loaded trailer, as long as the tongue weight is 10-15% of the total weight, and as long as your tow vehicle weighs more than the trailer. I once was loaded up with 2 tons of topsoil in a dump trailer, with load balancing hitch, and because they loaded it too far aft, had nearly zero tongue weight. Once up to 45 MPH on a crowded highway, I was all over both lanes, cars in the ditch (didn't hit anyone, no injuries). Got it under control by bleeding off speed manually with trailer brakes, then limped off to a side road. The load distributing hitch did NOTHING. Spent the next 45 minutes shoveling topsoil forward, uneventful drive back after that. The tow vehicle is a 2006 F250 diesel, and I still tow the 26M at freeway speeds all the time, with just a regular ball hitch in the receiver. BTW, you can buy a hitch weight scale, or borrow mine if you pay round trip shipping and return it.