Cheapo Tow Rig project

CasterTroy said:
You prolly voted for HILLARY too

Fookin commie!!!


You KNOW they gotta be black
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Sounds like you're one of those relative truth people who struggle with facts :flipoff2:
 
77GreenMachine said:
I got a price from my favorite tire place of $139ea for 10ply and $159ea for 14ply.

Not sure if I really need a 14ply tire since I’ll be way under the weight rating. But it’s only $80 difference. At the same time, I really need 5 tires and feel like I’m bleeding money right now.

In addition to this purchase, I just bought Chromos for the YJ, adding a roof on the back porch ($3k) and need tires for my car, the YJ needs to go to the exhaust shop, vacations coming up and many other things. I may need to sell a testicle if I keep on...
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Always better to have too much than not enough. The main killer of tires is heat or dragging them down the side of the road and hitting something. I'd definitely shoot for the 14 ply. You'll never go "damn, I wish I had gotten lighter duty tires!". If you feel like waiting, you can surely find them online for less than 160 bucks a piece. I can get 17.5s for less than that.
 
I feel like it’s a slap in the face to buy my tires somewhere else and them ask my place to mount them for me. I done that once already, then when the tires were wrong I had to go in there with egg on my face and buy the right tires from them. Never again.

Hall Tire in Greensboro has been so good to me over the years and went above and beyond. I will buy my tires from them for sure.

I’ve had 50/50 folks say 10 ply is fine and the other half say 14ply. I think both are right if that makes sense lol
 
77GreenMachine said:
I feel like it’s a slap in the face to buy my tires somewhere else and them ask my place to mount them for me. I done that once already, then when the tires were wrong I had to go in there with egg on my face and buy the right tires from them. Never again.

Hall Tire in Greensboro has been so good to me over the years and went above and beyond. I will buy my tires from them for sure.

I’ve had 50/50 folks say 10 ply is fine and the other half say 14ply. I think both are right if that makes sense lol
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Another plug for Young's Tire in Wally-burg

And silver
 
So I was planning to spend about $700 on tires Monday and out of the blue @jeepinmatt hits me up and says his brand new Kaufman is done and he will be picking up Saturday morning and already has a set of 17.5s he plans to put on it and he will make me an incredible deal on his brand new 10ply 16s that came on it.

So he came straight from Kaufman to my house and we did the swap. He was kind enough to throw in the brand new lug nuts too since he had a set with locks. Huge thanks to him for thinking of me, a good deal that worked out for both of us and now I have brand new tires AND wheels!




Added bonus, he did not burn my house down. Downside, he now knows where I live should he decide to burn my house down...:shaking:
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77GreenMachine said:
So I was planning to spend about $700 on tires Monday and out of the blue @jeepinmatt hits me up and says his brand new Kaufman is done and he will be picking up Saturday morning and already has a set of 17.5s he plans to put on it and he will make me an incredible deal on his brand new 10ply 16s that came on it.

So he came straight from Kaufman to my house and we did the swap. He was kind enough to throw in the brand new lug nuts too since he had a set with locks. Huge thanks to him for thinking of me, a good deal that worked out for both of us and now I have brand new tires AND wheels!




Added bonus, he did not burn my house down. Downside, he now knows where I live should he decide to burn my house down...:shaking:
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And all is well in the world. They are silver! @CasterTroy :flipoff2:#BlackTiresMatter
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Also, it has been inspected and approved by Captain No-pants.
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With some expert help from the kids (who were fixing to get in the pool) I got all 4 tires mounted up. I took the time to check and grease all the bearings and snug up the spindle nut. All the brakes look good and are now adjusted properly.
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It’s ready to go now. Camper is going on this week, just waiting to get my truck back. @Chris_Keziah borrowed it and somehow it wound up in the hands of @rcalexander105 who now has @Joe J. riding shotgun up to Princeton to pick up a 28’ PJ deck over gooseneck.
 
YotaOnRocks said:
Not to hijack but is there a reason you didn't get the 17k model that came with 17.5 wheels and tires? Been eyeballing the Kaufman 17k deluxe myself so just curious.
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A multitude of reasons.
1. I already had 17.5s with conical wheel lugs, and Kaufman uses the flat washer lugs.
2. $1200 more ($4800 vs $6000), 25% more cost to go from 15k to 17k wasnt worth it for me.
3. And this is the big one: Kaufman doesn't use "real" 8000lb axles. They use 8k axle tubes with 7k bearings and brakes. Viewing a thread - How does Kaufman offer 8k axles and 17.5 wheels so much cheaper
 
77GreenMachine said:
With some expert help from the kids (who were fixing to get in the pool) I got all 4 tires mounted up. I took the time to check and grease all the bearings and snug up the spindle nut. All the brakes look good and are now adjusted properly.
View attachment 320814 View attachment 320815 View attachment 320816 View attachment 320817

It’s ready to go now. Camper is going on this week, just waiting to get my truck back. @Chris_Keziah borrowed it and somehow it wound up in the hands of @rcalexander105 who now has @Joe J. riding shotgun up to Princeton to pick up a 28’ PJ deck over gooseneck.
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The ole heavy Chevy earning its keep.

(Thx buddy)
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Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
jeepinmatt said:
A multitude of reasons.
1. I already had 17.5s with conical wheel lugs, and Kaufman uses the flat washer lugs.
2. $1200 more ($4800 vs $6000), 25% more cost to go from 15k to 17k wasnt worth it for me.
3. And this is the big one: Kaufman doesn't use "real" 8000lb axles. They use 8k axle tubes with 7k bearings and brakes. Viewing a thread - How does Kaufman offer 8k axles and 17.5 wheels so much cheaper
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1. There's not a washer on them. The serrations dig right in to the rim. They're entirely hub centric like stock Super Duty rims...just no washer like the stock lug nuts.

2. I really wish they would rate their stuff legitimately. Like how can they sit there and sell a 15k trailer with 16" tires that are rated for 3750 lbs a piece? That math doesn't work.

3. Not sure what that guy is talking about, but mine stops great.
 
Croatan_Kid said:
1. There's not a washer on them. The serrations dig right in to the rim. They're entirely hub centric like stock Super Duty rims...just no washer like the stock lug nuts.

2. I really wish they would rate their stuff legitimately. Like how can they sit there and sell a 15k trailer with 16" tires that are rated for 3750 lbs a piece? That math doesn't work.

3. Not sure what that guy is talking about, but mine stops great.
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2. This is a common problem with most all trailer manufacturers. They use tongue weight as part of their rating. Its BS. With Kaufman the 14k and 15k versions are exactly the same except for the wiring harness and the GVWR number on the sticker.
 
YotaOnRocks said:
Well that sucks. No tilt trailer for me I guess.
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The 15k version is by far the best deal out there (only because of the better harness and rub rail included). I sold my very used 14k on Friday for $4000 within 2hrs of listing. It had a beat-up deck, 10 year old bearings and brakes, the old tilt latch system, and 2 questionable tires. I could have went and bought the same thing brand new for $4400.
 
jeepinmatt said:
2. This is a common problem with most all trailer manufacturers. They use tongue weight as part of their rating. Its BS. With Kaufman the 14k and 15k versions are exactly the same except for the wiring harness and the GVWR number on the sticker.
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Fact. A buddy bought one. Was concerned about trailer and vehicle combined weight rating and tags.....salesman said no problem we will adjust the label on the trailer.
 
WARRIORWELDING said:
Fact. A buddy bought one. Was concerned about trailer and vehicle combined weight rating and tags.....salesman said no problem we will adjust the label on the trailer.
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Thats a little different because he likely wanted the trailer derated. You'll see a lot with a 9990# or 9999# rating to stay under the (debatable) 10k GVWR CDL requirement on a trailer.

As an engineer I know enough to know that the vast majority of the trailers out there have ZERO engineering to back up the GVWR claims. Its basically "connect some long steel from the hitch to the axles and if most of em don't break its good enough". Ive had 3 generations of Kaufman partial tilt trailers, and they've made improvements in every generation. They are finally to the point of "pretty decent" which aligns with my cost needs. All of these improvements would have been unnecessary if they had been designed right to begin with.
 
jeepinmatt said:
The 15k version is by far the best deal out there (only because of the better harness and rub rail included). I sold my very used 14k on Friday for $4000 within 2hrs of listing. It had a beat-up deck, 10 year old bearings and brakes, the old tilt latch system, and 2 questionable tires. I could have went and bought the same thing brand new for $4400.
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I need to carry a 13k# ctl on it. The 17k was already pushing it.
 
jeepinmatt said:
Thats a little different because he likely wanted the trailer derated. You'll see a lot with a 9990# or 9999# rating to stay under the (debatable) 10k GVWR CDL requirement on a trailer.

As an engineer I know enough to know that the vast majority of the trailers out there have ZERO engineering to back up the GVWR claims. Its basically "connect some long steel from the hitch to the axles and if most of em don't break its good enough". Ive had 3 generations of Kaufman partial tilt trailers, and they've made improvements in every generation. They are finally to the point of "pretty decent" which aligns with my cost needs. All of these improvements would have been unnecessary if they had been designed right to begin with.
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I am glad you responded for two reasons.

First your explanation of why he wanted to do this makes better sense over how he expained it. I'm not usually the friend that calls you a dumbass, but I was close. I'd been the dummy!

Second is I've always wondered about the structural engineering stamp on this market. I have really scratched my head at some aproaches. That being said. I always assumed big names had someone on staff doing stress and strain analysis.

I have personally turned down jobs for lack of engineering data.
 
YotaOnRocks said:
I need to carry a 13k# ctl on it. The 17k was already pushing it.
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Yeah, you're at 17K with no attachments. By the time you bring a couple toys along to get something done you're approaching 20K. I'm at 15K fully loaded, And I can take some of that off the trailer if I had more truck and have a little more margin. This measly short bed F250 doesn't like more than 2000 pounds of tongue weight :D
 
WARRIORWELDING said:
I am glad you responded for two reasons.

First your explanation of why he wanted to do this makes better sense over how he expained it. I'm not usually the friend that calls you a dumbass, but I was close. I'd been the dummy!

Second is I've always wondered about the structural engineering stamp on this market. I have really scratched my head at some aproaches. That being said. I always assumed big names had someone on staff doing stress and strain analysis.

I have personally turned down jobs for lack of engineering data.
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Based on my limited observations, the majority of design decisions are really manufacturing convenience or cost decisions. Or maybe some combination of both. The 1st generation Kaufman I had was a great example. It had a bent frame when I got it, so I had to rework it, brace it up, and re Weld it, all because they didn't extend a simple piece of channel 4 more inches.
The 2nd generation had a piece of half inch by 6" plate in that same section there was about 3' long. Which is completely overkill some Box tubing would have done the job more effectively. But instead of changing the design they just added something to it because they don't know how to engineer stuff.
 
BigClay said:
Hey @77GreenMachine you should really start a thread about your Cheapo Tow Rig project! :flipoff2:
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Yeah, why is his worn out truck junk in our trailer tech thread? :D (and there's plenty of tech still alive on this forum, just not in the right places :lol:)
 
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