[H. L. Chauvin]

Hi Rene,

Per your no. 19 Question:

"Made of an A front axle.........how were the wheels/hubs fixed?and does a trailer need to have toe in/out and camber/caster?"

A. With common sense back then, maybe many learned things from their horses prior to today's formal education, (i.e., horse sense), and everything seemed so simple and ingenious back then.

B. The boat trailer with the Model B front axle was originally built by my mechanic Uncle, (born 1905); the utility trailer with the Model A axle was originally built by my mechanic Dad, (born 1902).

C. Both of these gentlemen were so brilliant, gifted, and talented, they were even very capable of most successfully setting thousands and thousands of Babbitt bearings for years with out having Babbitt setting problems and never had to rely on tin foil, metal shims, and Plastigage.

D. Anyway, both front axles were installed with:

1. Original vintage front springs, original front spring center bolt, and original shackles; and,

2. Original securely bolted front wheel backing plates; and,

3. Original axle spindles, original front wheel bearings, & original front brake hubs, (with brake shoes etc, removed), secured with original front spindle nut & washer; and,

4. With untouched original front axle camber; and,

5. Because the wishbone ball was pointing towards out front, and the axle provided behind the wishbone ball, very minor toe-in was set towards the front of the these proposed two (2) trailer axles at approximately 1/32" toe-in, (also, naturally measured without Plastigage); and

6. Both trailers were provided with 1930's 600-16 spoked wheels and 600-16 tubes & "whitewall" tires. (Hope "whitewalls" can obtain a Forum waiver if used on a 1930's trailer?); and,

7. The utility trailer had 1930's steel fenders; however, the boat trailer had no fenders; hence, well worn tires with worn treads were carefully selected for the boat trailer with no fenders, purposely, so when traveling on all gravel roads back then, these smooth tires could not pick up gravel and throw them at the bottom of the wood boat and not throw gravel back at the car pulling the trailer. (Remember my Uncle's 1932 4dr Town Sedan Dodge; do not remember my Dad's Overland from back then, but remember his the 1942 Desoto he bought with intuition, i.e., immediately after the December 7th Pear Harbor attack, after which, cars were no longer available.

E. After toe-in, the A axle had the spindles welded and fixed; The B axle after toe-in had the tie rod securely fastened to one side of the wish bone with a "U" bolt.

F. The "very most important measurement" in making these vintage trailers was to insure that measurement the from the "center" of the trailer ball receiver on the tongue to the inner or outer rim of the two (2) steel wheels were "exactly" alike to insure "perfect" trailering with no wandering and weaving. These measurements were naturally taken with no problems without tin foil, shims and Plastigage.

G. Because of having no brakes, and because of having no steering, when trailer wheels set as described above, these original trailer tires never had any problems in 60 years of use.

Sincerely hope this helps to begin building a trailer with a vintage axle.