How many tow trailers with their "A"?

[Tom Wesenberg]

Originally Posted by René W

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?

I've always built my own trailer axles when I build trailers. I mostly use 2" square tubing with 1/4" wall thickness. I cut the ends square and weld 1/2" thick steel plates, so the plates are parallel to each other. I then go to the junk yard and buy rear spindles and hubs from Mo Par cars that are front wheel drive. This gives 0 toe in and works great. In fact my trailer tires rot out before they wear out.

[Dick Carne]

I am curious as to how these would be connected to a Model A itself. I've seen a couple of instances where folks have made another cross piece that would go between the bumpers with a ball centered on this piece.

A couple of summers back, I acquired the "body" of a Mullins trailer (minus the frame and axle/wheels setup). The cars that I have that I would possibly consider using a trailer with, each have the rear bumper extension like the one shown on p. 112 of the current Bratton's catalogue (part #24671). Could a bumper hitch be possibly fabricated to attach through the bumper to the extension bracket where the center bumper clamp would otherwise be attached?

Thanks once again for everyone's thoughts and recommendations.

Dick

[Synchro909]

Originally Posted by Ray in La Mesa

My '28 pickup has a bed & chassis lengthened 2'. I also have a matching A pickup bed trailer lengthened 2' with a '40 Ford front axle with 19" wheels cut down to 16". Both are beaters used to haul anything I need.

Photos please???

[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.

[René W]

Thanks,this helps a lot.
I am still not sure what i will do,i like the idea of building a period correct trailer with vintage axle,but on the other hand i like brakes on the trailer so i might go for a modern torsion axle with brakes,
These can be converted to model A wheels wit a spacer which i can make myself.

[H. L. Chauvin]

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

Hi Rene,

You are very welcome. Your country is so beautiful .... I landed and stopped there about 36 years ago in a military plane.

[René W]

36 years ago this country was more beautiful as nowadays...............so was i......

[H. L. Chauvin]

Hi Rene,

At least we are still here

Not to mention that immediately after we left Amsterdam, (while over La Manche), a hydraulic control line bursted on our plane, and we barely forced landed in some remote rural airfield in England and had to take a very long British military bus ride back to London.

We all really enjoyed that nice bus ride and the view of rolling pastures with well groomed thoroughbred horses, and the most beautiful English quaint villages with narrow streets.

[CarlG]

Originally Posted by Dick Carne

I am curious as to how these would be connected to a Model A itself. I've seen a couple of instances where folks have made another cross piece that would go between the bumpers with a ball centered on this piece.

A couple of summers back, I acquired the "body" of a Mullins trailer (minus the frame and axle/wheels setup). The cars that I have that I would possibly consider using a trailer with, each have the rear bumper extension like the one shown on p. 112 of the current Bratton's catalogue (part #24671). Could a bumper hitch be possibly fabricated to attach through the bumper to the extension bracket where the center bumper clamp would otherwise be attached?

Thanks once again for everyone's thoughts and recommendations.

Dick

Here's the trailer hitch I have on my Pick Up:

[Dick Carne]

Thanks Carl for your kind response. Your hitch appears to have been professionally designed and fabricated. Do you have a ready source for something like this?

Thanks again -

Dick

[JDupuis]

Dick, my hitch is simular to CarlG. I fabricated mine from a used hidden hitch off a Dodge Mini van. Jeff